Sande Charles
University of Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin addressed the media on Wednesday morning wearing a mask and seemed to be in good spirits, ” I’m feeling alright. It’s a process that is unfortunate.” Sumlin, of course, is talking about being COVID-19 positive. The news broke this week that he was, in fact, positive with the virus. “We still don’t know how or why or what happened,” Sumlin explained with regards to how he contracted the virus.
Coach Sumlin was tested last week but wasn’t confirmed positive until this week. So, he has already been a week into this and is still “asymptomatic.” Every morning he and his son have a routine where he goes through a checklist to see how they are both feeling and neither have symptoms, “It’s a tough time, but we are getting through it.”
There is still a concern, however, that this virus could still impact the team if it made it’s way to the players, ” There is a real possibility that something like that could happen. You just have to do the best you can do and prepare. The league with our testing protocol and playing a conference schedule and controlling what that looks like gives us the best chance to play all of these games.”
The team will start practice on Friday, and Sumlin isn’t sure yet if he will be remote or not, ” We are having that discussion later this week to see where I am this weekend. We will let you all know.”
Sumlin’s message to others about the virus is that “this is serious. No matter what precautions you have, you have to be extremely aggressive about your protection and your health and others.”
