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A large number of parents of Big Ten football players have not taken the cancelation of football season this fall too well.
Since the conference made the announcement last week, over 100 parents of Iowa football players have written letters to the league and commissioner Kevin Warren and now parents have decided to go straight to the source in-person looking for answers as to why the conference pulled the plug on the season.
Randy Wade, the father of Ohio State defensive back Shaun Wade, is planning to visit Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois on Friday morning. Wade will be flying to Chicago from Florida and expects other parents to join him in seeking answers from the conference.
“How many petitions must there be for the Big Ten to actually look into this?” Wade told ESPN on Tuesday. “We only have a certain amount of time to correct this, so we need to come together and show more unity and just make them uncomfortable, make them come out of their shells and give us some answers to some questions and hopefully rewind back and open things back up.”
The Big Ten announced the cancelation of college football and many other fall sports seasons on August 11 and Wade wants to know why it elected to do so still weeks out from the scheduled start of the season. The conference also released team schedules only a few days prior to canceling the season altogether.
“Why so early?” Wade said. “This is what we’re going to be talking about up there. We’re getting advancements in technology by the day. Why so early, why so quick to give up on the Big Ten and these kids’ dreams?”
Wade also emphasized the fact that he and other parents would be open to revisiting a liability waiver, called the ‘Buckeye Pledge,’ that student-athletes signed in June before resuming voluntary workouts.
The PAC 12 has also canceled football this fall while the SEC, Big 12, and ACC are moving forward with their seasons. The SEC announced team schedules on Monday as well as opened fall camp.