Notre Dame A.D. Jack Swarbrick: COVID-19 Zoom Transcript

Notre Dame veteran athletics director Jack Swarbrick on Tuesday conducted a Zoom video conference with members of the media from around the country.

Swarbrick addressed items from the ongoing name and image likeness legislation that the NCAA is advancing to ongoing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic across all sports and specific to football scheduling, as well as Brian Kelly’s upcoming contract extension and possible plans to honor recently retired women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw.

Swarbrick’s entire question-and-answer transcript is included below.

Q: On challenges of state by state openings and if he's worried about a competitive disadvantage:

JS: "I'm not concerned about a competitive advantage or disadvantage. I've accepted long ago in this pandemic that it's a natural consequence. I've told our coaches over and over again not to focus on that issue and to focus on health - your health, the staff's health and the staff of our students. We'll go from there. Whatever the consequences are, they are.

"There will be great disparity in this. The NCAA will do what it can to regulate it, but you will have certain instances where schools aren't open and others are, or states haven't reopened and some have. The bigger challenge for us is the consequence that it will have on competing in the fall. It's one thing to say one team gets a competitive advantage, it's another to say what circumstances under which you can play. What's the record consequence of someone deciding they can't play or having a week they can't play because of an outbreak? The whole notion of how we'll pick a start date - even on a conference basis given the complexities of different state regulations or schools opening. It makes the schedule building and figuring out how to evaluate what we'll have at the end of the day in the 2020 football season incredibly complex at this point.

"Very different circumstances than the pro sports, who I think can figure out how to begin all at once despite state differences. Most of our members are state institutions."

Q: On the status of the Navy game:

JS: "At this point, it's still on the schedule. As Chet mentioned, our focus in part because there is no reason to have a different focus is on moving forward with it. We get more information every day. We get more information from Ireland and a better sense of college football and whether it can begin on time.

"Until some of the blanks are filled in, we're not at a point where we're prepared to do anything than plan for it.

"Having said that, we recognize the risk and all the things that could happen in the next weeks or months to cause us to decide that we can't do that. At the present, it's still on the calendar and we're still preparing as if we're going to play."

Q: On if Congress will have the interest to grant anti-trust exemptions:

JS: "Name the environment in which Congress is least likely to act - an election year and a pandemic would be one and two on the list. It's a little hard to have much confidence that we can get Congressional attention. Once you're past the election, there is always a period of time where leadership settles in again. I'm not sure of the movement legislatively of the NCAA and the opportunity to have a productive discussion with Congress.

"I think the opportunity is there to get some limited protection. I want to stress limited. College athletics doesn't need nor should it seek broad anti-trust exemption. But, as long as we're in an environment where we are individual institutions, the students with whom we work are not employees, so there isn't a collective bargaining solution. The alternative of every time a rule is made, you get sued on an anti-trust claim. It's not a tenable way forward.

"I do think the student-athletes and schools would be well-served with some limited exemption that everyone understood and that we can act in accordance with."

Q: On May 15th being a significant date for Notre Dame:

JS: "It is significant. To be determined in the first instance is how the school will approach the second half of the summer term. Father John (Jenkins) announced earlier the first half of the term would be done online with May 15 being the time to decide how we approach the second half of the summer term.

"That will help inform the decision about moving forward beyond that. For us in athletics, it has an impact on if we conduct any summer camps. We already said we won't conduct any overnight camps. If summer school was in session on campus of the second half of the summer, we might consider some day camps again.

"It also plays into the issue of when the football team would return and the circumstances under which they'd be preparing. Are the dorms open in the traditional way they are in the summer? Is the dining hall available and open? Or are there some other arrangement we'll have to focus on."

Q: On health checklist for game operations:

JS: "From a game ops perspective, it starts with the team and students. We are working through all of the issues that would fall into that category. Do we need to do something different with our locker room? Do we need to create additional space taking the locker room we have now or using our game day locker room in the stadium for some students and the one in our football building for others?

"Do we approach practice differently in terms of the interaction during the course of practice? What does the weight room look like? How many people do we have in there at a time? How do we maintain the equipment between reps? All of those things are issues we're working through.

