ECU Athletic Director Jon Gilbert and head football coach Mike Houston schedule briefing

uh thanks for coming on the call today on short nerd notice information continues to flow rapidly during this pandemic and we've tried our best to be open and transparent with you it's hard to believe how many times i've walked into the office in the morning thinking i was going to work on one thing and then spend the next eight hours on something completely different the ongoing pandemic has taken a toll on all of us these are difficult frustrating and unprecedented times individuals families and businesses are all being affected you know today's news is uh disappointing to me on so many levels obviously with our student athletes our coaches and our staff but but also our community and i know and understand what this does uh to affect our community so obviously i'm disappointed for that i am so impressed with the resiliency of our 380 student athletes coaches and staff these are uncharted waters uh for all of us and we are sticking together it it's also important to understand the toll that these decisions take on the mental health of everyone it's not easy to stop and start practices or be informed that you're positive or that you must quarantine for 14 days it really is difficult for us all to process and i can't say enough about our student athletes our coaches and our staff currently we have 30 individuals within our football program that are either isolated or quarantined when an individual tests positive there's contact tracing analysis that takes place to see where the infections are coming from it's a process that requires constant communication our medical staff has been outstanding we made the decision to postpone the marshall game simply because it was in the best interest of our student athletes based on the information we received and in consultation with our medical staff we felt like the move was necessary we've been testing weekly and evaluate our results and make decisions based on the data as for marshall mike hamrick and i have had productive conversations and will work to schedule the game later this year uh dates are going to have to work on both ends i'm really not uh as focused on exactly when that will be uh when we spoke by phone multiple times today we both indicated that uh given the significance of the game with the 50 year anniversary of the plane crash game that we were gonna do everything we could to make that game a reality uh you know that could be at the end of the season uh it could also be in the middle depending on how the season plays out we've had multiple talks with dr silvernail in the pitt county health department he's been extremely helpful and continues to be a resource for our department we still are looking at um obviously football games in the future and i do feel like we will have fans in the stands but i feel like it is going to be limited capacity and really it's not going to be a normal process it is going to be us working or me working through uh our chancellor uh then working through dr silvernail and then state local health officials to determine what that attendance uh will look like i do want our fan base to stay with us stay with this team stay with this athletic department we're going to give the options out for uh refunds donating tickets etc depending on uh what the remainder of our season looks like and it's really also i want to point out that you know what we still have to operate uh from a scholarship funding standpoint you know these student athletes are still going to class uh and you know we we're having to fund uh right around eight million dollars for our student athletes to attend class for scholarships that's all sports and so we want uh you know our pirate faithful to still stay with us in that regard so that that is a brief update i'll be happy to open it up for questions at this time john would you guys entertain the possibility of playing on the 19th or do you see the the 26th being the season opener no matter what yeah um good question stephen i i want to be uh deliberate with that and my thought process all along you know i i would hear from quite a people like when when this first pandemic happened and and we lost a couple dec games i was pretty set at staying at 10 uh but because i had anticipated some things like this happening so i wanted some flexibility i i think we need to pause for you know a couple days to see what's out there number one there are not a lot of teams with availability and two the way this works is from a testing protocol standpoint i want to be mindful of making sure that we can play the central florida game i don't want to pick up a team play that game and then potentially have an issue where you couldn't play the following week and so coach houston and i have been in you know constant contact uh regarding scheduling and i also know that there's the potential for flexibility throughout the year if other teams can't play uh you know due to the pandemic and so i want to be very mindful and deliberate and not rush out uh in any regard i want to make sure we get healthy and are ready to return to the field first john is there a number that you have to get to to get football back out no uh not a number per se but uh you know with uh 30 in uh isolation uh quarantine i i felt like uh it was important for us uh as people come back uh you know that's all different you know there's different timing on that depending on when the individual uh either went into isolation or quarantine and so not everybody's coming back on one day uh and so i felt like uh now as a we needed to do this based on uh the safety of our student athletes and then