The commissioner of the CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association) Mitch Cox understands what some students may be going through and supports them.

Mitch Cox was appointed as the commissioner of the CCAA in 2018 after serving as the interim commissioner several months prior to that. As the commissioner, he is in charge of making sure there are certain events like scheduling, rules, officials, and meetings within Division 2 schools. He’s been no stranger to handling catastrophes within the division as he’s dealt with the California fires and power outages that have prevented student athletes from playing. But when COVID-19 hit, no one could possibly be prepared for what was to come.

Division 2 schools were forced to shut down their athletic departments for both the Fall and the Spring sports. While Cox isn’t the main decision maker, he does provide value input to the decisions. “We’re the office that is like the umbrella. But there’s bigger umbrellas over us. We’re bound by the whatever the CSU Chancellor in the system says and they’re bound by the governor’s office. So there’s been a lot of layers that go over it.” He describes the situation as working as a unit as the layers that make up this whole system shows that there are multiple people making these decisions. This fits perfectly into what the country is currently facing, not just California, in battling COVID-19 so that we can get back to normal.

“From day one, we said health and safety is our number one priority. And if we can’t do this in a completely healthy and safe manner, then we’re not gonna do it.”

He stood by that statement as he knows that health should remain the main focus for these student athletes, but he also knows that it can take a toll on people. Being the commissioner, it involves attending games and meeting all sorts of different people, communicating with officials, coaches, and players. With COVID-19, none of this is possible and while some student athletes are feeling the affects of no sports, Cox is right there with them.

With no games being played, Cox has felt the impact of what having no sports is like and while he does miss it, he feels the risk isn’t worth the reward.

“I worked at Chico for 16 plus years, and I was game management basically, so I was at every game. I was just at games and talking with people.” He understands that risk comes with everything in life and that’s no different when attending games as he gives the example of someone catching a cold. But this is completely different and the affects of COVID-19 are different with everyone, and with knowing that, Cox completely agreed with the shutdown of sports with the hope of someday returning to normal.

On the topic of normal, the reality might be that we are longer from returning to what we once were, but if this pandemic has taught Mitch anything, it’s patience. “I’ve never been a super patient person. I freely admit that. But this is a thing where you can’t help but have patience, because it’s forcing you to have patience.” And that will eventually pay off as we will eventually turn a corner in these times, of course, not everything will be normal, but it can at least to a point where we all feel comfortable. Just like student athletes, Mitch Cox is right there with them, holding on to hope that one day things will get to that point and there will games with people and fans cheering.