"Once we get to the game day dynamic, it's a great question. It goes from the mundane to the really important traditions about how we move on game day and what we do that has to be considered. We like a number of schools have a walk from the football office to the stadium, which is a tradition which people care a lot about. Can you do that in these circumstances? We have to make all those decisions relative to the operation to the facility itself.

"What will do we want capacity to be? How will we define capacity in the new normal going forward for the coming season? What will the entrances to the stadium look like? How will we change the concession experience? Most people are going cashless now. How can we also manage the lines?

"For me, one of the more interesting questions, I think we can control a lot in the stadium for the game day experience. I think tailgating creates a much more challenging dynamic to control and to establish some regulations around and be the safest environment you can.

"Having said all that, there is sort of a real standard point for us in a lot of our analysis is that when we look at keeping our students safe and what their experience will be before we send all of our students.

"If our football team can play, our other students should be able to be in the stadium and watch them play. First and foremost, we are focused on their safety and how they come into the stadium and what their seating arrangements are for the other students."

Q: On collaborative approach between commissioners:

JS: "I can't say enough about the extent to which they're working closely together, spending time together and communicating with each other. That's the most important thing. It gives us a chance to come up with a policy and the ability to start together.

"Having said that, I think we all recognize there is a significant chance it may not be possible that either because states or individual colleges or universities take different approaches. You can't produce a season where all members are participating in Division I football in the same way.

"We just have to take the time to figure it out as we go. I think the critical issue is learning more about it and figuring out a host of questions that become a by-product of that.

"How many games do you need to have in the regular season to have a playoff? What does a reengineered schedule do to the bowl games? What about records? What about Heisman Trophies? Is a team who's school decides they can't participate in a position where it's credited with a forfeit? I sure hope not. All of that has to be figured out as we move closer.

"There is an interesting tension. I know you face it in your own jobs on how much time you spend on those issues before you have more information. We can spend every hour of everyday modeling and trying to anticipate some of these, but each day brings new information. We're trying to find the balance. We are going to face a lot of those questions down the road.

Q: On Big Ten Conference mental health efforts:

JS: "We're pleased to be part of the Big Ten efforts. I can't thank commissioner Kevin Warren enough to be part of it. That invitation is a result of us being a member of the conference in hockey. We are fully represented in that effort. Our psychologists are part of the group that is shaping the policies and having discussions.

"I applaud Kevin very much for taking this initiative. We're pleased to be part of it and it's a focus for us as well.

"As with other institutions, we've grown our staff in this area significantly in recent years in recognition of the challenges.

"I think it's critical to state in this that it's not an athletics only issue. The need for mental health services for students at America's colleges and universities has grown exponentially in recent years. There are athletic dimensions to it, but I always get a little nervous when we talk about it as an athletics issue. I'm afraid it marginalizes the fact it's a campus-wide issue."

Q: On the new normal for Notre Dame:

JS: "I hope it's not Zoom calls. It's hard to get your arms around the middle of it. I do think there are things that will be part of the new normal.

"I think recruiting will become more virtual as an important way to save money, but it empowers everyone to recruit in a similar fashion.

"I think scheduling is going to change significantly, especially for the olympic sports. Out of this, regardless of what this year holds, will come a significant need to readdress budgeting issues across colleges and universities generally.

"For our part of it, one of the big elements will be travel. I think you see among what are generally olympic posts, more regional play and less regular season travel. I think there may even be changes made within conferences about how many conference games are required or what the conference postseason tournament looks like. All designed to reduce travel. I think that would be a very positive development for college athletics. If you're not on a bus or airplane, you're in your residence hall, classroom, or elsewhere on campus. That would be a good outcome in addition to money savings.

Q: How big of a concern are liability risks as stadium and arenas are opened back up to fans? Worried about potential lawsuits?

JS: I think we share that concern and that risk with every enterprise that opens; with every restaurant, every hotel, every theme park and every movie theater. And I think all we can do is make sure that we are complying with the best standard available to us. Rely on the experience and expertise of the scientific and medical communities. Which, by the way, colleges and universities tend to have a real advantage in terms of access to those resources.

The (coronavirus and adjustments moving forward) fundamentally change the experience of our students, whether they’re student-athletes or students on campus. So, that balancing act is tough but we’re not alone and we just have to make the best choices we can.

