The 2020 season may not have been the on-field success we hoped for, but the Georgia football program definitely did well combating the pandemic. As Seth Emerson notes ($$), there never was an outbreak that spread through the team and only one staffer was hospitalized.
No doubt there were plenty of reasons behind that success — one that I assume the staff has trumpeted on the recruiting trail to parents, and why not? — but the biggest one is something pretty simple. The program took the thread of the pandemic seriously.
Inside the building, there was no politicizing of mask-wearing, social-distancing or otherwise.
“That was nonexistent,” said Josh Brooks, the deputy athletic director who was promoted to athletic director earlier this month. “It never became a political issue here. It became a safety issue.”
Naturally, that started with Smart, but everyone followed his lead. Well played, y’all. Keep up the good work.