COVID Clusters Necessitating A Seal Around The Heels

CHAPEL HILL – Mack Brown wasn’t exactly caught off guard when clusters of positive COVID-19 tests surfaced on North Carolina’s campus over the last few days.

Not that the UNC football coach has expressed any particular position regarding the virus other than recognizing its inherent dangers and effect on his team and the nation. This was more about human nature and college-aged kids converging in the same town at the same time after being away for five months during a pandemic that’s ongoing.

“I'm a little surprised that people are surprised that students are going to have some positives,” Brown said during a zoom call with the media Tuesday morning. “I mean, it's happening everywhere in the country and the number I saw, nobody told me, but when you start looking at a cluster is five or more there's gonna be... I look up and I see these universities with these students downtown on the strip and there's hundreds of them that don't have masks and they're hanging out.

“Now, maybe they're not taking tests and everybody on our campus I see is wearing a mask. So, and then we've got 19,000 students and 150 have shown positives. I thought that was a rather low number for initially coming back. And I do think, what I've learned is that when people have positives and there is publicity like we've gotten, now there'll be more careful and it gets better faster than if you could get comfortable with it.”

The Tar Heels’ comfort zone will soon somewhat reflect the bubble successfully employed by the NBA and NHL. UNC is doing its best to mirror those leagues and appears to have a head start on the rest of the programs in the nation.

Carolina is now in a bubble, or as Brown said, it’s creating “a seal.” But not without some criticism.

Paraphrasing two of Tuesday’s questions from the media: If campus is too dangerous for regular students, why is it okay for athletes? Do the players share the same anger many students do about how this was handled?

“Most of our guys are online anyway,” Brown replied. “And they also are so focused on football and that's what we're trying to do is let us handle all the stuff outside of your classroom and your football and your personal health. So, we feel like it's better for them mentally.

“We've kind of told them, 'Win the day.' Just get up every morning and do the best that you can do with your schoolwork, do the best that you can do for your mental health, and let us know if you need any help in any way and then let's go have a great practice and let's worry about what we can control and let the rest of the stuff just take care of itself.”

The Tar Heels have now practiced 11 times and Brown is confident they will play this season, which is slated to commence Sept. 12 when Syracuse visits Kenan Stadium. The Orange, by the way, have twice missed consecutive days of practice this month due to concerns players have had over testing. UNC hasn’t missed any time since shutting down for a week in mid-July as it was phasing in a full return to the field.

Three UNC players have opted out of the season, but the rest are marching forward. And now with the students not entirely gone, but certainly scarcer on campus, it shines a bright light on the differences between them and athletes. It's just another of many things Brown was asked to address Tuesday.

“There's obviously a big difference,” Brown said. “And our guys, they feel safe. They've got doctors, they've got trainers, they've got nutritionists, they've got coaches, they've got people around them at all time, and we're talking to them and counseling to them all the time… And it's easier to do that with 120 guys than it is 19,000.”

Shielding the team from just about everything else is what this is all about.

“That helps us create a better seal around our program and a better bubble,” Brown said. “The NBA model’s working. They’ve had very few distractions. And that’s what we’re trying to do, is make sure our players and our staff understand that we’ve got three months here where we cannot go outside for social reasons or to eat or anything else if we want to have our football season.”

And that’s the mission at this point: To have a season.