Please find below quotes and relevant notes from Rick George's Thursday afternoon press teleconference. As a disclaimer, this is NOT a full, 100% transcription. Frankly, I cut a bit of fat off the meat, if you will, by not transcribing George's opening remarks where he essentially wishes everyone well and talks about virtual student-athlete banquets.
That said, if any of you are interested in those quotes, let me know and I will transcribe/post them.
George on the NFL-bound Buffs: “It was great to see. I was a little bit surprised that Laviska didn’t go in the first round but I was excited that he went to the Jaguars. I know their owner, he’s an Illinois grad, Shad Khan, and their PR guy was a high school classmate of mine so I was able to talk to them about Laviska.
And then to see Davion get drafted was fantastic. He really improved his stock as he went through the Combine with the numbers he put up. I think to be drafted in the third round was fantastic. Hambright, to be drafted late — again, I think he’s a guy that will have an impact and will play in the league. And then you’ve got Tony Brown, Delrick Abrams and obviously Steven Montez who I think are guys who can make it. I look at Delrick Abrams a lot like I do at Ahkello Witherspoon. Similar body types and the way they play.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens and see how they do but I’m really excited and happy for them and look forward to watching them play on Sundays, hopefully this fall.
George on how much time players need to get ready for a football season: “There’s a lot of different conversations out there and people are looking at 6-8 weeks, for a timeframe for (players) to be ready and be in the proper condition. But again, we’re having discussions with variety of groups and obviously having medical professionals in those meetings is important. We’re engaging them at a conference level and at a national level. There’s a football oversight committee also engaged in those discussions at the NCAA level and I know our conference, just like every other conference, are putting together strategies and trying to have uniformity on what makes sense.”
George on Folsom Field WiFi: “That’s an ongoing project that’ll be done this summer. It may be down now, I’m not 100% sure but our WiFi will be much different in out stadium this fall.”
***Upgrades to the WiFi? Have heard that before...Folsom Field service is brutal and bluntly, I fear it always will be. But hey, glad to see that CU is at least cognizant of that and launching an initiative to better the WiFi.
George on the decision to take pay cuts along with CU’s head coaches: “I think it shows leadership on the part of our coaches and myself that we should be the ones that take a leadership role in this. Pay cuts any any type of personnel decisions are not easy and I know as we look at what’s ahead, having that done first is important but there’s a lot of other things we’re looking at as we try to budget for a season with a lot of unknowns. Hopefully by the end of this month there will be a clearer picture on what that will look like but we’re working on that weekly and daily at times on our budget and scenarios.
We’ll continue to do that and once there’s a bit of a clearer picture of what that’ll look like, we’ll finalize a particular scenario that we’ve been working on. But I think it was important for our coaches and myself to make that decision.”
George on the NCAA potentially cutting sports, perhaps such as wrestling or skiing: "I certainly think there’s a lot of discussion out there on that topic and about whether people will cut sports. Every institution will have to do what’s best for their institution and so, I do think you’ll see some of that. I don’t know how prevalent it’ll be, but again, that’s not under consideration by me at this time.”
***George notes, as he did a few weeks ago, that currently, cutting any Colorado sports programs is not an option he's considering with respect to navigating how to control CU's budget for this fiscal year.
George on his personal thoughts on whether there will be a football season in 2020: “It’s premature for me to answer that. We’re looking at a lot of different scenarios with the football oversight committee, the NCAA, our medical aspects in sports that the NCAA is looking at — I think it’s too early. There’s been too much out there about different scenarios and as we see what happens across our country, in our states and in our communities, I think there will be a little more clarity on that. But I don’t think I’m in a position to discuss what that might look like because there’s multiple scenarios out there.
Health and safety is going to be a priority and having those discussions with the proper medical officials is important, so we’ll continue to be in the conversations about what that looks like and at the appropriate time, when maybe there is a little more clarity, we’ll make those decisions.”
George’s thoughts on different states opening up at different times as well as certain schools opening up before others: “Certainly, with different states opening at different times, it’s hard to have uniformity when that happens. Those are part of the discussions that our groups are having with conferences and at the NCAA level (with respect to) what does that mean and what does that look like? Because you're right, there are different start dates and to be able to have uniformity may be challenging. Those are discussions that are being had and developed and we’ll learn more as we move forward. Certainly, having states open up at different times and with different requirements is challenging.”
George on hypothetically, could Colorado have a football season if the California schools aren’t playing: “This goes back to what I’d just stated, but those are discussions that are being had. It’d be too premature to answer that question.”
FIN
Well, if you didn't get the same vibe I did from George's last three answers, anything and everything pertinent to when the college football season may start, if at all, how things are going to be assessed with different states and schools potentially being able to get back to normal before others, and if conferences can play a season while others don't — George is not going into any specifics. Not that that was unexpected, but for those of you (which I'd certainly count myself among your ranks) hungry for a more definitive answer on those fronts, I'm not sure it's going to be given to you in the near future. Just a lot still up in the air right now.
