SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Southern Conference Commissioner Jim Schaus sat down with Pete Yanity this week to discuss current affairs around the league for the latest installment of the Commissioner’s Corner.
The pair started their conversation talking about the recently completed Ingles Southern Conference Basketball Championships presented by General Shale Brick. The Mercer women’s team and UNC Greensboro men’s team won titles at the annual event held at Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina.
“We were very, very pleased we were able to have a COVID-free tournament with all the testing we did for our men’s and women’s teams,” Schaus said. “We really had some great cooperation from our team there in Asheville and Buncombe County, all of our sponsors, Ingles and General Shale, just the whole partnership we have in the community did another great job despite some of the challenges with COVID.”
A limited number of fans were allowed for the contests, though Schaus looks forward to a return to normalcy.
“I would say it was a really successful event. Different than we’re used to. Can’t wait to have that place packed again in the future, but overall, we were very pleased.”
Yanity and Schaus also talked about playing fall sports in the spring.
“You know, I think it’s gone pretty well,” Schaus said of the spring football season so far. “We’ve had a couple of COVID issues with teams, but by and large, our teams are playing. We’re the only FCS conference that has all of its team members playing in the spring season, so we’re glad that that’s taking place so far.”
Soccer and volleyball are also competing this spring, in addition to the usual spring sports.
“It’s very busy for our schools,” Schaus said. “Our championships, we’ll be having some of those same issues, a lot of championships on a weekend. But it’s been exciting, and I’m really looking forward to our spring seasons and championships for those teams that weren’t able to have that last year.”
Overall, dealing with the pandemic has led to an increase in communication between the conference and school administrators, provided areas from which to learn and re-affirmed the importance of student-athletes’ health and safety.
“There’s a lot of other areas that we’re always concerned about, but we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about their wellbeing,” Schaus said. “And that’s exactly where we should be. We should be concerned about student-athlete wellbeing in all areas of life, and this is just one more opportunity where we realize how important they are. That’s why we’re in this, and I think we’ve had a good year so far.”