Michigan State athletics director Bill Beekman made a guest appearance on the “Staudt on Sports” daily radio show on WVFN AM-730 in Lansing on Wednesday with host Tim Staudt, who is the sports director at WILX Channel 10/NBC in Lansing.
Staudt’s show airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Listen Live here, Monday through Friday: https://thegame730am.com/listen-live/
Beekman answered questions with Staudt for a full 15-minute segment. Below is a transcript of the interview. (The questions are edited for brevity).
Q: I would imagine your routine has been scrambled due to recent events:
“Yes it has. We have very, very few people in the office, most everyone working remotely although the ticket office has a skeleton staff for folks that are interested in getting their football tickets renewed. Other than that, we’re on a fairly skeleton staff.
“The student-athletes are mostly back home. We’ve got a handful that are still here on campus and around town, but like everyone else, we’re dissipated and trying to keep busy remotely.”
Q: How much have you been meeting with the Big Ten about these issues? How much do you normally meet with the Big Ten at this time of year?
“We did have a meeting the Wednesday afternoon before the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. Usually around the Big Ten Tournament and the Big Ten Football Championship Game in early December we squeeze in a meeting. Otherwise we usually have meetings that rotate about four times a year, usually at the conference offices in Rosemont. Our next scheduled meeting is in early May in Rosemont (Ill.). Hopeful that the crisis will have passed and we can all gather there together.
“We are meeting regularly. Commissioner Warren has really taken the bull by the horns, so we have regular conference calls among the athletic directors, just to check in. It’s always helpful to understand what other schools are doing, how they are approaching problems, how their campuses are handling things, and trying to make sure we are on the same page and as consistent as we can. So we have had a conference call darn near every day since last Wednesday. So we are trying to stay in touch and informed that way.”
Q: Do you foresee a chance for football to resume this fall with practice only consisting of the usual August preseason camp, or can spring practice be executed at some other time?
“I think there are options and this is a time when I think it’s really important that we think creatively and outside the box as they say. Me as an individual, listening to the talking heads and pundits on TV it seems as though most believe that we’ll hopefully be back in some sort of normal state such that we can have a practice starting up in early August and go into the football season as we normally would. Most pundits and the experts that you listen to from the CDC seem to suggest that we’ll peak through this and if everybody sort of behaves themselves and practices social distancing and stays home and all of those things that we’ll get through this and back to normal in June, one would hope.
“From my perspective, obviously with a new head coach, we would relish the opportunity to get our young men in for some number of days. Spring ball is off the table but could we schedule something in early June or mid-June with enough time to get our guys home and rested for most of July? That probably would be optimal. At the conference level and at the NCAA, they are exploring those options. I think the watch word so far has been to try and be as flexible as possible, to help people through this situation and to think about how we can amend the rules on a one-time basis to keep people as whole as we can. It’s my hope that we find a way to do that but those largely NCAA rules in terms of when spring practice can occur, so we will be appealing to the NCAA to let that happen.”
Q: Is there one common concern that stands out for Big Ten ADs that stands out more than anything else?
“I think there’s a little bit of variability. The Big Ten athletic directors have a couple of concerns; as we have walked through it, as we have talked about when we send students home, when we shut down facilities, people really have not talked about, ‘Gee, is that a competitive advantage or disadvantage to me?’ And I don’t think in their hearts they’ve been thinking about it all that much. What I’ve heard from my colleagues is a laser focus on what is in the best interest of our students, how do we keep them safe, how do we keep our coaches and our staff safe, and how do we implement that, and how do we work with our colleagues to make all of that happen? So I think people have been very uniform in being concerned in these unchartered waters, what do we do to be on the safe side of life and make sure they are safe, healthy and well?
“Where things get variable is with the NCAA Tournament canceled and with the Big Ten Tournament largely canceled, there’s going to be a very interesting economic impact and some schools are simply significantly wealthier than others. There is some variability in the anxiety of how we’re going to grapple with the finances of this as they roll out and how prepared we are to deal with that. I think that’s a concern that everybody has but certainly it impacts some more than others.”
Q: Would you be surprised if you saw some schools almost by necessity either have to cut sports, cut staff or cut the way they do business?
“I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see some of those things happen. We cut sports as a last resort. But I think conversations about not filling open positions as they come do, to be on the safe side, whenever possible … those conversations are ongoing.”
Q: Would you be surprised if some coaches or trainers retire or move on, could Michigan State have any department cutbacks or would it all be by attrition?
“Speaking only about Michigan State, I think we have a very strong, solid coaching staff. I don’t necessarily see any change coming about as a result of the COVID virus. Obviously we have some folks that are earlier in their careers and some that are later and those that are later will retire eventually. But I don’t see this impacting that, at least coaches haven’t been talking with me about that. We’re at this point with the unfortunate with the stoppage of spring sports, we have our coaches who are probably like my kids, who after three days at home are beginning to get antsy. I think are coaches are antsy and trying to strategize about diving in, in the fall.
