by Maya Dawson, Sports Editor

The Aggies of North Carolina A&T are officially moving to the Big South Conference. They will be leaving the MEAC at the end of the 20-21 season and joining Hampton as the only two HBCUs in the Big South.

The announcement was made Friday, Feb. 7, in Greensboro at the N.C. A&T campus. They will be the second MEAC member to leave for the Big South, with Hampton being the other, who had left in 2018.

The Big South consists of 11 teams from Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. There are three schools in Virginia: Longwood, Radford, and Hampton; four in North Carolina: Gardner-Webb, Campbell, UNC Asheville, and High Point University; and four in South Carolina: Winthrop, Presbyterian, Charleston Southern, and USC Upstate. 

There are also three football affiliate teams as well, with them being: Monmouth, Kennesaw State, and North Alabama.

According to the North Carolina A&T website, although they have 17 sports they will represent 16 in the Big South- football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field. The bowling team will continue to compete in the MEAC.

With A&T moving conferences, hopefully, the removal of their dominance will allow for the rise of other schools within the MEAC.