We were all disappointed to learn today. Wake Forest will not be playing Florida State tomorrow due to COVID issues and the Seminole football program. That means the Deacs will remain at 4-4. Those 8 games the fewest amount played for any ACC team this season. And with that being the backdrop, we welcome in Wake AD John Curry to the show.
Before we get to what you'll be doing for the seniors this evening in just a bit, I've got a few practical questions to get to. Was the possibility of cancellation something on your radar screen early in the week? Or was this a result of positives on the Thursday afternoon or Thursday morning tests for teams that are set to take the road Friday? Well, you know, Josh, I hadn't thought about it until you said it like you just said it, but the ACC's modification of our medical advisory testing protocol a few weeks ago moved up the Friday test to Thursday. So I guess the little bit of silver lining in this cloud is that it was the testing yesterday, which we call the double swap, both nozzles on Thursdays, that we had two here. They had down there and that was the test and it resulted apparently in a positive this morning with some contact tracing and then combined with previous attrition, the Seminoles could not play.
So you asked me the question in a way that made me think about the positives. The silver lining is we're not finding this out on Saturday morning right before kickoff. How did you inform the team that this would be the case? So I don't know if my timeline is completely accurate, but it was about 10 o'clock or 10, 15 in that range when David Coburn, the athletic director at Florida State, called me and he said that he wasn't final at that point. Coach Closson was just walking into the walkthrough with the team and so he went on into the walkthrough with the team knowing that it was in question, but still possible. And then over the next 45 minutes or so, their doctor had reached out to our doctor and then David had reached back out to me to confirm and so I went over to McCreary Indoor, our terrific facility, and Jordan, Jerry and I let Coach Closson know and it was literally right as they were finishing the walkthrough. So Coach Closson shared it with the team as soon as he knew and then I spoke as well just to give a little bit more background on the progression of information. We see the reaction on social media. How would you describe the reaction to the team upon you letting them know the news? This team loves playing football.
They were very disappointed, but I was also really proud. Sam Hartman stood up right away and talked about wanting to play in a bowl game and wanting to finish the season with the win and the opportunity to do that. And then our team dismissed to go to their post-workout activities and then I'm really proud of how our fan experience and operations and communications team really was already in action and came up with almost instantaneously a plan to convert tonight's virtual pep rally into a virtual senior night celebration. So we have fireworks sponsored by Wake Forest Baptist Health that have been planned and the team will do, we can't accommodate fans unfortunately, but we will have the team in a senior night celebration out on Truist Field that will be live streamed on Twitter and Facebook.
This is a really special group, a very special group and we are honoring them as best we can under the circumstances. And to be clear on the time, starting at 6.15, correct? 6.15 is the show comes on live at 6.15 and we've got some pre-recorded elements that we were going to use for the pep rally that our team has converted into this field and our players will be out on the field.
We'll recognize them and you'll see them online. Wake AD, John Curry with us here on Sports Hub Triad. Before you started talking about, all right, now we're just turning our sights to a bowl game, was your first reaction, is it possible to find a replacement? Maybe not for tomorrow, but maybe for Monday or Tuesday? Well, when I called Coach Clawson to tell him that this might be the case, he was really philosophical and it really comes down, Josh, at this point.
We control what we control and we can't control what we don't control. So if you go back a little bit, there was a moment on Sunday morning when we did have some concern and Florida State had had some injuries on Saturday last week and lost a couple key players. David, to his credit, Coburn at Florida State was very honest in communicating with us on Sunday as they went through their medical evaluation, but they got through it and felt like they could play and that continued throughout this week. Going back to last Sunday, that was a moment in time where if we weren't going to be able to play this game against Florida State this weekend, we definitely wanted to see if we could find a game and potentially play in an earlier bowl game. I did do a bunch of work on Sunday.
This past Sunday, my wife would tell you I worked all day. I didn't really feel like that, but I was on the phone all day trying to figure out different options, either for an earlier bowl game or I did have a couple conversations with colleagues about possibly an alternate team to play. It was about four o'clock on Sunday when Florida State let us know that they did think they were going to be able to play.
