The NAIA Council of Presidents voted Friday to postpone the football national championships to next spring.
The move mirrors what the council did earlier this week with the other fall sports championships, moving the national championships in cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball to the spring, as well, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The NAIA is allowing individual conferences to move forward with fall seasons. The Great Plains Athletic Conference, which includes Concordia, Doane, Hastings and Midland, announced July 21 that its fall sports will go on as originally scheduled.
"I think we feel we are still in an area to attempt a fall season," GPAC Commissioner Corey Westra said. "There are no guarantees with what the future looks like. You can play the what-ifs, but with the way the pandemic has played out, you don't know. With football and the corresponding sports, it gives you a longer runway to work with now.
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"In that regard, it doesn't take the pressure off the fall. There's a lot of uncertainty around the fall, but it allows you to know the endgame that the national championship is in the spring."
GPAC football practices begin Aug. 15 with games starting Sept. 12. Concordia is set to face Doane on the road for a 6 p.m. contest on opening night. GPAC member Morningside is the two-time defending NAIA football champion.
Morningside football coach Steve Ryan would've preferred the playoffs to stay in the fall but he understands the decision because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coach was bracing for the decision for a while. Now that the big decision has been made, he can shift his focus to getting his players prepped for the first practice next month.
"COVID makes everything different, and once the others moved, it's hard to keep football in the fall. I guess we just have to focus on the fall and try and have the best season we can in the fall," said Ryan. "Spring is so far away; we can't concern ourselves with it. It's a total unknown. We take care of the fall and then be fortunate enough to have a spring season. We will worry about it then."
The NAIA also lifted the restriction on the maximum of games a program can schedule, which was reduced to nine. Programs can now go back to an 11-game football schedule starting no earlier than Sept. 12. It is also allowing a split schedule, meaning all of the GPAC schools can play nine games in the fall and then possibly play one or two games in the spring if they wanted to.
"A lot of people are going to do a split schedule. I don't even know how that will work," Ryan said. "We have the opportunity to have something really good this fall with still playing a nine-game schedule and hopefully that works out. Play one or two teams (in the spring) and play in the playoffs. We have a good league and we have a real good nine-game schedule."