“So I don’t see a lot of that coming about as a result of the virus at all.”
Q: It’s been reported that the NCAA is considering granting another year to spring sports athletes, do you see that happening?
“I think there are a lot of ideas being kicked around. One is to simply give those students where the stoppage would have cost them a year to give them additional year, so as not to have had this cost them one of their years of eligibility, to allow them an additional year. There’s also been some conversation about: Is it possible, if this passes successfully and if we are back to a sort of full-functioning environment in June and July, is it possible to have some abbreviated spring sports schedule in the fall? That’s been kicked around by a number of folks.
“So I think we’re still in that stage of people thinking very creatively about how to make sure that students have opportunities, that people are treated in a safe and reasonable way. There’s a lot of creativity in the system between individual schools, the conferences and the NCAA. I feel like the last couple of days, I’ve been in and out of the office but almost all day spent on conference calls with various groups, both at the conference and NCAA level. I wouldn’t be surprised by anything at this point. I think we’re sort of in a never-say-never environment and it’s hard to tell how it’s going to shake out.”
Q: Would you be comfortable if you had the means to do it to have every single athlete and athletic department member tested just to get a feel for where this whole thing is on campus?
“We very, very strongly encouraged our student-athletes to go home because that’s the guidance that comes out of the CDC, and has come out of our state and local health departments. So get home, get with your family and stay away from folks, keep yourself separated.”
Q: What can Mel Tucker and his staff do as far as meeting with players? How much involvement can they have under the current mandates?
“The coaches are certainly spending a lot of time getting together via Zoom and other technologies. As the players are home, it’s not, to the best of my knowledge at least, against the rules for our coaches to have some contact with players via technology, to begin to have conversations about the new playbook, and to begin to have conversations about what they are looking at in the new season, and getting to know you type of conversations. In this fluid environment, it’s hard to tell when any kind of face to face conversation or anything like spring ball will be able to occur. I know we are trying to be as creative as possible to get the coaches prepared and ready to go so that whenever that day comes, we’re ready for it.”
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
“I would just share with our community that we at Michigan State athletics and Michigan State University are trying to do our part and I would just encourage everybody to follow the social distancing rules and find time to spend a little more timewith family and with prayers hopefully we will get through this soon.”
Staudt’s show airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Listen Live here, Monday through Friday: https://thegame730am.com/listen-live/
Beekman answered questions with Staudt for a full 15-minute segment. Below is a transcript of the interview. (The questions are edited for brevity).
Q: I would imagine your routine has been scrambled due to recent events:
“Yes it has. We have very, very few people in the office, most everyone working remotely although the ticket office has a skeleton staff for folks that are interested in getting their football tickets renewed. Other than that, we’re on a fairly skeleton staff.
“The student-athletes are mostly back home. We’ve got a handful that are still here on campus and around town, but like everyone else, we’re dissipated and trying to keep busy remotely.”
Q: How much have you been meeting with the Big Ten about these issues? How much do you normally meet with the Big Ten at this time of year?
“We did have a meeting the Wednesday afternoon before the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. Usually around the Big Ten Tournament and the Big Ten Football Championship Game in early December we squeeze in a meeting. Otherwise we usually have meetings that rotate about four times a year, usually at the conference offices in Rosemont. Our next scheduled meeting is in early May in Rosemont (Ill.). Hopeful that the crisis will have passed and we can all gather there together.
“We are meeting regularly. Commissioner Warren has really taken the bull by the horns, so we have regular conference calls among the athletic directors, just to check in. It’s always helpful to understand what other schools are doing, how they are approaching problems, how their campuses are handling things, and trying to make sure we are on the same page and as consistent as we can. So we have had a conference call darn near every day since last Wednesday. So we are trying to stay in touch and informed that way.”
Q: Do you foresee a chance for football to resume this fall with practice only consisting of the usual August preseason camp, or can spring practice be executed at some other time?
“I think there are options and this is a time when I think it’s really important that we think creatively and outside the box as they say. Me as an individual, listening to the talking heads and pundits on TV it seems as though most believe that we’ll hopefully be back in some sort of normal state such that we can have a practice starting up in early August and go into the football season as we normally would. Most pundits and the experts that you listen to from the CDC seem to suggest that we’ll peak through this and if everybody sort of behaves themselves and practices social distancing and stays home and all of those things that we’ll get through this and back to normal in June, one would hope.
