Who would have thought that the remnants of a hurricane that made landfall on the state of North Carolina's coastline and feeling the distant shakes of a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in the opposite corner of the state during a week’s span would be the least of the conversations around the NC State Wolfpack football building?

Such is 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

NC State head coach Dave Doeren and his players felt confident about the chances of a fall football season when the ACC announced a schedule of 10 league games plus one non-conference opponent that would begin Sept. 12, with the Wolfpack playing its opener at Virginia Tech.

“We all thought when the schedule came out that it was done, that we’re playing,” Doeren said.

That confidence was shattered over the weekend when reports surfaced that the Big Ten was ready to quit on the fall, and then subsequent news that the Pac-12 was equally likely to do the same.

It became clear to Doeren that his players needed answers, and fortunately for him NC State director of athletics Boo Corrigan volunteered his help. A team meeting was arranged for Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m.

Doeren said a lot of questions were asked, many of them expected, like what would happen with eligibility and what is the timeline for final decisions. According to Doeren, they received straight talk from Corrigan’s answers.

“I think that’s the thing our guys respect about Boo,” Doeren added. “He’s very straight up with them. He gives them information. He’s not trying to duck and dodge. It’s just how transparent he is. If he doesn’t know, he’ll tell them, ‘I don’t know that one.’”

Given the news of last weekend, Doeren and his staff decided to ease up earlier this week on practice with the hope of beginning more contact this weekend.

Doeren has told his players that they have to “embrace change” because what the coach explains to them on one day may not be the case the next. He also feels it is important to maintain the dialogue in uncertain times so that the players will have clear minds when they hit the practice fields. For Doeren, there is an emphasized priority on making sure players have a voice in the meetings.

“I’m not making any decisions without their input right now,” Doeren noted.

The coach also added: “For me, to have an uncertainty out there is only going to prevent them from being the players that I want them to be, so we’re very cautious about that.”

The Big Ten and Pac-12 medical advisors have declared that there are too many unknowns to continue pressing ahead, especially with the recent reports of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, in recovering COVID-19 patients. Doeren does not know the specifics of those two conferences’ decisions other than what he reads in public reports.

What he does know is the ACC has implemented a protocol that is working so far, and he understands they will need to be flexible.

“I think we’re all listening to the medical advisory board and all the information first to our medical staff and then us,” Doeren explained. “Everything that we know, we’re doing. I think you guys all know this thing evolves on what the best practices are, and as they change, we’ll change with them.

“We do everything that we know how to do because of the experts and their guidelines. And if all of the sudden they change what they think we should be doing, we’ll change with them. The last thing I am going to do is put any of our staff or our players at risk. The things that they are asking us to do are working.”

That includes a “return-to” protocol that involved a cardiac exam and an additional delay of 5-10 days post-quarantine to clear a physical. Some players had concerns about in-person classes that began Monday, but Doeren said that the early feedback was that they felt safe with how the classrooms were laid out.

Juggling going to class safely while playing football in a pandemic is just one of many challenges facing the Wolfpack, but the hardest thing may be dealing with the unknowns.

“You’re sitting there thinking you are going to play, and the next day you are not, then you are and then you’re not,” Doeren noted. “It’s hard.”

If the worst comes to fruition and the fall schedule is canceled, the coach said his immediate focus turns to having access to his team. He does not want a repeat of what happened in the spring when they were forced to go home.

“I think the biggest fear for all these guys is it’s just going to go back to where it was in March,” Doeren concluded.

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