Coach K would like to see mandatory COVID-19 testing return to college hoops
There are many things Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski never wants to revisit from last season’s COVID protocols, like empty arenas and lack of team gatherings.
On Saturday, with COVID-19 cases impacting the sports world again like last season, Krzyzewski spoke adamantly about bringing one thing back – mandatory testing.
“We are making a big mistake in not doing that,” Krzyzewski said Saturday after his Blue Devils beat Elon, 87-56, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke played Elon only because the first two teams it lined up to play, Cleveland State and Loyola (Maryland), paused their seasons due to positive COVID-19 results on Wednesday and Friday.
Even as Duke scrambled to get the game with Elon scheduled for Saturday, Blue Devils assistant coach Nolan Smith entered the school’s COVID-mandated health and safety protocols.
No one at Duke said if Smith tested positive or was in close contact with a COVID-19 positive person. Krzyzewski said Saturday, after a video call with Smith, who was not at Cameron for the game, that his former player “feels great.”
Duke’s medical team alerted Elon of Smith’s situation on Friday. With that, Krzyzewski said, the entire team and staff were tested. All came up negative. Two more tests were conducted on everyone Saturday, with all the results coming back negative, so the game went on as scheduled.
“Our doctors, they all felt good about it,” Krzyzewski said. “Can we be sure that would happen everywhere? I would like to know if the other team was tested, before we play, going forward.”
Last season, before COVID-19 vaccines were widely available, this kind of regular testing was mandated by the ACC. All teams had to test before and after games any positive results reported to the league office and other teams.
This season, the ACC’s Medical Advisory Group set relaxed guidelines for teams that reached the 85% vaccination threshold. While anyone unvaccinated had to go through regular testing, vaccinated people were exempted.
Professional sports leagues adopted similar protocols.
The newly discovered variants, particularly delta and omicron, have complicated the situation as vaccinated people are testing positive for COVID-19.
That’s why Krzyzewski is in favor of a return to robust testing as a precaution.
“I don’t know why we can’t do that,” he said.
That’s especially true, he said, with forfeit rules now in place. If a team has to remove itself from a scheduled ACC game, it must forfeit. Last year, games were postponed or canceled in those situations.
Krzyzewski is against forfeits and wants the ACC to revisit the current guidelines.
“I don’t like the forfeit thing,” he said, “and I don’t like the fact that the two teams are not tested the day before, the night before like we did last year.”
The Blue Devils are a fully vaccinated team. Krzyzewski said he and the coaches have received their booster shots but the players have yet to do so. As a university, Duke mandates students must be boosted by the end of January, with certain exemptions.
“I wish we would have it now,” Krzyzewski said.
Because of Smith’s situation, Duke’s coaches and other support staff on the bench wore masks during Saturday’s game. Previously they had been unmasked in the bench area.
The players did not wear masks. Neither did Elon’s coaching staff.
“We wanted to make sure,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve been tested. And we’ll be tested every day now just to make sure.”
Duke has nothing but ACC games on its schedule the remainder of the regular season, beginning with Wednesday’s 9 p.m. home game with Virginia Tech.
By then, if Krzyzewski gets his wish, the ACC will reconsider its guidelines to bring back testing and take forfeits out of the equation.
“This can get screwy quick,” he said. “It already is kinda screwy.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2021 at 8:15 PM.