3/13/2020 baseball Edit

Yurachek has strong response to NCAA canceling spring championships

Andrew Hutchinson • HawgBeat

Managing Editor

It has been less than 24 hours since the NCAA made the unprecedented decision to cancel all winter and spring championships in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The sports world is still reeling from the fact that not only will there be no March Madness - the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments - but also no College World Series, Women’s College World Series and other championships in the coming months.

Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek was blindsided by the NCAA’s decision to go ahead and cancel events that were scheduled for May and June, he said on The Morning Rush radio show Friday morning.

He took the opportunity to strongly criticize the decision and the way it was announced Thursday afternoon.

“I have absolutely no idea why that decision was made, in my opinion, in haste (or) why is was communicated the way it was - through a press release,” Yurachek said. “That’s how I found out when my plane landed from Nashville yesterday afternoon.

“I didn’t have an opportunity to talk to any of our spring sports coaches, I did not have an opportunity to make that announcement to any of our spring sports student-athletes. I’m really disappointed not necessarily in the decision, but how that decision for spring sports that occur in May and June, how that information was disseminated from the NCAA.

“Again, I’m an AD at a Power Five institution and I would think that I would have found that information out in a timely fashion to be able to communicate with our coaches and our student-athletes, but I didn’t. I don’t even know that Commissioner (Greg) Sankey at this point in time knows exactly why that decision was made. Very disappointed in the leadership of the NCAA.

“I get men’s and women’s basketball, indoor track and field, swimming, gymnastics. Those were imminent championships that had to be dealt with. Not sure why the decision was made in such haste for our spring sports and why it was communicated the way it was.”

Earlier in the day, the SEC announced it was suspending all sports through at least March 30, at which point the conference would reassess the coronavirus situation and make further plans.

That is still the plan, Yurachek said, but it could also change within the hour because it is still a very fluid situation. It is unclear if baseball, softball and other spring sports could resume after that March 30 date even if they aren’t competing for an NCAA title.

Those decisions will be made at the conference level. Currently, the only thing the SEC ADs were given autonomy over was spring football and practices for other sports.

Nothing is set in stone, as Yurachek will meet with all of the coaches Friday morning. One option for spring football could be to still begin next week as scheduled, but then have an extended break when the players return from spring break. However, no decisions have been made.

“Right now, we had them in somewhat of a controlled environment and, as we know it now, there’s not any cases of the coronavirus on our campus, but then we’re going to send them off to spring break,” Yurachek said. “They’re going to go to various places around our state and our country, then they’re going to come back and that’s really when it really gets a little bit hairy, where they’re leaving a controlled environment and then coming back here.”

One of the topics that emerged in the immediate aftermath of the NCAA’s decision was eligibility. Yurachek said he would “absolutely” support athletes getting another year to play, especially those in spring sports such as baseball and softball whose seasons just began.

There are other things that need to occur for that to happen, though, with roster sizes being the most notable.

“There’s going to have to be some legislation that allows not only the extra year of eligibility that I would be supportive of for those senior student-athletes, but also some roster size increases for a year because you also don’t want to hurt those student-athletes that are going to join your teams next who have signed their National Letter of Intents as well,” Yurachek said.

While the NCAA is undoubtedly losing some money from not being able to put on its championships, especially the basketball tournaments, it is not yet known what kind of financial impact the decision will have on Arkansas.

Although the Razorbacks are having to refund tickets and losing projected concessions revenue, they are also saving money by not chartering athletes across the country and from the temporary hold on all on- and off-campus recruiting.

The hope, Yurachek said, is that those things will mostly offset.