Luke DeCock: ACC needs to revisit covid forfeit policy before it skews the standings

With two ACC teams already on covid pauses, it’s starting to feel like last season all over again. It’s also time to dial back some of the ACC’s covid policies to what they were last season — and revise others to adapt to our new reality.

Because with Florida State and Syracuse paused, Louisville pulling out of Wednesday’s game against Kentucky and the virus wreaking havoc on the schedule, it’s only a matter of time until an ACC team can’t play a scheduled game. Under current rules, adopted ahead of this season, that’s a forfeit. Under current circumstances, with breakthrough infections triggering asymptomatic positives in vaccinated and even boosted individuals, that seems unduly harsh — and has the potential to knock the league standings completely out of whack.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski on Saturday also argued for a return to daily testing after Duke’s win over Elon. Assistant coach Nolan Smith missed that win after what was apparently a close contact, and the Duke coaching staff was back to wearing masks on the bench.

“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.”

An ACC spokesperson said the forfeit policy will be on the agenda at Wednesday’s previously scheduled meeting of athletic directors, ahead of important men’s basketball games that night with Clemson playing Virginia and Virginia Tech playing Duke.

The rest of it, testing and return to play, is up to the league’s Medical Advisory Group, which continues to meet regularly and as recently as last Thursday. It’s not as nimble a process, managing the differing standards of 10 states and 15 municipalities in a rapidly changing environment, but that group will make a presentation to the ADs on Wednesday.

“As information regarding the virus, testing and public health mitigation strategies evolve, the recommended minimum standards set forth herein are subject to adjustment,” the ACC’s covid policy states.

The forfeit policy made sense in the fall, when it seemed like the virus was under relative control. N.C. State’s experience at the College World Series suggested the need for a better way to deal with breakthrough infections in vaccinated players and coaches, but the relaxation of rules and testing surrounding the vaccinated was a carrot to encourage as many athletes as possible to get the shot, and the forfeits were the stick.

But omicron changed all that, and suddenly being vaccinated isn’t the blanket solution it seemed like it was two months ago, at least from a positive test standpoint. (It’s still a game-changer from an overall health standpoint.) But the vast majority of breakthrough infections are asymptomatic, and pro leagues like the NFL have adapted and adopted ways to return those players to action more quickly.

The ACC, so far, has not.

“Candidly, I’m shocked by the number of games,” N.C. State athletic director Boo Corrigan said Monday. “We all really felt that the numbers were going in a different direction. All of our students and coaches, everyone, is vaccinated and we thought that would be that kind of a piece of it. It’s something that probably warrants looking at again. Coming from the CFP (selection committee), it would have made it a lot more challenging if we were dealing with forfeits. You could have a team sitting at 7-0 that has played one game.”

It’s time to make two changes to the ACC’s covid policy: Let asymptomatic, boosted players who test positive return to action as soon as they test negative and drop the forfeit rule. The former is entirely in the hands of the ACC’s medical advisors, which to their credit has generally managed the return to play amid covid well. The latter is up to ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, who has the political power to push the league in whichever direction he wants — perhaps not on every subject, but on this one.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Obviously, all of our players and everybody’s vaccinated and we’re on top of the boosters and all. But — there are going to have to be some decisions made.”

And this applies to all sports, not just men’s basketball, but it’s most apparent there given the number of games on television and, quite frankly, the financial imperatives of playing those games in buildings that are, unlike a year ago, full of paying fans.

“Right now we are fortunate enough to be playing,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said Saturday. “But every time I pick up my phone somebody else is not playing and I’m scared. I want our guys to continue to play. I want our guys to have the opportunity to play.”

Luke DeCock is a columnist for the The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.