obviously having them uh physically ready to play in a football game does this speak to john you and coach houston talked about the the difficulties of contact tracing how complex it is with the 30 guys i mean does this kind of speak to the reality of hitting that contact tracing is something that's really hard to manage is that a main drive in this decision well ronnie i don't think that it's hard to manage but it is it is a difficult process in that uh you know you're going back and talking to individuals and trying to remember who who they had a significant contact with and i think our our student health and our athletic trainers and our medical staff are doing a good job in managing that but it is difficult i mean it would be hard for me to remember who i've been in front of the last two days uh and so it adds uh you know it adds another element that we have to be mindful of and as a reminder you know if i test positive today i'm out for 10 days but if um if i have a close contact that individual's out for 14 days and is not able to test out so the individual that was in close contact with me they're out for 14 days and they can be negative the entire time and so every school is dealing with this it clearly positives are are certainly important but contact tracing is important as well because depending on the individual and who they're in front of um it can wipe out a lot of people john with the american making the adjustment to their schedule day was that sort of coincidental with this martial announcement or was that as much as a result of it as anything in other games as far as dates being changed uh for ecu with ucf and cincinnati yeah purely coincidental uh we have been talking about that for a while i think when the uh pandemic hit and schedules were all being adjusted from an inventory standpoint uh we had talked about that for a couple weeks to get on more traditional times with the inventory number shrinking a note on fans what's um just kind of now what do you have a decent pulse on fans or kind of what they're thinking they do want to go to games or don't want to get have you gotten any feedback on where they kind of stand in general at this point yeah actually it's been really positive about wanting to attend the games uh we really have had uh very little refunds we we've had some but we've not had uh large numbers at this point and you know i do want to make clear uh we had to we had to do this uh from a health and safety standpoint to to move this back but our anticipation is that we are going to play football um and uh you know the central florida game will be right now at this date and time you know the the next game up it will give our team uh enough time to uh get back on the field training condition i'll let coach houston at the appropriate time talk about that but but not only i think today is day number eight that we've not had a practice or conditioning and so you know that that's a factor as well plus the the time that all these individuals will be returning to play what's the status among the other athletic programs i know pushed back to spring with the exception of cross country so i guess what is the update as far as the cross country season and are any of the athletic teams practicing right now are they on pause as well well we have our teams practicing our fall sports so right now soccer and volleyball they are all moving to their championship season in the spring i anticipate a modified schedule there cross country we've not made a determination on that because the nc2a has not made a determination i anticipate that moving to the spring that decision has not been final but we continue to practice and work out in those other sports it certainly is going to complicate the spring from a logistical standpoint operational standpoint um there there will be what you know i've talked for probably months about what the inconveniences are going to look like this year and that we're all going to have to deal with those there are going to be a lot of inconveniences and nuances in the spring that that everyone's going to have to deal with if we you know proceed with every sport like that in the spring john a lot of conferences have opted to go multiple times testing once gameweek comes is that something the americans officially decided to do as well yes uh good question and right right now what we're doing is uh once you've started your season and starting official practice in the 20-hour work week is one day a week of everyone in the footprint so it's coaches student athletes and staff so that is managers trainers video personnel you know student managers etc once we get into game week it'll be twice a week is what the american athletic is talking about so we continue to work through what that is again our medical staff's been really good in that regard we are extremely fortunate here at east carolina in that we've got a vital and brody here where we've been testing and getting the results back in a very quick manner uh 24 hours or less and i would say not every institution is like that there are some really uh you know big schools that don't have the testing capacity that we have they're shipping it elsewhere uh so that is a huge benefit to us john with students now moving off campus do you feel more confident that the season will be able to happen now that you can almost have a bubble like situation where the players will most likely only be interacting with each other well i i don't number one i don't think they'll just be interacting with each other uh not everyone is going to move out of the dorm now i i know that there'll be a lot of people moving out of the residence hall but i still