Over the past week, more and more college football players have been testing positive for COVID-19. This past Friday, 23 Clemson players tested positive and they’re not the only school who has been hit and hit hard due to COVID-19.
Because of this, Penn State head coach James Franklin is in a precarious situation. He is the head coach and if there is a season, he may feel he needs to be on the sideline. At the same time, his youngest daughter has sickle cell disease and is in a high risk category when it comes to COVID-19.
Franklin revealed on tonight’s episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that he will be separated from his family in order to coach the Nittany Lions and not risk getting his daughter sick.
“I have two daughters,” Franklin said. “My one youngest daughter has sickle cell disease so it’s changed dynamics in our family. My wife and kids are going to stay in Florida for the season. And I’m going to be in Happy Valley just because we think that’s the right thing to do for my daughter with sickle cell.”
Franklin confirmed with Gumbel that it means he’ll be away from his family for the rest of the year. Franklin said, “There was a lot of tears. There was a lot of emotion having this conversation with my daughters. So a lot of heartache over it.”
It’s surely a tough decision but, if there’s going to be a college football season, it’s certainly a better decision than doing nothing and hoping nothing bad happens. Given how Florida is such a hot spot, that’s not exactly the best place for somebody who’s high risk either, but Franklin knows he’ll be around a lot of people every day and is trying to do what he can to protect his family.
