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Kansas' Les Miles on 2020 Season: We're Gonna Play College Football in the Fall
May 7, 2020
Kansas head coach Les Miles is confident there will be a 2020 college football season.
"We're gonna play college football in the fall, that's what's been said," Miles said Thursday on KCSP's Cody & Gold (h/t Jesse Pantuosco of Radio.com). "There's a bunch of guys who can't wait to play."
Spring sports were canceled across the NCAA landscape as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which included practices and spring games for football. The NCAA recently announced a plan for "resocialization," but it will require infection rates of COVID-19 to decline for two weeks and will follow steps similar to the three phases of return laid out by the federal government.
Out of a poll of 114 Division I athletic directors, 99 percent said there will be football in some form during the 2020 season, per Brett McMurphy of Stadium. However, only 24 percent believe the year will start on time as scheduled, with 61 percent expecting a start in October or November.
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick argued each conference could start at different times in a split season, per Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports.
Miles still remains confident, although he acknowledged the start of offseason work might be delayed to mid-August or later.
Whenever practices begin, the 66-year-old plans to take proper precautions.
"Now we got to make sure we’re safe with our kids," he said. "Our players, when they take the field, it’s got to be done with the idea that we’re doing it with them in mind."
Miles is heading into his second season with Kansas after going 3-9 in his first year.