Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1271864
8 AUGUST 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME As a three-year tenured athletics administrator at Notre Dame and a point person for compliance issues, Angie Torain is plenty familiar with the in- ner-dealings of the school's athletics department. But even with her working knowledge and famil- iar surroundings, the 48-year-old Torain became humbled and honored last month when she vol- unteered for and was approved to become Notre Dame's senior associate athletics director for cul- ture, diversity and engagement — a new position designed to promote the importance of improving racial equality campus-wide and beyond. Torain — a 1994 graduate of DePauw University and a mother of three daughters — grew up only about 10 miles from Notre Dame in Elkhart, Ind. She adds these diversity responsibilities to her existing duties as senior associate athletics direc- tor over compliance, legal and risk management. In her new role, Torain will oversee and co- ordinate campus and community initiatives for Irish student-athletes, other interested students, faculty and staff to collectively provide a message of awareness to the nation's racial challenges brought to light after George Floyd died while under police restraint May 25 in Minneapolis. BGI: What was at the root of you volunteering to take on this new role? Torain: "After the death of George Floyd, we heard in some of our con- versations that people just didn't know what to say. We needed a safe space to have hard and tough conversations. "As I continued to sit in on these calls and think about my own experiences and my own hurt in this situation, I fig- ured that I would step up. I was hesitant at first, but I told myself that I was going to pray about this and if I woke up the next day and I still felt the same, I was going to volunteer to take on this role." BGI: How did the idea for this position and its objectives come about in the first place? Torain: "After the George Floyd incident, it was so powerful, that you could feel it in the air when our [compliance] leadership team met. Instead of going into everyday business, we actually stopped and talked about it. This gave us an opportunity to reflect on how we were feeling and how upset we were. Instead of starting our business as normal, we started asking staff to open up and talk about this and we built on this initiative from there. It was just amazing." BGI: Notre Dame student-athletes carry much clout in the local community and beyond. How nice is it having that powerful force behind you? Torain: "It's wonderful. Sports is on the top of their mind — but at the same time, making change in our de- partment on campus and in the com- munity is just as much on their mind. "So I'm excited that I get to help them push their platform forward." BGI: What's your first order of busi- ness and where do you go from there? Torain: "We are going to really start off with a lis- tening tour. Instead of me indicating what we need to do to be better, I need to ask what others believe we need to do to be better, what are we missing? "And so there will be some listening tours, some surveys, as well as those who already have ideas in the works, getting with them and making sure that I can help them in those endeavors." BGI: How important is this role and initiative? Torain: "It is very important. There is more of an intentional focus to get this done because it's really important for our community, our students, our student-athletes and our staff. It's time to walk the walk now." — Todd D. Burlage Climbing COVID-19 Cases Render It Impossible By Todd Burlage About one week after the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they were moving to a conference-only format for the 2020 football season, and one day after the SEC said it was delaying any definitive plan for its football future, a disturb- ing news nugget came out of Johns Hopkins University. The number of active COVID-19 cases in the southern part of the United States — the hard-hit areas that are home to most of the SEC and ACC schools — was greater than the rest of the entire Earth combined. Against that backdrop, the SEC and ACC said they would announce their football plan by the end of July. At the same time, though, the Ivy League and Patriot League decided in July to cancel all fall sports, with more conferences expected to fall into that line in the weeks that followed. Because of the massive revenue generated by college football, the schools and conferences will do everything possible to save the fall sports season. But with coronavirus cases climbing and the consensus among health experts that the worst is yet to come, those salvaging efforts will become increasingly difficult and ultimately fruitless. The conference-only football decisions from the Big Ten and the Pac-12 already caused three opponents to drop off the 2020 Notre Dame football schedule — Wisconsin, Stanford and USC — and it's only July. Here's hoping I'm wrong and that by the time late August arrives, Notre Dame and every other college football program will not have lost all their games. A Start Is Still Possible, But … By Lou Somogyi This same question was posed here in the May issue after the plug was pulled on professional sports in March, and quickly thereafter the winter and spring college athletic campaigns. Four months later, football schedule revisions, cancellations and alternative measures have become part of the fabric of the sports world. It's not going to go away with wishful thinking. The MLB season slated to start July 23 and the NBA campaign that will be held "in a bubble" starting July 30 will provide more insight on whether a college football season might be feasible. However, comparing the two is far-fetched because college students won't be isolated on campuses that plan to reopen like Notre Dame will beginning Aug. 10. As a head coach, part of Brian Kelly's responsibility is keeping morale high among the troops, and that included telling ESPN's "Get Up" show on July 15 that, "we're going to play football this year. It just depends on when we're going to play football." Through mid-July Notre Dame's testing protocols have pro- duced uplifting results, whereas other schools such as Ohio State and North Carolina, among others, have had to hit the pause button on summer workouts. Every effort possible will be made to play. As a youngster, I used to wonder why Notre Dame played only six games in 1918 (3-1-2 record). I learned later there was the Spanish Flu epidemic that year that canceled all October games, before the season resumed in November. I envision something similar 102 years later. There could be a start to the season. After that, all bets are off. Point ✦ Counterpoint: TAKE TWO: WILL THERE BE A COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON IN 2020? Five Questions With … SENIOR ASSOCIATE ATHLETICS DIRECTOR FOR CULTURE, DIVERSITY AND ENGAGEMENT ANGIE TORAIN TORAIN Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly believes there will be a football season, but it is fair to ask how much and when. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA