NC State director of athletics Boo Corrigan joined the Packer & Durham show on the ACC Network Tuesday morning to discuss the upcoming fall sports season.

The Wolfpack AD talked about what led women's soccer to not play this fall, the decision to go without fans through the month of September and the new safety protocols put in place for ACC football.

Here are the highlights from Corrigan's appearance:

With football right around the corner and the decision announced yesterday to not play women's soccer, how would you define the last couple of weeks for NC State athletics?

"We've said from the beginning that this is something where you have to keep your knees bent and you have to be ready for whatever is going to come after. As much as you want to try to control, we don't. The virus is in control of us. We're part of the North Carolina system. We're part of the state of North Carolina.

"First and foremost, our thoughts are always going to be with our student-athletes. As we looked at specifically the women's soccer program, when you get down to the numbers we were at, it's really hard to imagine being able to put them onto a field where you feel safe, where you feel good about them and just the wear and tear on their bodies.

"Ultimately you have to make the right decisions in a time that's truly unprecedented."

Do you fear, maybe not just at NC State, but other sports out there that could easily be impacted and determined in the next week to 10 days because of these types of situations?

"I do. I don't know that fear is the right word because it's such a unique time, you want the students to have a voice and you always want to have their health and welfare at the forefront.

"There is no script, there is no blueprint for what we're dealing with right now. I think it's more about making the right decision as opposed to being fearful of making a decision."

How difficult was the conversation regarding fans in the stands for Wolfpack football?

"We know our fans are going to be disappointed and our players are going to be disappointed, really everyone involved. We want the band on the field marching out, we want the cheerleaders there and we want everything back to how it's been in the past.

"At this point in time, we've been prepared for any scenario and had been thinking through these scenarios. Hopefully sometime later this fall we'll be able to get some people in there.

"The good thing for us is we created a Preserve the Pack fund for people to be able to donate their season tickets to the Wolfpack Club to help us there or be able to move their tickets forward to pay for their 2021 tickets. We've had great success from our incredibly passionate fan base. It's really stepped up and it's really going to help us get through 21."

How encouraging is it to still see the energy from athletes and coaches despite all of the uncertainty that has surrounded us this summer?

"Whether it's Leon Krapf with our men's soccer program, who's the head of the SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) for not only NC State but the ACC or Melissa Evans with volleyball, Isaiah Moore or Grant Gibson [football], they're so energized by being together and by being with their teams.

" [Football head coach Dave] Doeren just loves talking about getting on the grass and how soon we can get back on the grass. That's all of our coaches. We want to get back to that real sense of normalcy. Our young men and young women want to compete, they want to represent and that's really where we're pulling a lot of our energy right now. We're also from our standpoint, an administrative standpoint, trying to give as much energy as we can."

Does it seem like everybody is on the same page now in terms of the safety standards and enhancements for the conferences that are going to play?

"Yes. It's something that our players, from a football standpoint, actually came to us and asked us to test more so we've been testing two days a week for the last couple of weeks.

"In season sports are being tested one day a week, out of season are being tested every two weeks. When you think about the students [athletes], that's one population, but you also have the managers, trainers, coaches and it just continues to go out from there. We're comfortable with where we are right now. It's been an interesting 10-14 days.

"We've tested almost 3,000 times for 30 positive tests so our rates are good in that respect but any test positive is going to cause some concern. We have to continue to move forward to test, to quarantine, to make sure we're putting everyone in the right spot.

"As we move into the season, obviously, it'll be three days a week."

What was the experience like rescheduling the originally scheduled football season opener for NC State versus Virginia Tech?

"Looking at what that entire thing was, there's been a football subcommittee group of which I've been a part of. More importantly, the coaches that have been on there have been understanding as we lay out our ability to play these games. Full credit to commissioner [John] Swofford and Michael Strickland has done a great job, as well as the coaches that were on that committee.

"Credit to [Virginia Tech AD] Whit Babcock, who didn't didn't waver, didn't say 'what if we do this, what if we do that?' It's a really tough time for us but everyone's stepped forward as a conference to figure out what the most right thing was and we did it.

"When the time comes, if we need to do the same thing, we're going to act in a corporate way, meaning from a corporate citizen standpoint, and do the right thing by any other member of the conference."

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