All Southern Miss spring sports have been suspended amid new coronavirus concerns
The Southern Miss baseball season was put to a halt Thursday along with numerous other sporting events across the U.S. due to the new coronavirus outbreak.
Conference USA announced at noon Thursday that it has suspended all sports competition for its member institutions until further notice.
There has been one positive test for COVID-19 in Mississippi from a man in Forrest County who had recently traveled to Florida. USM’s main Hattiesburg campus is in Forrest County.
The league’s ruling followed decisions by nearly every Div. I conference to cancel the remaining games in their men’s and women’s basketball tournaments
USM athletic director Jeremy McClain said that there has been communication among all the conferences as they consider the best path forward.
“You want to try to be consistent, but I don’t think there was a coordinated effort,” McClain said. “This is the right think to do. I think everybody felt the same.”
The USM softball team left on a bus Thursday morning for Boca Raton, Florida for a three-game series with Florida Atlantic, but those games will not be played. The team’s bus turned around in the Florida panhandle and is on its way back to Hattiesburg.
The USM baseball team was scheduled to host Florida International for a three-game series starting on Friday, but there will be no games played at Pete Taylor Park this weekend.
“I think it’s a difficult situation for everybody,” McClain said. “You want your teams to have the opportunity to compete, but at the same time there’s the overarching mood to do what’s best for everybody. You’ve seen it around the country. The tone began to change with (Utah Jazz player Rudy Golbert testing positive for COVID-19). That changed the conversation.
Other USM sports affected by the ruling include tennis, beach volleyball and track and field.
The Southeastern Conference, which includes Ole Miss and Mississippi State, also announced on Thursday that all sporting events have been canceled through March 30.
McClain indicated that he was unaware of any USM athletes being tested for COVID-19.
“We haven’t had any reason to feel like there are issues with our student-athletes,” He said. “Everything we’ve done to this point has been to be preventative.”
As for when sports might resume at USM and across C-USA, that decision will rely on how things play out in the coming weeks.
“I think suspended is the right term right now,” McClain said. “None of us know what next week holds. We’ll be talking every day and we’ll communicate to our fan base on a regular basis.”
MHSAA monitors situation
The Mississippi High School Activities Association announced in a statement on Thursday that it is closely monitoring the situation with COVID-19.
The MHSAA says that school administrators have the right to postpone any sporting event.
“Contigency plans are being formulated if statewide school cancellations or delays occur and will be implemented if necessary by the MHSAA,” the release said.
MACJC suspends practice, competition
The Mississippi Association of Community Colleges announced the suspension of regular season practice and competition for all athletics through March 30.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 12:31 PM.
