Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute won't take part in NCAA fall sports this year. The university made the announcement Tuesday morning as part of its "Return to Campus-Based Operations Plan."
"The decision to participate in intercollegiate athletic competitions during the Winter 2020 and Spring 2021 seasons will be made at an appropriate time, and will be informed by an evaluation of the state of the COVID-19 pandemic," the university said in the introduction to its plan.
"It is expected that coaches will be permitted to engage with their teams and student-athletes. We anticipate the opportunity to participate in individual and small group workouts with members of our coaching staffs," read an attached document from the school.
RPI, while noting that simply practicing with a team will count as using a season of eligibility for an NCAA athlete, said it will seek waivers for every participating fall sports athlete that practices with a team.
RPI is the latest NCAA Division III school in the region to cancel its intercollegiate fall sports season; Williams College, a D-III school in Williamstown, Mass., canceled its fall sports seasons Monday. Williams competed against RPI in a number of fall sports in 2019.
Union College in Schenectady, a regular athletic rival of RPI, announced Tuesday that "No decisions have been made regarding athletics, club sports or intramurals. The College is awaiting guidance from state government, as well as the respective leagues."
Union expects to make a decision on fall sports by July 15, per its reopening plan unveiled Tuesday.
“I’ve got over three decades of experience in intercollegiate athletics, and by far it’s been the most difficult and agonizing decision,” said RPI Athletics Director Dr. Lee McElroy.
McElroy says intercollegiate sports for the fall were not included when it came to submitting an extensive plan to the state on reopening its campus. RPI is the first institution in the Capital Region so far to announce no games this fall.
“One of the things we had to do was to reduce the density of the campus, and when you do that, you have students not on campus, [and] that not only impacts athletics but the entire campus,” McElroy said.
While there will not be games, Dr. McElroy says teams can still train and practice this fall, and can do pretty much everything except putting on a jersey to compete against another school.
“We have a great group of student-athletes who have kind of take the information they’ve been given, and we’re going to figure out ways to deal with it and move forward,” said RPI women's soccer head coach Bre Nasypany-Cicero.
“Unfortunately, RPI is not going to be the last school that makes this decision. I think there’s going to be a lot of tough conversations that are coming up,” football coach Ralph Isernia said.
Dr. McElroy says winter and spring sports seasons will be examined once the fall plans are put into practice. Even though this was a difficult call, he says there are still options for student-athletes approaching their final year.
“For example, the spring students, who were denied in lacrosse and softball and baseball, actually received an additional year if they chose to participate. And I don’t see that changing in this decision,” McElroy said.