Iowa State men’s basketball Head Coach Steve Prohm is optimistic the 2020-21 season will start on time. 

He told the media Monday he thinks the season is going to start as planned on Nov. 10.

However, Prohm said football needs to be up and running successfully before their season can start.

“I think our first focus, as everybody knows, is football,” Prohm said. “Obviously, football is a major driving force for a lot of things and we’ve got to get them back up and running first then we’ll go forward from there.”

Prohm believes a lot of decisions that affect other sports will be based off of what happens with football.

Iowa State is slated to play in the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida, from Nov. 27-29. 

Prohm said Monday he hasn’t heard of any plans to move or cancel the tournament. 

Only one player is currently on campus according to Prohm.

That player is redshirt senior Solomon Young, who is currently receiving treatment for an injury.

Everyone else can begin arriving back on campus July 15.

Since the 2019-20 season was canceled back in March, the team has been meeting over Zoom calls.

One of the main points in these meetings according to Prohm, is what the student-athletes can do to avoid the COVID-19 virus.

“The biggest thing we have to do is talk to our kids and emphasize with our players to where when you’re not in Sukup (the team’s practice gym), you need to be making good decisions,” Prohm said. “That means wearing your mask, that means not going out to eat, that means staying in your apartment as much as possible, washing your hands, all the different things that you keep hearing people reiterating.”

Prohm said this isn’t the time for people to be socializing.

He said he is optimistic about the plan his staff put in place to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The men’s basketball team’s plan for athletes to return to campus is being made by men’s basketball director of operations Micah Byars and assistant director of athletic training Vic Miller, according to Prohm.

“I think Vic and Micah laid out a really good plan about how we’re going to bring them back, how we’re going to quarantine them and how we’re going to test our athletes,” Prohm said. “They’re having great success.”

Prohm said to his knowledge no player has any intentions of not coming to campus by July 15.