After Five Years of a Ban on Postseason College Sports, South Carolina Remains Defiant and Continues to Fly the Confederate Flag at the State Capitol

In 2001 the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced a ban on scheduling postseason college athletic championship events or tournaments in the state of South Carolina. The action was taken because South Carolina continues to fly the Confederate battle flag on the grounds of the state capitol building.

The ban resulted in Greenville’s losing a basketball regional competition in 2002, and the NCAA cross-country championships, which had been held on the campus of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, are taking place elsewhere.

Now, because the flag is still flown at the state capitol, the Black Coaches Association is asking the NCAA to go even further. Currently colleges and universities in South Carolina can still hold individual playoff or championship games on their campuses if they qualify to do so under regular NCAA rules. But under the new plan, South Carolina colleges and universities would have to play these games on the road in another state.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.