U-M Football Parents Write Letter to Schissel, Warren ... Still Want Games

Add Michigan players' parents to the growing list who would like to see Big Ten football this fall. Many of them put together a letter asking Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren and Michigan President Mark Schlissel to reverse the decision to cancel the season, along with other requests.

"We, the parents of the University of Michigan football players, are compelled to express our support for our sons and for the Michigan coaching staff and program," they wrote on a newly created twitter account. "We have seen the response from other Big Ten football families and we support their letters. We feel that the decision to cancel the 2020 season was premature. We also believe the Big Ten and University Presidents failed to exercise due diligence by not acquiring the input of the very student athletes their decision would impact."

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Michigan safety Hunter Reynolds went on record recently with similar complaints.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh, of course, led the way among Big Ten coaches with his open letter a day before the cancellation, imploring the conference higher-ups to let them play. Several Big Ten coaches, including Ohio State's Ryan Day and Nebraska's Scott Frost, followed suit.

"The Michigan football staff has taken every measure to ensure the safety and well-being of our sons," the parents continued. "Coach Harbaugh and staff have maintained consistent communication with us through the entire process. We are well-versed in the protocols that have been established by the University of Michigan to reduce risk and maintain a safe environment. As such, we have complete trust in the coaching and medical staff at the University of Michigan.

"More importantly, we have complete trust in our sons and their ability to determine what is best for them. Therefore, we overwhelmingly support their decisions to play or opt out this fall."

Among their requests were video meetings with Warren and Schlissel, detailed descriptions of the facts used to cancel the season and the protocols and safety practice for all Big Ten teams and a reversal of the 10-game season.

Though it remains unlikely the Big Ten will reverse its decision, they've continued to press the issue.

“I can’t believe we are here,” Peach Pagano, mother of Michigan captain Carlo Kemp, told the Detroit News last week. “I can’t believe that this happened, honestly, that they wouldn’t even give us a shot to get through game one. In my mind, I’m like, ‘Let’s just get one game under our belt.'"

“The fact our staff and coaches bent over backwards to isolate them, they found them that hotel, they had grab-and-go meals, they had the whole thing sanitized ... are you kidding me?” Lisa McCaffrey, quarterback Dylan McCaffrey's mom, said. “The stuff they went through to make it so these kids could, and they knew all along they weren’t going to be playing? What a waste. That is psychological torture.”

Schlissel had long said there would be no football without students on campus this fall. However, the students are back — at least for now — but there are no plans for games in the Big House.

That seems unlikely to change.

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