Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina State University officials said the NCAA "unprofessionally handled" N.C. State's disqualification from the College World Series last month following a cluster of coronavirus cases on the baseball team.
The charge came in a July 1 letter Chancellor Randy Woodson and Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan sent to NCAA President Mark Emmert and other NCAA officials. The letter was part of a release of scores of emails and other documents from the days leading up to and immediately after the Wolfpack's June 26 disqualification.
N.C. State was set to play Vanderbilt University that day for a shot at the three-game national championship series after falling 3-1 to the Commodores on June 25 with only 13 players available. Positive virus tests for four players and quarantines for others had left the team shorthanded.
The NCAA notified N.C. State at 1:45 a.m. June 26 that the game versus Vanderbilt was off and that the Wolfpack was out of the tournament because even more players had tested positive, including some who had been vaccinated. About 25 minutes later, the NCAA sent out a press release about the situation.
School leaders say the timing was insensitive by not giving enough time to notify players of the decision. They also blasted the NCAA for a lack of communication and a lack of direction about how infections would be handled during the tournament.
"[W]e take full accountability for the positive results that led to our team's departure," Woodson and Corrigan wrote in their letter. "However, we still have many significant concerns about the NCAA's handling of protocols and communications with our team and our university."
Communication by the NCAA was "essentially non-existent" after the first player tested positive on June 22, they said. The letter also included phrases such as "clear lack of on-site coordination," "insufficient planning" and "deficit of coordination and communication" to describe the events of that week.
The letter to the NCAA also included a timeline of events that week:
June 20 – All members of N.C. State's traveling party test negative, but one player reports feeling ill.
June 22 – The ill player and a coach test positive, although a follow-up test for the coach is negative. N.C. State asks for improved communication from NCAA and local health officials.
June 24 – A player 2 who had shared a room with the ill player continues to test negative. The school requests shortening that player's seven-day quarantine time, but NCAA and local health officials in Omaha, Neb., each say the other agency is in charge of making that call.
June 25 – The second player and two others test positive. N.C. State plays Vanderbilt with only vaccinated players available. All members of the traveling party are tested after the game.
June 26 – Test results that come back at 12:25 a.m. show four more positive tests. The NCAA recommended to its medical board that the team be removed from the tournament, and N.C. State officials learned at 1:45 a.m. that the team was disqualified. The NCAA subsequently provided no assistance in getting the team back to Raleigh.
Emmert wrote back to Woodson and Corrigan on July 7, saying how disappointed he was in how N.C. State's season ended but that the disqualification contained a serious outbreak of the coronavirus' Delta variant and protected other teams, fans and the community at large.
"It is certainly the case that communications could have been more effective and, in some circumstances, more timely," he wrote. "As for the details of the timeline of events, we have some level of disagreement on the specifics."
Emmert maintained that his staff and N.C. State officials had "very regular communication" after the first positive test.
"Certainly, there were disagreements on how best to proceed, but nonetheless, conversations took place several times daily," he wrote.
N.C. State also released emails sent to Woodson and Coach Elliott Avent after the disqualification. While many showed compassion for the team, there was also plenty of anger directed at the school and Avent for not requiring vaccinations for the entire team.
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