EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T Director of Athletics Earl M. Hilton III, announced on Thursday, N.C. A&T will not play competitive NCAA Division I-FCS football in the spring. Hilton decided to suspend football after the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announced it would not be sponsoring a championship. 

"The toll, the grind, the mental, emotional and physical price that our young men have paid since July 5, to continue to march into an uncertain future does them a significant disservice," Hilton said. "The juice is no longer worth the squeeze." 

The decision not to play football in the spring is the end of an era for N.C. A&T as it pertains to MEAC football. N.C. A&T announced last February their intention to move from the MEAC to the Big South Conference in all sports except for bowling. 

N.C. A&T, a founder member of the MEAC in 1971, is scheduled to start Big South Conference play in September. 

"I haven't had time to reflect on what it means to be leaving the MEAC," said N.C. A&T head coach Sam Washington. "My focus has been on this pandemic and keeping these young men safe while also trying to get them ready to play. I have had an association with the MEAC for a long time, and the word that comes to mind is phenomenal. It is a phenomenal conference, and it will do well going forward."

COVID-19 halted one of the most successful runs for any football program in the MEAC's 50-year history. Before the pandemic shutdown the 2020 fall season, the Aggies were heading into the season, having won four out of the last five years. Only S.C. State from 1977-83 had a better run, winning five of six MEAC titles. 

N.C. A&T also won four out of the five Celebration Bowls ever played from 2015-19, including the last three. In doing so, the Aggies won four black college national championships. 

Washington and the Aggies open the 2021 season, Saturday, Sept. 4, at Furman. The Aggies first home game of 2021 at Truist Stadium is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 25, against N.C. Central.