Four weeks, six weeks, and eight weeks have all been floated as potential practice and training time requirements for football programs to adequately and safely prepare for the 2020 season. Iowa would have 13 weeks if things go according to plan.
"We have a moratorium on all team-related activities until June 1," Iowa president Bruce Harreld said on Thursday. "We're ever so hopeful that this virus will be behind us at that point, and we'll be able to get back into what we normally do."
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Iowa is not planning to have on-campus instruction this summer but is planning to do so in the fall. If the "virus is behind us at that point," it would mean Iowa student-athletes would be on campus during a time in which the school deemed it unsafe to have on-campus instruction.
"June 1 is the date we're going to get back to practice and here we go," Harreld said, adding he believes football teams need 6-8 weeks to prepare for the season. His statement is the first of its kind from any university president, athletics director, head coach, or other notable official across the country. And while it remains unclear what Harreld would accept as the "virus [being] behind us at that point," as of now, Iowa plans to begin football practice on June 1, 13 weeks and six days before the Hawkeyes are scheduled to host Northern Iowa in their season opener on Sept. 5.
