On Friday, the Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Conference announced their postponement of regular season and championship competition for the 2020 fall sports season until spring 2021. The ASUN conference does not sponsor football, therefore this postponement will affect men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball.
In a release, ASUN Commissioner Ted Gumbart said, “Obviously this is a huge disappointment. Anyone who follows college sports understands the dynamics that brought us to this decision, but that doesn’t mean we like it. My feelings right now? COVID stinks. If you weren’t putting my words into a public release, I might put it another way.”
The ASUN President’s Council plans on providing these fall sport athletes with a spring season.
The decision also does not directly impact conference members with swimming & diving programs that compete in other conferences, including FGCU, Bellarmine, Liberty, and North Florida.
Gumbart explained, “We will make every effort to provide a quality competitive experience for our fall student-athletes during the spring semester. We’re not in the position today to guarantee it will happen, but we can promise to make every effort to get there. We owe that to our student-athletes, our athletic departments and our institutions.”
The ASUN’s announcement is an update to our report on Division I’s plans for fall sports as of August 13th. Here is an up-to-date list of Division I’s plans for fall sports as of August 15th.
WHERE DIVISION I SWIMMING CONFERENCES STAND ON FALL SPORTS AS OF AUGUST 15
| KEEPING FALL SPORTS IN THE FALL AS OF NOW | CANCELING/POSTPONING FALL SPORTS | ||
| Moving forward with fall seasons | ACC | Big Ten | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring |
| Moving forward with fall seasons | Big 12 | Pac-12 | Postponed all sports (including swimming) competition to at least January 1. Possibility of playing fall sports in spring |
| Moving forward with fall seasons | SEC | MAC | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring |
| Moving forward with fall seasons | AAC | MWC | Postponed all sports competition (including swimming), possibility of playing in spring. (Air Force exempt from postponement) |
| Planning to play but continuing to evaluate | C-USA | Patriot League | Postponed fall sports (except Army & Navy), possibility of playing in the spring |
| No competition before October 1 | Horizon League | Ivy League | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring |
| No changes to season announced – several fall sport championships still scheduled | MVC | Summit League | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring |
| WAC | Postponed fall sports to at least January 1, winter sports to at least October | ||
| Big East | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring | ||
| CAA | Postponed football, no word on other fall sports | ||
| NEC | Postponed all fall sports | ||
| America East | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring | ||
| A-10 | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring | ||
| MAAC | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring | ||
| MPSF | Postponed men’s water polo (the conference’s only fall sport), possibility of playing in winter or spring | ||
| ASUN | Postponed fall sports, possibility of playing in the spring | ||