More college football coaches "should step up and join LSU's Ed Orgeron on the front line of public awareness on how to slow" the spread of coronavirus, because only college football coaches have the "ability to deliver a message that will scare everyone straight: If we don't get this thing under control, the 2020 season could be in trouble," according to Dan Wolken of USA TODAY. The message is "simple, direct and easy to digest" -- slowing the spread of coronavirus, and thus having a football season, "depends on everyone complying with social distancing." The question now is why more of Orgeron's peers "aren't using their platforms to do the same" by "urging people to do what's necessary to flatten the curve." American Football Coaches Association Exec Dir Todd Berry said that his organization "decided against pushing a large-scale awareness effort and instead is deferring to conferences and campuses for how to message." He added, "That's a very personal thing in relation to what you think if you're called to do that." Wolken wrote such sentiment is "understandable," but coaches have an "opportunity to really make a difference on this one, and it's a little bit disappointing that so many have faded into the background over the last week." It is "very clear that they have a ton of power to amplify a message that is currently going unused" (USA TODAY, 3/22).