“From my perspective, obviously with a new head coach, we would relish the opportunity to get our young men in for some number of days. Spring ball is off the table but could we schedule something in early June or mid-June with enough time to get our guys home and rested for most of July? That probably would be optimal. At the conference level and at the NCAA, they are exploring those options. I think the watch word so far has been to try and be as flexible as possible, to help people through this situation and to think about how we can amend the rules on a one-time basis to keep people as whole as we can. It’s my hope that we find a way to do that but those largely NCAA rules in terms of when spring practice can occur, so we will be appealing to the NCAA to let that happen.”
Q: Is there one common concern that stands out for Big Ten ADs that stands out more than anything else?
“I think there’s a little bit of variability. The Big Ten athletic directors have a couple of concerns; as we have walked through it, as we have talked about when we send students home, when we shut down facilities, people really have not talked about, ‘Gee, is that a competitive advantage or disadvantage to me?’ And I don’t think in their hearts they’ve been thinking about it all that much. What I’ve heard from my colleagues is a laser focus on what is in the best interest of our students, how do we keep them safe, how do we keep our coaches and our staff safe, and how do we implement that, and how do we work with our colleagues to make all of that happen? So I think people have been very uniform in being concerned in these unchartered waters, what do we do to be on the safe side of life and make sure they are safe, healthy and well?
“Where things get variable is with the NCAA Tournament canceled and with the Big Ten Tournament largely canceled, there’s going to be a very interesting economic impact and some schools are simply significantly wealthier than others. There is some variability in the anxiety of how we’re going to grapple with the finances of this as they roll out and how prepared we are to deal with that. I think that’s a concern that everybody has but certainly it impacts some more than others.”
Q: Would you be surprised if you saw some schools almost by necessity either have to cut sports, cut staff or cut the way they do business?
“I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see some of those things happen. We cut sports as a last resort. But I think conversations about not filling open positions as they come do, to be on the safe side, whenever possible … those conversations are ongoing.”
Q: Would you be surprised if some coaches or trainers retire or move on, could Michigan State have any department cutbacks or would it all be by attrition?
“Speaking only about Michigan State, I think we have a very strong, solid coaching staff. I don’t necessarily see any change coming about as a result of the COVID virus. Obviously we have some folks that are earlier in their careers and some that are later and those that are later will retire eventually. But I don’t see this impacting that, at least coaches haven’t been talking with me about that. We’re at this point with the unfortunate with the stoppage of spring sports, we have our coaches who are probably like my kids, who after three days at home are beginning to get antsy. I think are coaches are antsy and trying to strategize about diving in, in the fall.
“So I don’t see a lot of that coming about as a result of the virus at all.”
Q: It’s been reported that the NCAA is considering granting another year to spring sports athletes, do you see that happening?
“I think there are a lot of ideas being kicked around. One is to simply give those students where the stoppage would have cost them a year to give them additional year, so as not to have had this cost them one of their years of eligibility, to allow them an additional year. There’s also been some conversation about: Is it possible, if this passes successfully and if we are back to a sort of full-functioning environment in June and July, is it possible to have some abbreviated spring sports schedule in the fall? That’s been kicked around by a number of folks.
“So I think we’re still in that stage of people thinking very creatively about how to make sure that students have opportunities, that people are treated in a safe and reasonable way. There’s a lot of creativity in the system between individual schools, the conferences and the NCAA. I feel like the last couple of days, I’ve been in and out of the office but almost all day spent on conference calls with various groups, both at the conference and NCAA level. I wouldn’t be surprised by anything at this point. I think we’re sort of in a never-say-never environment and it’s hard to tell how it’s going to shake out.”
Q: Would you be comfortable if you had the means to do it to have every single athlete and athletic department member tested just to get a feel for where this whole thing is on campus?
“We very, very strongly encouraged our student-athletes to go home because that’s the guidance that comes out of the CDC, and has come out of our state and local health departments. So get home, get with your family and stay away from folks, keep yourself separated.”
Q: What can Mel Tucker and his staff do as far as meeting with players? How much involvement can they have under the current mandates?
“The coaches are certainly spending a lot of time getting together via Zoom and other technologies. As the players are home, it’s not, to the best of my knowledge at least, against the rules for our coaches to have some contact with players via technology, to begin to have conversations about the new playbook, and to begin to have conversations about what they are looking at in the new season, and getting to know you type of conversations. In this fluid environment, it’s hard to tell when any kind of face to face conversation or anything like spring ball will be able to occur. I know we are trying to be as creative as possible to get the coaches prepared and ready to go so that whenever that day comes, we’re ready for it.”
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
“I would just share with our community that we at Michigan State athletics and Michigan State University are trying to do our part and I would just encourage everybody to follow the social distancing rules and find time to spend a little more timewith family and with prayers hopefully we will get through this soon.”
