College Football: 5 biggest storylines to follow during summer 2020

4. Will Dabo Swinney and Mike Gundy get a pass?

Dabo Swinney believes the season will see no delay whatsoever. He has “zero doubt” he remarked on a Friday Zoom teleconference. His hypothesis hinged on the fact that, “This is America, man. We’ve stormed the beaches of Normandy. We’ve sent a car and drove around on Mars. We walked on the moon.”

Yes, that’s a real quote.

He can be as doubtless, and nonsensical, as he wishes, but his actions show a blatant disregard for public health amid this global pandemic. In that same teleconference, Dabo revealed that his family traveled to Florida via private plane for vacation and did so for Easter.

“The plane was sanitized,” he said. ‘We don’t have any concern.”

As the number of COVID-19 cases, and deaths, continues to rise, and public health officials plead with the public to shelter-in-place, Dabo has decided to be selfish. As college football coaches around the country, like Ed Orgeron, record PSAs asking their legions of fans to follow the advice of these medical professionals, Dabo has essentially told his fans the opposite.

Swinney’s not the only coach making a fool of himself. Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy made the suggestion that his players should put themselves at risk and return to play because “we need.. to run money through the state of Oklahoma.”

Coaches have been petty before, but it’s hard to remember a time that any have shown, quite frankly, such a disregard for human life. It sounds strong, but it’s accurate. Between Swinney’s refusal to heed shelter-in-place guidelines, and Gundy’s suggestion to put his players at risk because “they’re all in good shape” — these two have clearly prioritized money over public health and the health of their players.

This isn’t the kind of behavior that should just be lost in the news cycle. Unfortunately, considering just how fast the news cycle has been moving recently, it appears that will be the case.