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USA TODAY | FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020 | SECTION C

SPORTS

CLEARED

Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa cleared a

major hurdle after the doctor con-

ducting his latest medical exam gave

him a clean bill of health. Tagovailoa

has spent the better part of the last

four months rehabbing from surgery

to repair a dislocated right hip and

posterior wall fracture – injuries that

ended his junior season prematurely

and threatened his status as one of

the top picks in this year’s draft. Tago-

vailoa on Thursday participated in a

voluntary medical recheck that was

conducted by an independent doctor

working in conjunction with the NFL

combine, his agent, Leigh Steinberg

confirmed to USA TODAY. The exam

took place in Nashville, and the find-

ings revealed the quarterback’s surgi-

cally repaired hip is structurally sound.

It’s expected Tua will still go early in

the first round of this month’s draft.

HONORED

South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and

Dayton’s Anthony Grant are the win-

ners of the 2020 Werner Ladder Nais-

mith Women’s and Men’s College

Coach of the Year Awards, announced

Thursday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

Staley also makes history by becoming

the first men’s or women’s basketball

honoree to have won the Werner Lad-

der Naismith coach award after claim-

ing the Naismith player award, which

she won at Virginia (1991 and 1992).

RE-SIGNED

The Buccaneers have re-signed quar-

terback Blaine Gabbert to a one-year

deal, according to multiple reports, as

the emergency plan in case prized

free agent Tom Brady gets hurt in

2020. The 10th overall pick of the 2011
      NFL draft by the Jaguars, Gabbert was
      a bust in Jacksonville but has man-
      aged to knock around the league as a
      backup. He’s been a particular favorite
      of Bucs coach Bruce Arians. Gabbert
      didn’t play in the regular season last
      year after dislocating his shoulder in
      Tampa Bay’s third preseason game.

ON TRACK

Even if no games are played this sea-

son, former Astros manager A.J. Hinch

and GM Jeff Luhnow will fulfill their

one-year suspensions given by MLB

for the team’s illicit use of electronics

to steal signs, according to an ESPN

report. Hinch and Luhnow, later fired

by owner Jim Crane, were handed

suspensions in January following an

MLB investigation into stealing signs

during Houston’s run to the 2017

World Series title and again in the

2018 season. Their suspensions end

“following the completion of the 2020

World Series,” according to Commis-

sioner Rob Manfred’s statement.

TWEET OF THE DAY

@LarryBowa

Woke up today and learned my

good friend, Ed Farmer, the radio

voice of WhiteSox, has passed

away. Ed was a great teammate

and one of the nicest guys I’ve had

the privilege to know. My thoughts

and prayers go out to his family

Former major league player and man-

ager Larry Bowa on Twitter about the

death of White Sox broadcaster and

former major league pitcher Ed Farm-

er. He was 70. The White Sox said he

died Wednesday in Los Angeles fol-

lowing complications from an illness.

From staff and wire reports

BRIAN SPURLOCK/USA TODAY SPORTS

SPORTSLINE

Olympic swimming champ Allison

Schmitt has been a very public advo-

cate for mental health, talking openly

about her own struggles and lobbying

the Olympic movement to do more to

help athletes. She is almost done with

her master’s in social work and has in-

terned as a counselor.

Yet as she and other Tokyo hopefuls

try to manage the upheaval and uncer-

tainty in their lives stemming from the

postponement of this summer’s Games,

even Schmitt isn’t sure where to turn for

help.

“I hope changes are made quickly

and soon, especially at this time,” she

said. “Olympians and Olympic hopefuls

are really struggling with what to do

next. You have a lot of time to get in your

mind.

“Ultimately, I hope the change in ini-

tiatives is done very soon, and I hope

that change gives athletes in general re-

sources to reach out to.”

On Friday, the U.S. Olympic and Pa-

ralympic Committee (USOPC) plans to

announce a 13-person task force created

to develop best practices, resources and

action plans for the mental health of

U.S. athletes. The task force began work

in February and includes mental health

experts, medical professionals, coaches

and Olympic and Paralympic athletes,

including Schmitt.

Mental health help in pipeline

Nancy Armour

Columnist

USA TODAY

See ARMOUR, Page 5C

A new survey of major-college ath-

letics directors indicates that some

have interest in short-term changes to

the pay of highly compensated em-

ployees and to the NCAA’s academic

rules as their programs deal with im-

pacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

The survey’s overall picture of col-

lege sports’ current financial land-

scape – including the prospect of a dis-

rupted football season – has some ath-

letics directors also wondering about a

temporary change in the NCAA’s re-

quirement that Football Bowl Subdivi-

sion schools have at least 16 varsity

teams, the leader of the AD’s organiza-

tion that co-sponsored the survey said

in an interview with USA TODAY.

Forty percent of respondents said

they believe, or strongly believe, that

“high earners should voluntarily offer to

make a personal financial sacrifice dur-

ing this crisis,” according to results un-

veiled Thursday by the LEAD1 Associa-

tion, which represents athletic directors

at the NCAA’s 130 FBS schools, and

Teamworks, which provides internal

ADs: NCAA changes may be needed

NCAA President Mark Emmert is

taking a temporary salary adjustment.

ROBERT DEUTSCH, USA TODAY SPORTS

Steve Berkowitz

USA TODAY

See SURVEY, Page 5C

The scariest part, former NFL wide

receiver Nate Hughes says, is just not

knowing. Not knowing enough about

the coronavirus. Not knowing if he

could catch the disease during a shift,

and unknowingly infect his family. Not

knowing when a surge of cases, like

the one that has overwhelmed health

care facilities in New York, might strike

his hospital in Mississippi.

“You know it’s coming,” Hughes told

USA TODAY. “You just hope you’re

prepared and hope everything’s in

waiting, to help take care of people.”

Nearly eight years after his playing

career ended, Hughes is now a first-

year resident at the University of Mis-

sissippi Medical Center in Jackson,

Mississippi — one of the tens of thou-

sands of health care workers at the cen-

ter of a global war against the coronavi-

rus.

After graduating medical school last

spring, the 35-year-old is entering a de-

manding field during a particularly de-

manding time, working to master his

specialty while at the same time provid-

ing critical care for patients during a

pandemic — and putting himself at risk

in the process.

“It’s definitely tough,” said Hughes,

who is training to become an anesthesi-

ologist. “It’s one of those things where

you do everything you can to prevent

(yourself ) from getting it, and you do ev-

erything you can to keep from spreading

it, but it appears so late that you don’t

really know if you’ve been infected or if

you’ve infected someone else.”

As the coronavirus continues to

spread rapidly and unpredictably

across the United States, leaving 4,

people dead as of Thursday, it has

brought devastation to states such as

New York and Michigan — while others,

like Mississippi, are still bracing for its

impact.

Hughes said his hospital has estab-

lished coronavirus units on certain

floors and started screening doctors and

nurses for symptoms before they enter

the building every morning. UMMC

spokesperson Ruth Cummins said 22

patients at the facility had tested posi-

tive for coronavirus as of Thursday, in

addition to an unspecified number of

employees. Two patients have died.

Hughes said he’s most worried not

about whether he will get COVID-

while at work, but whether he will be

asymptomatic and unknowingly infect

Nate Hughes is a former NFL wide receiver now training to be an anesthesiologist.

COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER COMMUNICATIONS

See FRONT LINE, Page 5C

Ex-NFL player now on

the medical front line

Tom Schad

USA TODAY