Southern Miss AD addresses prospect of shutting fans out of games due to coronavirus
With other Division I programs in the Gulf South region deciding to limit fan access to spring sporting events due to the coronavirus outbreak, Southern Miss is considering whether to make similar moves.
The University of New Orleans and Tulane both announced Wednesday that they will only allow coaches, student-athletes, officials, essential personnel and media into games. Tulane also included immediate family members of student-athletes on its list.
USM athletic director Jeremy McClain, who was in Frisco, Texas, on Wednesday for the Conference USA basketball tournament, told the Sun Herald on Wednesday night that the school is considering the best course of action.
“Right now, we’re still evaluating,” he said in a phone interview. “That’s only going to last so long because we’ve got to make decisions. Once the (Centers for Disease Control) made those comments today, that began to put things into perspective. It began to create a domino effect.”
The NCAA announced Wednesday that it has decided to limit access to the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to only essential staff and limited family members.
Also, the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel issued a statement recommending against sporting events being open to the public.
“We’re not there yet on making a determination (at USM),” McClain said. “I’m not an expert on health issues, but when the CDC advises against large gatherings of people, you’ve got to pay attention to that. We’ll evaluate that over the next 24 hours. We have to have some feedback.”
Conference USA officials decided Wednesday to limit fan access to the remaining games in the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 had already decided to limit access for tournament games starting on Thursday.
The USM women’s basketball campaign came to a close Wednesday with a 71-67 overtime loss to Marshall in the C-USA tournament, but the baseball and softball teams are each in the middle of their season.
The USM baseball team plays host to Florida International at 6 p.m. on Friday to begin a three-game series and start the C-USA portion of its schedule. The softball squad hosted Mississippi State on Wednesday night before traveling to Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Florida, for a three-game conference series.
USM has recently been C-USA’s best baseball program in terms of on-field success and attendance, averaging about 3,000 fans a game.
McClain said that it was uncertain whether the decision on limiting attendance for spring sports would be made by the conference or by individual schools, but he seemed to be preparing fans for the possibility of Pete Taylor Park being empty for baseball games.
“Nobody loves college sports more than me, but at the end of day you’ve got to do things in the best interest of the public at large,” he said. “That’s what we’ll do. We hope that everybody can understand. At the heart of the decision is doing what’s best for everyone.”
McClain admitted that the situation has been surreal for all of Conference USA’s athletic directors.
“I told one of my colleagues, ‘Add this to the list of things I never thought I’d be dealing with,’ ” he said. “There are many things bigger than sports, college athletics. It is unprecedented. You’ve got people trying to make decisions based on the best interest of the public. It’s not just about college sports fans and administrators. You have to keep that in perspective. None of us want to be in this position. At the end of the day, we’ve got to do what’s right and what’s in the best interest of the health of the public.”
University of Southern Mississippi administration has yet to announce if there will be changes made to on-campus classes and other activities, but McClain has been in contact with USM president Rodney Bennett and the office of provost Steven Moser.
“We’re making decisions as an institution,” McClain said.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 7:37 PM.
