Once college football preseason camp starts, Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson plans on isolating himself from his wife, Catherine, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Clawson's wife, Catherine, is a cancer survivor and at higher risk for complications if she contracts the coronavirus due to a reduced white blood cell count. Catherine is cancer-free and currently in good health, but the two decided isolation until the end of the season was the best move. Wake Forest starts preseason camp on July 12.
"When I'm working on a daily basis, coaching 110 to 120 players and having a staff of 50, I don't know how I could go home at night and honestly tell my wife I couldn't have come in contact with [the coronavirus]," Clawson told David Hale of ESPN. "I love coaching, but I love my wife more. There's no way I'm going to do anything that would put her at risk."
Clawson added that several members of his staff will take similar measures, and that he has informed players to maintain social distancing guidelines. "We've told our players that to play college football has always required dedication and sacrifice," Clawson said, "and if we want to play football this year, they're going to have to sacrifice more than they ever have before in terms of curtailing social life and not being around large groups of people, and the staff is no different."
Penn State coach James Franklin has similarly stated that he will isolate from his family during the season. Franklin's daughter, Addison, suffers from sickle cell disease, a condition which compromises a person's immune system. Franklin will stay in Pennsylvania during the season while the rest of his family will stay at the family's vacation home in Florida.
