The Southern Conference voted to postpone its 2020 fall sports seasons with the intention to resume in spring 2021.
VMI sports affected by the decision are football, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s cross-country.
“This decision was made with extensive evaluation and conversation,” said Jim Schaus, Southern Conference commissioner. “Ultimately, we feel it necessary to ensure the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff. That decision was also supported by the medical advisory committee. I am greatly saddened to not be able to conduct our fall conference competition. We know what this means to our student-athletes, coaches, staff and loyal fans, but safety must come first. We are still hopeful that we can have these sports successfully compete in the spring. We will continue to daily monitor the COVID-19 situation in order to make prudent and necessary decisions regarding athletic practice and competition in the future.”
“We support and respect the SoCon decision regarding fall sports,” said Dr. Dave Diles, VMI athletics director. “The health and safety of our cadet-athletes and staff is our top priority as we deal with this pandemic. We will focus our efforts to an efficient and orderly transition to spring 2021 competition. There’s not a better school in the country that can prepare our cadet-athletes for adversity and to overcome obstacles, and VMI will adapt and put forth a plan that will move us forward.”
Editor’s Note: This article was first published on vmikeydets.com.