The competitor in Buddy Stephens is understandably frustrated.

There still aren’t any second thoughts from East Mississippi Community College’s head football coach, though, after the school decided to withdraw from a proposed fall football season due to concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

After the National Junior College Athletics Association decided last month to move football and most of its fall sports to the spring, the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges came up with a plan to have its member institutions play a six-game regular season for football and state playoff, scheduled to begin Oct. 1. On Tuesday, however, EMCC announced its decision to withdraw from the proposed season, citing safety concerns for its players.

“It’s one of the most heartbreaking decisions I’ve ever had to make, but I think it was the easiest decision when you look at everything that’s going on,” Stephens said.

Stephens cited a lack of definitive, uniform COVID-19 protocols as a major concern he and the EMCC athletic department had about playing football in October, as well as the possible connection between COVID-19 and myocarditis, or inflammation of the middle layer of the heart wall which is often a side effect of a viral infection like the coronavirus. That possible link has been cited as a reason Power 5 conferences in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision are concerned about playing football in the fall, and earlier this week, The Big Ten and Pac 12 announced their decisions to postpone football until the spring.

“There are too many unknowns to put in front of our kids that might put them in danger,” Stephens explained. “I didn’t feel we could protect our young men the way we needed to.”

EMCC Athletic Director Sharon Thompson cited the number of COVID-19 cases confirmed in Mississippians ages 18-29 as another major concern. The Mississippi State Department of Health listed 14,592 cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths within this age group as of Aug. 12.

“That’s who we’re putting on the field,” Thompson explained.

Like Stephens, Thompson said withdrawing from the proposed fall season was difficult, and she isn’t sure that decision has sunk in yet with everyone in Scooba.

“If COVID wasn’t going on, we’d be getting ready to play in two weeks,” Thompson said. “I don’t think it’s really resonated with people yet. Opening week, especially if it’s a home game, that’s a big deal on campus. I think it’ll really hit with people that week we were supposed to play our first football game.”

The decisions by the Pac 12 and Big Ten played no role in EMCC’s decision, according to both Thompson and Stephens.

“We have to do what’s best for our kids, for our student-athletes, for our coaches,” Thompson said. “We took that stuff into consideration, but it came down to the sake of our students, staff, friends and families.”

Said Stephens, “This is the first fall for me in 44 years that football isn’t there, and that’s a very heartbreaking, lonely place to be, but there’s solace in the fact that we’re making the right decision. Even if it’s hard, it’s the right one for us — and I’m not saying the SEC, the ACC or the Big 12 are wrong (for wanting to still play in the fall), but they have many more resources than we have. For us, it’s just impossible at this level to keep them all completely safe.”

In the immediate future, the Lions will participate in offseason-like workouts while still taking classes this fall. Campus policies like mandated mask wearing and beginning the fall semester with online classes help put Stephens at ease that his players will be safe.

“The protocol on campus is really tight and second-to-none I feel,” Stephens said. “The majority of the team will be here by Sept. 7, and we’ll be working out while social distancing. We’ll continue to work out with our limited numbers that allow us to get some work in but still stay COVID safe.”

Since the NJCAA announced plans for a spring season, Stephens said he’s open to the idea of playing in the spring, and it would probably require the rest of the MACC schools to withdraw from the fall as well if a spring season could work.

“I think it’s a possibility if the league decides to fold up and forego the fall,” Stephens said. “One of the things that concerned me was, our season was going to be six games, and if we had gotten to two ball games and then decided to stop, those kids would have played a percentage of the season that would have caused them to lose a year of eligibility. We don’t want any kid to lose a year over two ball games.”

Thompson said she’s hopeful for a spring season, but it’s not set in stone yet due to the uncertainty that the pandemic will have calmed down by then.

“As of right now, who’s to say?” Thompson said. “We’re praying and hoping we have a season, but who knows where this stuff is going to be. We’re shutting down for the fall, and the plan right now is to push it back to the spring.”

After moving from head women’s basketball coach to athletic director, Thompson said everything has been a whirlwind, from organizing a state tournament to finishing out the winter basketball season to dealing with the pandemic since March.

“Thank God I’m a multitasker and am organized and have great employees,” Thompson said with a chuckle. “If these situations haven’t prepared me to be AD, I need to step down I guess.”

The important thing, Stephens said, is stepping back and realizing we’re currently in an historic time and coming up with the best way to respond to the immediate challenges of a pandemic.

“A lot of people want to fight through it, but at the same time, we’re fighting a pandemic, not a war,” Stephens said. “That’s the thing everybody needs to understand. We want to play, and our young men desperately want to play, but there was no way we were going to put them in harm’s way. None of our kids will lose their eligibility, and they’ll still be on scholarship and able to work toward their degrees. Recruitment may be put off a semester, but some of our guys have gotten offers and will go ahead and sign (in December).”