Central Valley Conference cancels fall semester sports, Merced College directly impacted

The Central Valley Conference has canceled sports in the fall semester because of the coronavirus pandemic, the conference announced on Friday.

Merced College fall sports that will be impacted include football, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s water polo.

The CVC sponsors 12 men’s sports and 12 women’s sports and is made up of Clovis, Columbia, Fresno City, Merced, Porterville, Reedley, College of the Sequoias, Taft, West Hills-Coalinga and West Hills-Lemoore.

The college presidents voted for the conference not to offer fall sports, according to Merced College athletic director Steve Cassady.

The CCCAA will make a determination on July 17 about when to start up sports for the 2020-21 academic year while being directed by health guidelines from the state.

An official at Modesto Junior College, which competes in the Big 8 Conference, said the school will follow the guidance from the CCCAA.

But the CVC went ahead and made a decision for the schools involved.

“With the rising numbers (of confirmed coronavirus cases) I think it was inevitable,” said Merced College football coach Bob Casey. “I was hoping to have more open dialog, but the bottom line is I’ve been preparing our guys for this anyway.”

Casey said he was looking at good numbers for his roster this fall with about 75 to 90 players.

“All I can do is turn the page and get everyone prepared for spring,” Casey said. “There’s a likelihood of more schools following suit not that this ship has sailed. There could be a domino effect. Unfortunately, I think this will set junior college football back a couple years.”

In a tweet, COS said they are not part of the list. They’ll likely petition to play in another league if the California Community Community College Athletic Association gets the green light to play in the fall.

Fresno City said its affected sports are football, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, wrestling, men’s and women’s cross country, water polo and men’s and women’s basketball.

“The COVID-19 virus has impacted all aspects of our life,” Fresno City President Carole Goldsmith said. “We continue to work with faculty, staff and county public health officials in an effort to support opportunities for our coaches and students to continue focusing on conditioning and academics.”

Fall student-athletes will retain their year of eligibility.

There are plans to move men’s and women’s basketball to the spring semester with a reduced schedule, and the spring 2021 athletic season is still on.

But in a statement, Reedley College said it’s “very highly unlikely” that traditional fall sports such as football will be shifted to the spring.

“I want everyone to know that I have spent many hours speaking with people regarding this decision, looking at current data and information, while always holding the safety of our student athletes and our employees at the forefront of my analysis. This decision was not made lightly, and I want to reaffirm my support for our athletic programs here at Reedley College ... we will be back in competition as soon as we can do so safely,” Reedley President Jerry L. Buckley said in a statement.

In a statement, the Central Valley Conference said a majority of its members have concerns about their ability to adequately protect staff and student-athletes from the coronavirus.

“Colleges in the CVC wishing to compete may request to be hosted by another California community college athletic conference,” the conference said.

This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 6:55 PM.