anticipate there to be a student-athlete population in the residence hall um you know i think nolan one one of the things that you you look at obviously with people leaving uh you know if there's less people that are our players will come in contact with but we're not in a bubble and i think you're gonna see college football more resemble major league baseball uh but because we're not in a bubble and we can limit and uh our contacts we can you know social distance and do all those things but but we're still gonna have this uh to some degree speaking of students in attendance are students still involved in your attendance plans or is it mainly season ticket holders and that's kind of it no students are still involved in our attendance plan and what what we've done is we've tried to wait to until the last possible uh minute to decide what our capacity will be based on you know state and local health protocols and so absolutely our um [Music] students are very much a part of our plan once we determine what that plan is are there any further questions for uh for john okay john thank you very much all right thank you all right and i'm going to turn it over to uh coach houston and coach if you if you want to say something then we'll turn to questions after that okay okay um you know obviously a tough decision uh i was able to get um all the players that are not in in quarantine in isolation right now together in minjis this afternoon with them in person a lot of disappointment you know they've been very resilient throughout uh you know i it's tough you know they've invested so much they've been so excited about having a date uh i think that they uh you know there's where the next um struggle is going to be is you know finding that next motivation from that next date but at the end of the day you know john and i have been in constant conversation and you know our medical advisors have been talking to us constantly it's just you know it was it was going to end up not being a situation where student athletes were safe and just the numbers right now are not to where we can you know we can resume yet so disappointed but at the same time still very motivated and our group you know they you know they're they're working hard so uh you know they're just ready to get back out on the field okay we'll open it up to questions for coach houston folks it's just kind of like spring practice one two and three i mean you get you stop you get going again you stop i mean it obviously it's frustrating but but you know what do you do well it is and uh you know the thing that uh you know was motivating them for this first part of um you know the fall camp was getting ready to play i do think the competition and being able to be out on the field playing again was something that uh kept a lot of energy and excitement out there this pause has set us back there's no doubt um you know we've got to a degree kind of start from scratch whenever we do start back because you know you're just you're just then starting to get a little bit of conditioning and then to have this pause now you've lost that so it's not like you can start back where you left off uh you got to start back where the players are conditioning wise and build back up from there so um you know the things motivating them is still you know having a season this fall representing east carolina university playing in daddy ficklen stadium and competing in the american athletic conference know it's not ultimately your decision coach but obviously you have a saying that i'm sure what when would you like to start the season would you like to play the 19th or hold off until that ucf game i mean what are your thoughts on on an actual first game well i mean obviously we want to play you know sooner rather than later uh you know number one we've got to make sure that our kids uh are safe uh and that and that we get this situation we have right now with the positives that we get it under control as much as possible uh and try to get uh you know the environment you know back to where we had it a few weeks ago um you know i think we can be ready to play on the 19th if we can get things under control pretty quickly uh but you know that's a lot of those things still remain to be seen coach how much you worry about the the mental health of the guys obviously like you kind of said getting geared up getting geared down that's right when a lot of it's out of their control right a lot you know it's hard as a 48 year old grown man uh you know you're talking about 18 19 20 and 21 year olds so um you know it's hard for them to understand a lot of things and uh it's uh you know it's it's that's why i thought it was so important that i was able to you know speak to him in person today i stretched our coaches this morning and just you know right now they need us on a variety of levels uh yeah outside of football and so i think that uh you know the coaching job right now is not as much about x's and o's is just ensuring that our that our players are in a good spot mentally what has your communication been like with those in isolation and do they seem to be holding up well you know we've got we've got a large number right now each of them were on the zoom uh meeting with our team today uh individually you know i message back and forth with them they message with me throughout i've had one that just text me just a second ago so uh we're in constant con contact with them daily from position coaches support staff so we try to keep a steady flow going just to make sure that they're doing okay coach i don't know if you can answer this it might be uh something that john needs to answer but are the majority of the positives