Before Wednesday afternoon, the fallout of everything regarding the coronavirus (Covid-19) hadn’t been felt at a national sports level and certainly not at a local level like the University of Oklahoma.

That has all changed, obviously, in the last 24 hours with one bombshell announcement after another by the NCAA. It all culminated Thursday afternoon with the NCAA saying all remaining winter and all spring championships have been canceled.

No NCAA tournament for OU’s men’s basketball team. No last moment to shine for gymnast Maggie Nichols. No watching the expected spring runs by OU baseball and softball. Canceled.

The Big 12 clarified its stance by releasing a statement saying from Friday until March 29, that it is suspending all regular-season competitions, on- and off-campus recruiting and out-of-season practices, which includes OU spring football.

OU responded by releasing its own statement hours later.

“The University of Oklahoma Athletics Department announced Thursday it is suspending all athletics competitions, as well as all out-of-season practices and workouts, until further notice. This rapidly developing situation has warranted consideration of many factors, and the health and welfare of people we serve is at the forefront of all of our deliberations. We will communicate updates as appropriate.”

Athletic director Joe Castiglione addressed multiple OU reporters on a 35-minute teleconference call to give further details about what exactly will be going on. Or more accurately, what won’t be happening in Norman for the time being.

Until further notice has left the door opened, and immediately OU fans were wondering the status of the April 18 spring football game. As of now, the game has not been canceled, but it’s clearly something that will be monitored the rest of the way.

“That remains a possibility for sure but what we're trying to do is work through these time segments,” Castiglione said. “I realize that in other parts of our collegiate world, there are various decisions being made to cancel seasons altogether and while we have not reached that stage yet within our own conference, that could change at any point.

“We're just giving you the information as we know it right this minute. We definitely understand things could change but that's more than a month away and I think a decision about the spring game isn't as important right now as making prudent decisions in any other cases.

“For some, they might disagree but we're trying to take them in the right order here. If we're going to continually delay the start of, or the continuation, I should say, of spring practice then obviously we need to quickly decide whether we change the date of the spring game or eliminate it all together.”

There are many consequences of the NCAA and OU’s decisions and one of them is recruiting. Of course, OU has been banking on making the spring game as big of a recruiting weekend as possible.

For the near future, though, everything is being put on hold. No in-person correspondence will be made, just electronic contact.

“At the moment, we have suspended any off-campus or on-campus recruiting,” Castiglione said. “And that means everything from going out to an official visit, a home visit, going to watch a game or a practice, having a prospective student-athlete come to campus for an official visit or an unofficial visit, however coaches would use the current recruiting calendar and current recruiting rules to guide their means of contact prospective student-athletes through electronic means.”

While it appears things like recruiting can be adjusted in time, it’s not the same when it comes to canceling the championships. There’s the issue of seniors missing out on their one last chance, and then there’s the question about whether canceling the spring championships this early even makes sense.

“We’re not altogether sure why championships that wouldn't occur until much later in the spring or early summer were canceled now,” Castiglione said. “I say that completely recognizing that those involved in making that decision had information that we don't have in front of us right at this moment. But I trust that they used it to the best advantage to make decisions that were right for everybody

The Big 12 has announced the cancellation of its winter championships, but the door remains open for spring championships. It’s a little hazy what would be at stake, though, since there is no end-game, no national championship to play for.

Maybe it would give those student-athletes some closure, something the winter competitors will not get. Names like Kristian Doolittle for basketball and Nichols for gymnastics stand out, but there are a bunch of other seniors who won’t get to finish their career in a fair way.

“We would want to discuss a modification of eligibility rules, perhaps I would like to see us look seriously at providing an additional year of eligibility for student-athletes who have lost the opportunity to compete,” Castiglione said. “Certainly, that starts with the student-athletes in their final year of eligibility. There's not another way to get it back.

“I don't know how many student-athletes would come back and compete if they had an additional year of eligibility. That's all speculative. But it's certainly something we're going to continue to discuss. There may be some other legislative changes or modifications that might have to be made as we further get into making other decisions.”