Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz argued Tuesday that college football coronavirus restrictions make it “impossible” to have a season this year.
Appearing on Fox News’ “Bill Hemmer Reports,” Holtz criticized the measures as an attempt to eliminate all risk, then contrasted them with what he considered the NFL’s more lenient rules.
“I don’t believe we are,” Holtz said of whether there would be a season.
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“Number one, if you don’t have students, how will you protect your football players?” Holtz asked. “And with the rules and regulations they have in college football concerning the virus it’s just absolutely impossible to have football.”
“They’ve had over 100 football players test positive for coronavirus and yet not one of them has been hospitalized,” he continued. “If an individual on a college football team tested positively, the 20 people he talked to are quarantined for two weeks.”
Holtz then compared those rules with his understanding of the NFL’s rules: “I’m an NFL player and I get tested positive and I talk to 20 people, they test those 20 people immediately and, if all those people test negative, they move on with it.”
“The educators are looking to make sure that we have absolutely no risk whatsoever, and you can’t have that,” Holtz continued. “Life is a matter of risk, and they’re gonna close everything down until … I see no way there could be college football.”
The legendary former Notre Dame and South Carolina coach expressed frustration with not knowing when “it’s going to end.” (RELATED: Lou Holtz Compares Playing College Football During The Coronavirus Pandemic To Storming The Beaches Of Normandy On D-Day)
“Scientists only look at it from one single side,” he concluded after pointing out the average of $60 million each school would lose if there is not a football season. “Sometimes when you have medications, the medication is worse than the illness. Sometimes the cure creates an awful lot of side effects and we have to look at what is best for the people.”
NFL coronavirus rules currently call for infected individuals to remain isolated for 10 days.
“Teams will need to perform contact tracing if any person tests positive or possesses symptoms of the virus,” the New York Post reported. “Any person in the proximity of an infected individual will be required to be tested for eight straight days — regardless of the test result — while a person who tests positive must remain away from the team facility for at least 10 days, unless testing negative twice in a five-day span after a positive test. Doctors must clear any person who tests positive, before returning to the site.”
