Northwestern State University of Louisiana director of athletics Kevin Bostian met with reporters from The Current Sauce for an on-camera interview outlining steps taken before announcing the cancellation of the 2023 football season.
Bostian addressed consulting select members of the team and mental health experts, the criticism and concerns from the community, rumors of investigations from the Southland conference, current student athletes’ scholarships and what’s next for NSU football.
In the interview, Bostian reaffirmed the decision to cancel the remainder of the season and explained that many people were consulted before the decision was finalized.
“The coach and I had several conversations with student athletes, including our seniors regarding this decision,” he said. “While it was not unanimous, based on the comments that they told us we felt that at the end of the day and in learning the data points that we had, we needed to cancel the season.”
He clarified that as well as consulting the student athletes, mental health experts and the athletic trainers were also consulted.
“We did talk to health experts and mental health experts both within the university and the system,” Bostian said. “Based on that with talking to our athletic trainers, who have the day-to-day pulse of our team, we felt again that those were the same points that we used and felt again everything led to the decision to cancel the last four games of the season.”
Bostian acknowledged the parents’ feedback regarding the canceling of the season.
“Since we canceled the season, I’ve had several parents reach out to me that were originally upset with this decision, but they’ve taken a step back after these last couple of days and put themselves in our shoes. They said ‘We understand why. You were looking out for our sons, you were looking out for our student athletes,’” Bostian said. “Our number one priority will always be to look out for the health and safety of our student athletes.”
He also addressed the community and fans of NSU, who are disappointed with the decision.
“I certainly understand why the community and alumni fans would be upset with our decision, we understand it, however based on all the data points we had and looking at a multitude of different things,” he said. “From the conversations we’ve had with student athletes, from the conversations we’ve had with our coaches, athletic trainers and the medical experts, we felt again that the number one priority of our student athletes’ health and well being first is that we had to cancel the rest of the season.”
Bostian explained that there are no investigations into NSU’s football season by the Southland Conference or the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
“There is no current investigation going on within our football program by the conference or the NCAA,” he said. “In fact, we actually talked to Chris Grant, who is the Southland Conference commissioner, from the beginning and he’s been in all our discussions, and the Southland Conference and our remembrance institutions have been very supportive of our decision. As for the NCAA, we are in the process of talking to them about positioning for several waivers for our student athletes versus the whole team and if not the whole team, then at the very least our seniors.”
He also clarified that the football players’ scholarships weren’t affected by this decision.
“The scholarships of our football players, none of it was affected, you know the ones that are going to be here, their scholarships are going to be through the end of the semester,” he said. “Some of them may transfer and at that point, their scholarships won’t be because they won’t be here, but none of the scholarships of our current players were affected.”
He also addressed the search for a new coach.
“But having said that we’ve already started up our search, to have someone in place here shortly,” he said. “You know my job at this point is to move forward, help our program move forward, and we are going to hire the right coach and by doing that we’re going to get our football program back to where our alums, our fans and community members wanted to be and so they can be proud of us.”
Bostian added the expectations for the future of NSU football.
“Spring is a couple months away, we’re gonna be on the football field here and practicing,” Bostian said. “In the fall, we’re going to kick it off and win the conference championship.”
