Spoke with Miami U president Julio Frenk today. He said Miami has had zero positive tests in last 3 rounds of testing. Some other tidbits... (thread...)
Frenk is former Minister of Health in Mexico. On the current situation: "I've had a long career in making decisions and this is the toughest because of all the unknowns we still have and how dynamically this is evolving."
On the future of the season: "I don't think we've made any final decisions. ... We're aware that the pandemic is still a huge and very serious threat. If we see things changing, we're ready to change and be adaptive. We're not locked into a rigid decision making frame."
On decision making: "I've tried to stay away from this dichotomous mindset of being on campus is full risk and being off campus is no risk. That's just not true. For a lot of our students, being on campus is a much safer place.”
Noted many live “off campus” but across the street
Noted many live “off campus” but across the street
On approach: "If we're making decisions on the basis of fear, we're not going to get it right. If we take a very conservative approach, we may think that's right for the students, but that's not necessarily the case."
More: "We may unwittingly be putting our students at higher risk by not allowing them on campus. I know that's not how the discussions have gone, but it's the responsible, careful analysis that reassures you you can actually do it."
On why B1G/P12 diff than SEC/ACC/B12: "We're learning about this virus every day. It's entirely possible that in the face of a rapidly changing situation, different people with the same level of reason and evidence and thoughtfulness may reach different conclusions."
Said makes sense diff places have diff risk tolerance: "I'm not surprised that, because this is a new disease, that different groups of reasonable, well-informed, well intentioned people might reach slightly different conclusions."
Frenk said big thing is that they're being VERY data-driven, which pairs well with the analysis Manny Diaz did on contact during football practice. Studied pre-pandemic practices & measured time individual players were w/in 6 feet of one another. Results...
Over about 1/2 game's worth of snaps w/no extra precautions, highest contact:
OL-OL - 3:22
OL-OL2 - 3:12
OL-DT - 2:52
DE-OT - 2:29
OL-DT2 - 1:55
DE-DT - 1:42
CB-WR - 1:41
DE-OG - 1:26
DE-OT2 - 1:11
QB-RB - 1:02
QB-RB2 - 1:02
All others < 1 min
OL-OL - 3:22
OL-OL2 - 3:12
OL-DT - 2:52
DE-OT - 2:29
OL-DT2 - 1:55
DE-DT - 1:42
CB-WR - 1:41
DE-OG - 1:26
DE-OT2 - 1:11
QB-RB - 1:02
QB-RB2 - 1:02
All others < 1 min
Note: They didn’t study the entire team, but just a couple players from each position group to get a sample. Virginia Tech repeated the study using last fall’s practices and found similar results. Manny shared the data with the ACC.
Manny said those numbers can be reduced during practice by paying closer attention to contact, but doubling those numbers gives you an appx amount of contact time during a game. So, high-water mark is prob about 8 mins of contact between any 2 players.
Having said all that, I thought Bronco Mendenhall's quote earlier this week was worth mentioning: He said the single biggest thing he's doing at practice now is monitoring social distancing. His assistants are doing the bulk of the coaching.
w/r/t Frenk’s take on why B1G/P12 went in another direction, it largely reflected what I mentioned a couple days ago about risk tolerance & incomplete data…