Q: Do you have a plan for what happens if, for instance, Brian Kelly contracts COVID-19?

JS: On a University-wide basis, we do have a plan for if any employee or student contracts the disease. And we’ve had people affiliated with the university get COVID-19. And that focus is on the same things that everyone in the country talks about; testing and tracing and isolation. And so, we’ll be engaged in all those things as our students return to campus. I’m not sure there’s any way in which it will be unique for athletics. I suppose the one distinction for us might be the extent to which some members of the athletic community, and Brian’s a good example, engage with the public more than others. So we’ll probably have discussions about how to limit that engagement or shape it in a way to be safe for both Brian and the people he encounters. And not just Brian, but all of our coaches.

Q: Salary reductions have been announced for some campus leaders. In these tough times, is there ever going to be a good time to announce an extension for Coach Kelly that’s being talked about on the recruiting trail, if that is near completion?

JS: Sure, let me take that as an opportunity to first comment on the pay reductions. Very pleased with the university’s leadership in this regard. I think many of you understand at Notre Dame, we are very intentional about making sure that any decisions like that one get made as part of the university. So some people have asked me in the preceding weeks why we haven’t made an announcement about cuts for coaches and other administrators while other universities and conferences had. And the answer was simply, that would occur when the university made the announcement. And the university has made that announcement, and I’m pleased to say that the contribution that will come from athletics personnel as it comes from salary adjustments will be over $1.5 million.

Now, as it relates to the extension of Brian’s contract, I view the two as separate in the sense that you have to make decisions to retain great faculty, great administrators on the campus and great educator-coaches, regardless of the circumstances. Our discussion with Brian has been ongoing for a long time and as soon as we get the opportunity to not meet by Zoom, I look forward to hopefully making an announcement about it.

Q: With the NBC deal, could Notre Dame get increased revenue from NBC if TV ratings rise?

JS: No. There’s nothing about the contract which addresses those circumstances and I wouldn’t anticipate asking for that. I think our partnership is such that as both of us go through the challenge of this, and keep in mind the broadcast companies have significant challenges themselves, we want to be the best partner we can be. And so our goal is to try and meet our commitment and provide our content but not to ask for anything special beyond that.

If our schedule is altered, we’ll be having discussions about what can be done to accommodate that. NBC has a very crowded sports calendar and broadcast calendar generally. But they’re great partners and if we have to have that discussion, we will (on modified schedule/programming).

Q: During the 2008-09 recession, more than 200 Olympic sports programs were cut nationwide. What do you anticipate the affect will be nationwide because of the pandemic?

JS: I don’t know whether Notre Dame will have to consider cutting programs and I don’t anticipate that happening during the course of this, as we try to figure a way through it right now. As I said earlier, I think we’ll come out of this having to look at every element of our budget. Both the revenue-side and the expense-side. So whether it is as I said earlier a different approach to travel or whether maybe some sports don’t get fully sponsored in the NCAA parlance; that is to say you don’t make a full complement of scholarships available. Or whether you change your sports program generally and say we’re going to sponsor fewer sports. I’m not sure I can think of any school in the country for which those issues aren’t on the table now. It doesn’t necessarily mean the reduction in sports will be the leading edge of cost-savings, but I do think it would be disingenuous not to say that has to be part of the consideration.

Q: What are the broad considerations looking at when it comes to reopening campus and allowing student-athletes to return? Is there a scenario where athletes return before students?

JS: The factors that the university is looking at to decide to whether to reopen campus as you’d expect relate solely to the safety of the students and the staff working with them and they’re relying on the expertise of a lot of people who are, who have great knowledge about the risks and the potentials to do it. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn or speaking for Father John (Jenkins), when I say especially at a residential college like this, there’s an enormous desire to get back on campus. It’s so central to who we are that we want to figure it out. Could there be circumstances where the campus is not yet opened and student-athletes could be welcomed back? Yes. Imagine, for example, and this is purely hypothetical on my part, that campus chooses to open for the fall term. And that’s the first date in which the residence halls are open. We’ve all agreed that at least six and probably seven weeks would be required to safely prepare the football team. So in the interest of safety there, just as with the decision to open the dorms, you’d have to figure out a way to assemble those students, to put them in an environment that’s safe. Whether it’s a residence hall or you make other accommodations to feed them and prepare them for the season. So, in that regard, fall sport teams collecting for purposes of preparing may in fact happen before schools are fully opened in a number of places.

