Mississippi schools have won 15 junior college football national championships, including seven of the last nine. Number 16 will not come in 2020. The Mississippi Association of Community Colleges presidents decided last week to play a shortened schedule in the fall beginning on Oct. 1, contingent upon ongoing circumstances with the Coronavirus pandemic. A statement released by the association stated, "The MACC will continue to evaluate COVID-19 and its impact on our student-athletes.’’ Earlier this month, the National Junior College Athletic Association decided to move all “close contact” sports to the spring. That included football, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball. Because Mississippi will be competing in football in the fall, Magnolia State schools will not be eligible for the national championship game which annually pits the top two teams in the final rankings by the NJCAA Football Poll Committee. “Not being able to compete for a national championship is going to hurt,” said East Mississippi athletic director Sharon Thompson. East Mississippi has won five national championships in football, Gulf Coast four, Northwest three, Hinds Pearl River and Delta one each. Over the past nine years, East Mississippi won titles in 2011, ’13, ’14, ’17 and ’18, Northwest in 2015 and Gulf Coast last year. “I won’t say they (Gulf Coast) suffer the most. But they certainly have the most to lose because they will not have a chance to defend their championship,” said East Central Community College athletic director Paul Nixon said. Holmes Community College athletic director Andy Wood said Mississippi still might play football in the spring if the pandemic prevents fall football. But he supports the decision by the presidents to delay the beginning of the season. “I think it’s a great decision because we still do not know if we will have school by October. The last thing we wanted to do was play half a season, then stop. If we can’t get the season in, we will move to the spring. We just want to make sure we keep it as safe as we can.” He added “Playing football in the fall is what we’re used to as a country, especially in the state of Mississippi.” Wood said one problem with moving all fall sports to the spring would be having enough buses with so many sports going on at the same time. “It would be very tight trying to get everybody back and forth to games.” Nixon said playing football in the fall is better than in the spring because of the players who graduate in December and move on to four year schools in order to participate in spring practice. “This is going to give us an opportunity to field the strongest teams possible, bringing the kind of football Mississippi junior colleges are used to putting on the field,” Nixon said. The 14 Mississippi community colleges with football teams are divided into North and South divisions. Each team will play only the other six teams in its division during seven weeks, with one open date for each team. The postseason will also be abbreviated. Instead of four playoff teams -- winner and runners-up in each division — there will be a one-game playoff for the championship between the division winners. Teams in the North are Northwest, East Mississippi, Itawamba, Mississippi Delta, Northeast, Holmes and Coahoma. South teams are East Central, Hinds, Gulf Coast, Copiah-Lincoln, Southwest and Pearl River. Meridian is the only state community college without a football program. Nationally, the only fall sports for junior colleges will be cross country and golf, which will have some tournaments in the fall, but championships in the spring. Mississippi junior colleges will play men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball in the spring. Ten schools have soccer teams – Itawamba, Holmes, East Central, Northwest, Hinds, Jones, Pearl River, Gulf Coast, Meridian and Southwest. Itawamba, Northwest and Pearl River are the only schools with volleyball. The NJCAA has pushed back the beginning of winter sports, including basketball, to January and the season will extend into spring. “Our greatest focus is and always has been providing the best opportunities for our student-athletes,” said NJCAA President & CEO Dr. Christopher Parker. “Through a unified effort from our Presidential Advisory Council, the Board of Regents, and leadership staff, our most recent plan of action provides a path that keeps our student-athletes competing at the highest level with proper safety measures in place. As we move forward as an association, we will continue to provide opportunities for our student-athletes, coaches, and all those involved with the NJCAA to be safe and successful.” Spring sports competition remains intact with minor adjustments to dates. Thompson, who is also the women’s basketball coach at East Mississippi, said the late start for basketball will not be a problem. “To me it’s better that we will be able to play in the spring as opposed to having to shut down for the 20-21 season.” The first playing date for basketball will be Jan. 22.