That said, if any of you are interested in those quotes, let me know and I will transcribe/post them.
George on the NFL-bound Buffs: “It was great to see. I was a little bit surprised that Laviska didn’t go in the first round but I was excited that he went to the Jaguars. I know their owner, he’s an Illinois grad, Shad Khan, and their PR guy was a high school classmate of mine so I was able to talk to them about Laviska.
And then to see Davion get drafted was fantastic. He really improved his stock as he went through the Combine with the numbers he put up. I think to be drafted in the third round was fantastic. Hambright, to be drafted late — again, I think he’s a guy that will have an impact and will play in the league. And then you’ve got Tony Brown, Delrick Abrams and obviously Steven Montez who I think are guys who can make it. I look at Delrick Abrams a lot like I do at Ahkello Witherspoon. Similar body types and the way they play.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens and see how they do but I’m really excited and happy for them and look forward to watching them play on Sundays, hopefully this fall.
George on how much time players need to get ready for a football season: “There’s a lot of different conversations out there and people are looking at 6-8 weeks, for a timeframe for (players) to be ready and be in the proper condition. But again, we’re having discussions with variety of groups and obviously having medical professionals in those meetings is important. We’re engaging them at a conference level and at a national level. There’s a football oversight committee also engaged in those discussions at the NCAA level and I know our conference, just like every other conference, are putting together strategies and trying to have uniformity on what makes sense.”
George on Folsom Field WiFi: “That’s an ongoing project that’ll be done this summer. It may be down now, I’m not 100% sure but our WiFi will be much different in out stadium this fall.”
***Upgrades to the WiFi? Have heard that before...Folsom Field service is brutal and bluntly, I fear it always will be. But hey, glad to see that CU is at least cognizant of that and launching an initiative to better the WiFi.
George on the decision to take pay cuts along with CU’s head coaches: “I think it shows leadership on the part of our coaches and myself that we should be the ones that take a leadership role in this. Pay cuts any any type of personnel decisions are not easy and I know as we look at what’s ahead, having that done first is important but there’s a lot of other things we’re looking at as we try to budget for a season with a lot of unknowns. Hopefully by the end of this month there will be a clearer picture on what that will look like but we’re working on that weekly and daily at times on our budget and scenarios.
We’ll continue to do that and once there’s a bit of a clearer picture of what that’ll look like, we’ll finalize a particular scenario that we’ve been working on. But I think it was important for our coaches and myself to make that decision.”
George on the NCAA potentially cutting sports, perhaps such as wrestling or skiing: "I certainly think there’s a lot of discussion out there on that topic and about whether people will cut sports. Every institution will have to do what’s best for their institution and so, I do think you’ll see some of that. I don’t know how prevalent it’ll be, but again, that’s not under consideration by me at this time.”
***George notes, as he did a few weeks ago, that currently, cutting any Colorado sports programs is not an option he's considering with respect to navigating how to control CU's budget for this fiscal year.
George on his personal thoughts on whether there will be a football season in 2020: “It’s premature for me to answer that. We’re looking at a lot of different scenarios with the football oversight committee, the NCAA, our medical aspects in sports that the NCAA is looking at — I think it’s too early. There’s been too much out there about different scenarios and as we see what happens across our country, in our states and in our communities, I think there will be a little more clarity on that. But I don’t think I’m in a position to discuss what that might look like because there’s multiple scenarios out there.
Health and safety is going to be a priority and having those discussions with the proper medical officials is important, so we’ll continue to be in the conversations about what that looks like and at the appropriate time, when maybe there is a little more clarity, we’ll make those decisions.”
George’s thoughts on different states opening up at different times as well as certain schools opening up before others: “Certainly, with different states opening at different times, it’s hard to have uniformity when that happens. Those are part of the discussions that our groups are having with conferences and at the NCAA level (with respect to) what does that mean and what does that look like? Because you're right, there are different start dates and to be able to have uniformity may be challenging. Those are discussions that are being had and developed and we’ll learn more as we move forward. Certainly, having states open up at different times and with different requirements is challenging.”
George on hypothetically, could Colorado have a football season if the California schools aren’t playing: “This goes back to what I’d just stated, but those are discussions that are being had. It’d be too premature to answer that question.”
FIN
Well, if you didn't get the same vibe I did from George's last three answers, anything and everything pertinent to when the college football season may start, if at all, how things are going to be assessed with different states and schools potentially being able to get back to normal before others, and if conferences can play a season while others don't — George is not going into any specifics. Not that that was unexpected, but for those of you (which I'd certainly count myself among your ranks) hungry for a more definitive answer on those fronts, I'm not sure it's going to be given to you in the near future. Just a lot still up in the air right now.
