Well what did people expect? There are LOTS of kids who only bother with school so they can play football or basketball. They behave in class and perform at some minimum level only because a coach is checking up on them. Sports keep them out of trouble. Of course, that kind of kid is likely to screw up anyway as soon as his eligibility is up, but if there is some hope of juco or something they keep their minds right a little longer. The hope is that if the carrot is there long enough, they will be somewhat mature and responsible when the sports dream finally ends.
Hopefully these places with no FB will recover next year. But sports just aren’t as big a deal as they used to be and who knows how many guys want to keep conditioning year round when they don’t know if they’ll ever play? Coaches are a little worried. If spring sports get cancelled again it might be sort of catastrophic.