Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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16 MAY 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Veteran Irish softball coach Deanna Gumpf and her team were in Califor- nia prepping for a weekend tourna- ment when that event and eventually the season were axed. "The mood from the minute we heard we weren't playing that week- end, it was a little fear, a lot of anxi- ety and a lot of sadness," Gumpf ex- plained. "There were a lot of tears. It was pretty brutal." Irish men's golf coach John Hand- rigan and his No. 7 Irish had just com- pleted a practice round in Statesboro, Ga., awaiting the Schenkel Invitational that weekend when their season was wiped out through a social media post. "I remember watching the guys read the NCAA statement and all of their faces grew somber all at the same time, very quickly," Handrigan recalled. "I knew something major had just happened." Irish women's lacrosse coach Christine Halfpenny and her second- ranked squad were out to dinner in The growing concern and subsequent warning about a respiratory illness outbreak in mainland China caused by a novel coronavirus was first broadcast to the Notre Dame family Jan. 31 through a campus-wide alert. In a message emailed to students, faculty and staff, the university an- nounced it was prohibiting travel to China as a precautionary measure until further notice, but that "the American College Health Association advised that there currently is no basis for changing business as usual regarding housing, campus events and other circumstances under which large groups of people will be gathering." Less than two months after that initial warning, the Notre Dame campus was closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, and perhaps beyond. The following is a timeline of pandemic-related events impacting academ- ics, athletics and day-to-day business at Notre Dame: March 11: Notre Dame advises students not to return to campus after spring break (March 7-15) and immediately suspends all in-person classes through April 13. March 11: The NBA and NHL suspend their 2019-20 seasons until further notice, while Major League Baseball cancels spring training and pushes back its opening day for 2020. March 12: About seven hours before tip-off of its quarterfinal game versus Virginia in the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Notre Dame gets word that the ACC canceled the remainder of the event in Greensboro, N.C. March 12: Later, the ACC suspends all athletic-related activities that include competition, formal and organized practice, recruiting and participation in NCAA championships, until further notice. March 12: Notre Dame suspends all football-related activities "for the foreseeable future" and cancels the April 18 Blue-Gold Game. March 12: Irish head football coach Brian Kelly suspends all recruiting ac- tivities and releases a statement through the university advising his current student-athletes — many already home on spring break — not to return to campus until further notice. March 12: The NCAA cancels the Division I men's and women's 2020 basket- ball tournaments, as well as the remaining winter sports NCAA championships. March 13: In response to newly implemented federal travel restrictions, Notre Dame arranges expedited plans to bring home its undergraduates studying abroad. March 13: Three high-profile spring events — The Masters golf tourna- ment, The Kentucky Derby and The Boston Marathon — are all postponed. March 13: The NFL suspends all college player visits to team facilities or schools, essentially canceling Notre Dame's Pro Day football workouts, pre- liminarily scheduled April 1. March 17: The ACC cancels all athletic activities through the end of year, immediately ending the seasons for 11 Notre Dame spring sports programs. March 17: Following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control, Notre Dame suspends public Masses in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and elsewhere on campus. March 18: A Notre Dame student tests positive for COVID-19 after return- ing to the United States from a study trip in London. March 18: Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., suspends all in-person classes on campus for the remainder of the semester. March 24: Under intense and growing pressure from the United States and other countries around the world, the International Olympic Committee announces that the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo are rescheduled for the summer of 2021. March 26: In an appearance on ESPN television, Kelly says that July 1 would be the latest possible start date for his team to prepare for an on-time foot- ball season that would open Aug. 29. March 26: The Indianapolis 500 is suspended and moved from May 24 to Aug. 23, marking the first time in the event's 104-race history it will not be held during Memorial Day weekend. March 30: As expected, the NCAA Division I Council votes and approves to provide an extra year of eligibility to all of the spring sport athletes who had their seasons cut short by COVID-19. March 30: Notre Dame announces that this year's on-campus commence- ment at the football stadium is canceled and the graduation ceremony instead will be held online on May 17. April 6: Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick says during a radio interview with ESPN's Paul Finebaum that he doesn't be- lieve playing football games with no fans in attendance is a viable approach for the entire 2020 season. — Todd D. Burlage Coronavirus Timeline Men's basketball head coach Mike Brey (left) and softball head coach Deanna Gumpf (right) noted that delivering the news to their Irish teams that their seasons were over was devastating. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA