Hunter Yurachek has walked a political tightrope about as well as any Arkansas athletics director has done in managing a complete shutdown of sports in an unprecedented manner.
We’ll probably never know his true feelings because, quite simply, we don’t need to know. It was a decision made for him by folks higher up the pecking order.
When he made the announcement March 13 everything was suspended until April 15 he was obviously pained. He also said his initial thoughts when they cancelled the SEC Tournament in the middle of it was that might have been a little quick.
Then he quickly added he understood the concerns of everyone as everyone in charge of anything has struggled to hit a target that is constantly moving against something nobody can see and fewer understand.
Not even the so-called experts really have a clue. Based on their public flip-flops this has gone all over the place. The numbers say the overwhelming majority of infections occur in closed spaces and even the CDC has said transmission from surfaces is far less risky than they originally thought.
It appears this entire thing still has far more questions than answers, but Yurachek is at least taking a leadership role and getting things ready to get players back on campus for those infamous “voluntary” workouts that in reality are’t that voluntary at all.
Things might get interesting if some players don’t want to come back for those workouts.
The guess is that won’t happen. Everybody is tired of being limited in their actions and many are probably ready to roll right now.
He will outline his plan for re-opening things Wednesday morning. Because of the way the entire Covid-19 crisis changes from day to day, Yurachek knows without me telling him that plan has to be flexible and could probably change by the first of July based on what we find out.
Many expect the virus to reduce significantly as the temperatures increase. If that’s the case by the end of June in Arkansas it won’t be around much, especially for people that get outside.