asymptomatic are there any that are a little more sick let's say than others i think there's a mixture there's a lot that are asymptomatic right now we have very mild symptoms with the ones that do have symptoms does that add to the frustration coach that you've got some that don't have any symptoms and some to have minor symptoms and you're shutting everything down yeah and you got you know the ones in quarantine a lot of them have no symptoms and have tested negative but uh it is frustrating and it's uh but it's the reality of the situation that we're in and as we said back during the summer uh situations like this this is this is what's going to cause games to be postponed or canceled throughout the year you know we're dealing with it right now you know i think we're probably a couple of weeks ahead of most of the institutions in the country as far as we brought our students back early i think you're going to see a lot more of this coming in the next few weeks hey coach um i want to just briefly kind of take this in a completely different direction i know this was the big news today for you guys and very disappointing but pardon me um i was wondering if when you met with your students today um you know we've been aware of some of the social justice issues that have been going on dominating the news cycle this week with all this going on with you and marshall in the postponement did you have a chance to talk to them about that and perhaps anything they'd like to do either the next few weeks or even as the season starts yes we did discuss that today and uh this has been an ongoing discussion all summer um it's something that we've had a significant dialogue with our leadership council about we have a couple of initiatives uh that we are uh working on right now in addition to um the things that we did with voter registration and uh the video that the team put out this summer uh it's a topic that's very important to me uh i am very sensitive to the issue obviously you know being you know i was a prep athlete i was a college athlete i've been a prep and college coach for many many years so i am accustomed to being in an environment that's very diverse i have close friends that have skin tone that's different than mine and i have strong feelings about equality so this is something that's very important to us as coaching staff and also something that's very important to our student athletes coach this is obviously a fluid situation with the paws you guys are in is the the hope maybe to get back on the field by sometime next week or is it just a day by day thing in that regard you know i think it's day by day uh but at the same time we do hope to return uh sooner rather than later um i think that you're just having the ability to begin some conditioning and weight training socially distanced over the next couple of days is a good first step uh you know with those that aren't in quarantine to get them back active so that's that's a good first step so uh hopefully at some point next week we can get back out on the field and start practicing again but you know even when we do we're gonna have to you know we have to take it back uh from where we were when we got paused from the coaching and kind of game plan side of it i know coaches are so uh kind of regimented and you focus on this team and then this team and then the next team you know i mean you were basically getting into that with marshall and now marshall's wiped out at least temporarily you might not know if you know how you all handled that from the coaching side just the fluidity of planning for opponents at this point it's very much the same as the players you know it's you know we feel very locked into our marshall game plan uh we're very good about it uh we've spent you know well over the past week uh you know diving deep into it so uh we feel like we're a good place with that um you know whenever that game does get rescheduled then you know we have a good uh a good starting point for uh you know for those preparations uh you know we are already today uh beginning preparation for ucf uh if that is our next game uh and began watching film of them uh about midday today uh we did a summer study so we already have a rough game plan for them but um you know we that's that's what we've got to do as coaches get get get ready for what's next are there any other questions for coach houston yeah coach how how are you uh what are y'all telling to the players to um make sure that they're they're keeping to themselves and maybe trying to keep keep us bubble for themselves um what were you all doing or what were you all able to talk to them about well i mean the you know the protocols have been the same for quite some time now it's it's just extremely important that they wear a mask anytime that they are outside of the room uh they've got to maintain social distancing washing their hands regularly throughout the day multiple times avoiding large gatherings and just you know they've got they've got to be diligent of not putting themselves or their teammates at risk and you know this situation i'll talk to him about it today you look just over a week ago you know we had one active positive case in our program and that was from an outside contact and that had been going on for multiple weeks and then today we are where we are um it is just it's a painful reminder of just how serious this is and just how diligent they have to be and it's not a it's not something that's negotiable it's not something that they can well i'll do it if i if i want to it's not that it's you have to do these things if you want to protect your teammates protect yourself and if you want to play this fall