Q: Any conferences truly considering a conference-only schedule this fall and if so, where does that leave Notre Dame football?

JS: I don’t want to speak for the conference commissioners, but I think they’re considering every option. And I would be surprised if there’s any conference that hasn’t looked at a conference-only alternative. We are very comfortable that if it goes that way, that we’ll be fine. That we’ll be able to play a high-quality, full schedule the same number of games that other teams would play. My hope and one of the things I’ve sort of encouraged a little bit in my conversations is, whether a possible model is this conference schedule plus-one; there’s so many great sort of plus-one games, traditional rivalries that occur among schools. Great rivalries in the state of Florida, for example; Clemson-South Carolina. Can you build it? Protect those and other than that one game, you build your schedule around conferences. We would love Wisconsin to still be able to play Notre Dame in Lambeau this year, or Arkansas to still visit. So we just have to see how that evolves. I am not concerned about our ability to have a challenging, robust schedule, even if the conferences go to a conference-only model.

Q: How could Olympic sports do more of a regional schedule with Notre Dame part of the ACC in those sports and could that lead to a move in conferences?

JS: No. No. It wouldn’t at all necessarily lead to that. Part of this, of course especially having launched the ACC Network, a lot of the focus is on having content available for broadcast. The home teams still control that so you’d still feed into the ACC Network a lot of great programming from those sports whenever you hosted them. You could still have a conference championship where the teams from the conference come together and compete. You could also could change your scheduling models so that you have more opportunities to travel once and play two or three times, as opposed to traveling from city to city to city. I think there’s lots of flexibility in that model. It doesn’t disrupt at all the core of the conference and the adhesion that makes conferences strong. You could even change the scheduling model within the conference so that you’re playing the more closely located schools more often in the regular season, as opposed to the way it is now.

Q: When you mentioned that recruiting could be more virtual moving forward, does that mean that recruiting budgets could be cut to save money or to be more of an emphasis on connecting virtually?

JS: I think travel could be cut to save money and I think travel could be cut to make a better experience for the coaches. I think the more strategic use of dead periods has been helpful for the quality of life for coaches, but I think especially for a national school like us, the travel demands can be daunting. So I think the more this experiment causes us to say, ‘You know what? We can still communicate our message. We can still connect with families and interact between those families and all of the resources on campus.’ then maybe it’s a good model we ought to use a little more. We’ve struggled in this environment to sort of have the rules catch up to this, because initially there are rules prohibiting you, for example, from bringing other people into the virtual discussion. Your academic advisors, professors, other people you’d normally meet on a campus visit. So the rules are going to have to catch up on the virtual environment, but I do think it’s worked well enough not to be the exclusive solution but just to reduce expenses, make coaches’ lives a little easier and perhaps make it a better experience for the families of student-athletes who are being recruited.

Q: The season-ticket deadline is upcoming on May 15. How do you determine the right number of season tickets to sell?

JS: We are sort of fortunate in the way our model works, which is different from a lot of institutions. So the way we sell season tickets is that we sell fewer than almost anybody else by design. So many people want to make an annual pilgrimage to this place for a football game that we’re committed to always keeping at least 50% of the venue available without a season ticket. So, Tier 1, we sell season tickets up to a limit. We then have a lottery that alumni and fans who are supporters of the university participate in. And through the lottery individual game tickets are distributed, followed after the lottery by taking any tickets that are remaining and selling them on a single-game basis. So each one of those gives us sort of a landmark to look at.

So, we’ll come off the season ticket sales and say, ‘OK, this is what season-ticket sales have produced for us. How do feel about a crowd of that size in the current environment?’ Assuming we’re comfortable selling some more, we’d go into the lottery. The way this is staged over the coming months, each one of those junctures allows us to have a little bit more data. You know what? Maybe we should just go into the season thinking only 45,000 people, instead of 78,000 people. Our system lends itself to going back and asking that question over and over again.

Q: Are there any plans to build a statue for Muffet McGraw, similar to the statues for national championship football coaches?

JS: I can promise you, every fan of Coach McGraw, of which there are innumerable fans, we will honor her in an appropriate way.