One college football program made the tough decision to cancel its season after a string of injuries. In an announcement on Tuesday, October 1, it was announced that Grinnell College, a Division III program in Iowa, made the decision to cancel the season after an 0-3 start.
To make matters worse, the program had only 28 healthy players remaining on the roster.
So, because of health concerns, Grinnell College will not take the field again in 2019 “to protect the health and safety of its student-athletes.”
“This decision is in line with the Athletic Department’s mission, which states that student-athletes benefit from an integrated, co-curricular experience that upholds the academic mission of the College as the department provides individualized and group instruction in a safe environment, celebrates academic excellence, and emphasizes experiential learning. The current state of the football team precludes the College from providing a safe environment,” a statement from the university said.
“The College is unwilling to compromise the health and safety of its players, including the 11 players, who over the course of the first seven weeks of practice and play, will miss some or all of the season”
There are seven games remaining on the Grinnell College schedule which will be forfeited. Their next outing was scheduled for October 5 against St. Norbert College.
About Grinnell College
Grinnell College was founded in 1846 in Grinnell, Iowa. The private liberal arts college has the sixth-highest endowment-to-student ratio of liberal arts schools. Grinnell College is tied for 14th best overall and 3rd best undergraduate teaching among liberal arts colleges in the country in 2020, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The school participates in a 3–2 engineering dual degree program with Columbia University, Washington University in St. Louis, and California Institute of Technology, a 2–1–1–1 engineering program with Dartmouth College and a Master of Public Health cooperative degree program with University of Iowa, according to the official website.