SoCon Opts Out Of Fall Sports Competition/Sports Move To Spring

Non-Conference Contests Will Be At Schools’ Option

Thursday, August 13, 2020

The Southern Conference Council of Presidents announced Thursday that the league will not have fall league competition due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing for non-conference contests at each institutions' discretion.

It is the intention of the SoCon to move the fall sports' regular-season competition and championships to the spring.

The student-athletes impacted by this decision are football, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer and volleyball.

Practice and competition for some sports that have their championships in the winter/spring but traditionally have fall practice and competitions (men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's lacrosse, baseball, softball and rifle) will be determined by each institution.

"The Southern Conference made the difficult decision to postpone fall league competition today," stated UTC Vice President and Director of Athletics Mark Wharton. "We will continue to explore the feasibility of non-conference games in the fall and those decisions will be made in the coming days.

"While I am deeply disappointed for our student-athletes and coaches, this decision was made in the best interest of everyone's health and safety. We have worked tirelessly over the last five months to determine a safe return to play. That effort continues as we explore options for competitive opportunities, while fulfilling the NCAA safety requirements set forth earlier this month.

"I commend all of our student-athletes who gave every effort over the summer to get ready preparing for the 2020 season. Not only have they prepared physically and mentally, but they are also doing an outstanding job following new guidelines for testing, quarantining, wearing masks and social distancing. We continue to support their physical and mental health, as well as their academic and athletic experience at UTC.

"This is a stressful time for everyone involved and the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff remains our top priority. I look forward to the return of competition under the safety requirements set forth by the NCAA."

Current UTC season ticket holders should look for correspondence from the Tickets Office over the next few days for options concerning their 2020 football season tickets.