So obviously, this COVID, as we've learned, it's a day-to-day, moment-by-moment thing, and it ended up that we don't have an option now. Really, there's just not many teams that are starting back up at this point. Most of the teams have shut down or already have a game. Or there is a logistical challenge if you wanted to say, hey, let's play Colorado tomorrow. They're not playing, but that's really a tough stretch as well. And in football, there is an element of game planning that's a little bit different than if you were just going to go play tennis or something like that.
Or maybe even basketball. And I use that as a transition here because... That's a nice segue there, Josh. That's really, really good.
Top-notch stuff there. Jon Curry with us here. The plan, as far as I understand it, is for you guys to return to practice Sunday, three weeks to the day that Wake had its last practice on the floor, November 29th, and look ahead for the Syracuse game on December 30th. Before we talk about the game on the 30th, as far as you understand it, has every affected player by COVID now recovered from it, expected to return? We have never said specifically about specific players, when and how they would come back. We do anticipate that we will be able to resume practice, but I don't have information about specific players.
And we do have to remember that all the progressions are individual to each player based upon when they got it, when they cleared the quarantine, when they started back their work, etc. It's all very specific to each player and we will be very, as we have been since this whole thing started, we'll be very vigilant about ensuring that no player returns until they're absolutely cleared and ready to go. I was listening to Kevin Keats' comments last night as they went to St. Louis, quickly scheduled a road game, they only had six guys practicing last Saturday when they resumed after two weeks, and then they got on the floor with only nine guys in uniform. And even though they lost the game, Coach Keats said it was good for us to get out on the floor and they're set to play Campbell before ACC play begins for them against the Tar Heels next week. Have you started to look at maybe the idea of playing a game immediately before the 30th, or is the 30th the earliest possible point Wake basketball is going to be playing? It's the latter.
30th is the earliest we can play. Okay. And I want to close with this, you had the statement out there about Jim Phillips, and he is set to be the new commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference succeeding John Swanford after his 24 years in the Greensboro headquarters for the league. Have you spoken to Jim this week and what kind of relationship do you have?
Yeah, I did. Jim and I traded messages on Monday and then I was driving up to do something on Tuesday morning at 8 o'clock and the phone rang and it was Jim and we ended up spending close to an hour just talking. He and I go back a long way, over 20 years of relationship and friendship. We have a common mentor in Mike Hamilton. And, you know, just been a very close colleague, you know, during my time at Kansas State as athletics director, you know, I went up to see, you know what they had done from a facility standpoint and one of my guys that worked for me at K-State on his staff up there so we have a really good relationship and I couldn't be I got off the phone on Tuesday morning, Josh and I was so fired up. And I was fired up because our board made such a tremendous choice and President Hatch was a big part of that leadership, made such a tremendous choice and instantly, you know, Jim gets it with the questions he asks, and there's no like, I'm going to try to figure out what this job is. Tell me about this aspect and tell me about these needs and it's no different than, you know, when Dave Kwasin takes over at Wake Forest or a new athletic director goes somewhere and they got their checklist of, you know, and Jim has already, he's already talked to every athletic director in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He's already talked to every CEO in the Atlantic Coast Conference, even though he doesn't start for a couple months officially. You know, he's on the job already. Now his program has a big game tomorrow night in the Big Ten Championship game, but I'm thrilled.
It's a perfect person to build on what Commissioner Swafford has done over his tenure. John Curry with us here, Wake AD. Appreciate you being here on short notice and filling in as many blanks as you did there on football, basketball and with the new commissioner coming in for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Watch tonight 615 this evening on Twitter and Facebook. If you're a Wake Forest fan, it would mean a lot to those seniors. I know it with them not being able to play tomorrow if you were there as they get sent off tonight being the senior day that they put together virtually in the wake of this news of cancellation. John, appreciate you being here. All right, Josh. Thanks so much. Go Deacs.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-02-12 04:30:40 / 2023-02-12 04:35:15 / 5