Michigan football parents join demands for Big Ten season
“We also believe the Big Ten and University Presidents failed to exercise due diligence by not acquiring the input of the very student athletes their decisions would impact,” the Michigan parents said. “ … As football players, they understand risk. As young men, they understand the consequences of their decisions. They are able to balance potential risk with reward.”
Michigan’s bitter rivalry with Ohio State did not stop Wolverines defensive back Hunter Reynolds from adding his name to Fields’s petition, which had more than 260,000 signatures as of late Monday evening.
“This petition is a way to continue to show the public that the player’s voice is not heard on issues regarding them and as players, we feel that needs to change,” Hunter told the Detroit Free Press on Monday. “We haven’t given up hope that we can come to an agreement on a way to [be] as safe as possible and ensure that every school is adhering to the same protocols.”
The Michigan parents asked for a “detailed description of standard protocols and safety practice for all Big Ten teams.” Other requests in their letter, which was addressed to Michigan President Mark Schlissel and Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, asked for video meetings with each of those officials to discuss the “rationale” behind the decision to cancel the football season.
“We strongly believe that denying these players the opportunity to compete this season would jeopardize their futures,” the letter stated. “They deserve the opportunity to play.”
However, Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said Monday of the Big Ten’s decision, “I don’t see that changing.”
“The presidents and chancellors made their decision based on science, based on information from medical experts and based on concerns about uncertainty in a number of different categories,” Barbour told reporters (via ESPN). “I don’t see that changing, but I also appreciate the passion of our parents and our student-athletes and I appreciate both where their hearts and their heads are.”
Whereas the Michigan parents referred to Schlissel in their letter as “voting against playing,” Barbour said, “It’s unclear to me whether there was ever a vote or not. … I just don’t know whether there actually was a vote by the chancellors and presidents.”
That echoed comments by University of Minnesota President Joan T.A. Gabel, who said last week, “We didn’t vote, per se. It’s a deliberative process where we came to a decision together.”
“But I absolutely support the decision that we came to,” Gabel continued. “Safety first. Absolutely, safety first.”
“I’m not scared that my son’s going to die from [the coronavirus],” Peach Pagano, mother of Michigan defensive lineman Carlo Kemp, told the Detroit News last week. “I know we’re too healthy, our mindsets, and the way we believe. But oh my God, they didn’t even give us a chance. And then this — other schools are still going. I can’t process it properly.
“If it was for the greater good, they would cancel campuses. But they canceled football?”
