The Conference Carolinas Board of Directors unanimously approved a plan to proceed with intercollegiate competition in conference-sponsored sports in the upcoming fall semester. Intercollegiate competition may begin no earlier than Sept. 18, 2020.

The decision was made in the best interest of Conference Carolinas student-athletes, coaches, and administrators. Conference Carolinas member institutions may begin practicing in their championship/non-championship segments on Sept. 1 or when mandated by NCAA policy, whichever is later.

“The delay of the fall sport seasons will give our student-athletes a chance for resocialization, as they return back to Mount Olive for the first time since March.  Our goal is to compete this fall, but we need to move forward in a manner which prioritizes the health and safety of our student-athletes,” said Vice President for Athletics Jeff Eisen.

“During this pandemic, we are working to keep the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff as our top priority,” Commissioner Chris Colvin said. “Our goal in Conference Carolinas is always to help our member institutions use intercollegiate athletics to achieve their overall mission. This decision by our Board of Directors, after careful consultation with our Directors of Athletics and local health officials, gives our member institutions time to focus on the resocialization process on each campus during the first few weeks of the semester and then move toward intercollegiate competition. We will continue to work on fine-tuning the safety protocols that will be implemented by all of our institutions.”

Conference Carolinas originally announced in May of 2020 that it would emphasize conference contests in the 2020-21 academic year and that it did not have any plans to reduce league contests in 2020-21. That plan is still in place.

The University of Mount Olive has established the following website to disseminate real-time information about university’s coronavirus policies and procedures: https://umo.edu/covid19response/. This website is the primary information source for the fall 2020 plan. Details and announcements will be added as decisions are made throughout the summer. Please check back frequently for updates to the site.