The 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 62nd season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The season was originally slated to begin on August 28, 2020, and conclude on November 15, 2020. The season was to culminate with the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, which was to be held from November 18 to December 13, 2020, with the four-team College Cup at Meredith Field at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, California.
On August 13, 2020, the NCAA tournament was suspended due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Leading up to the postseason tournament suspension, some conferences had planned to play conference-only matches during the fall season, while some conferences opted to postpone the season to Spring 2021 (February to May 2021). Ultimately, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Sun Belt Conference began play for the 2020 fall season; while a handful of programs scheduled competitive fixtures for the fall 2020 season: Army, Kentucky, Mercer, Navy, South Carolina, and UAB.
On September 16, 2020, the NCAA announced that the spring season would run from February 3 to April 17, 2021, culminating with the NCAA tournament, which was reduced from 48 to 36 teams for this season only. The postponed NCAA tournament began on April 30 and ended on May 17, 2021. The ACC and Sun Belt champions, which were determined in November, earned automatic bids into the tournament. Nevertheless, the fall season began with Notre Dame beating Kentucky, 1–0, on September 17, 2020.
On March 24, 2021, the NCAA announced that the entirety of the men's and women's tournament would be consolidated, with all 36 men's teams and 48 women's teams playing all games in Cary, North Carolina and its vicinity during the period from April 27–May 17.
Changes from 2019
Coaching changes ProgramOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming coachDate of appointment Central Connecticut Shaun Green Retired December 6, 2019 Dave Kelly (interim) January 14, 2020 Incarnate Word Chris Fidler (interim) Not retained after 2 seasons November 11, 2019 Kiki Lara December 20, 2019 George Mason Greg Andrulis Resigned November 13, 2019 Elmar Bolowich January 13, 2020 Boston U. Neil Roberts Retired November 18, 2019 Kevin Nylen January 16, 2020 Harvard Pieter Lehrer Fired November 18, 2019 Josh Shapiro January 13, 2020 UNC Asheville Mathes Mennell Resigned November 19, 2019 Mick Giordano (Interim) February 7, 2020 Valparaiso Mike Avery Program discontinued November 20, 2019 Boston College Ed Kelly Retired November 25, 2019 Bob Thompson January 23, 2020 Kansas City Rick Benben Retired December 2, 2019 Ryan Pore January 14, 2020 Drexel Doug Hess Fired December 3, 2019 Michael Marchiano January 31, 2020 San Diego State Lev Kirshner Fired December 6, 2019 Ryan Hopkins January 21, 2020 West Virginia Marlon LeBlanc Resigned December 12, 2019 Dan Stratford January 20, 2020 Eastern Illinois Kiki Lara Hired by Incarnate Word December 23, 2019 Ronnie Bouemboue February 5, 2020 Purdue Fort Wayne Mike Harper Resigned January 13, 2020 Stephen Gorton February 14, 2020 FIU Kevin Nylen Hired by Boston U. January 16, 2020 Kyle Russell February 21, 2020 Stetson Cristian Neagu Fired February 10, 2020 Emmett Rutkowski February 26, 2020 VMI Charlie Hubbard Hired by James Madison (asst.) March 5, 2020 Max Watson March 23, 2020 Cincinnati Hylton Dayes Resigned, program discontinued March 13, 2020 Appalachian State Jason O'Keefe Program discontinued May 26, 2020 Chicago State New program Trevor Banks July 20, 2020 Robert Morris Bill Denniston Retired September 1, 2020 Jason O'Keefe November 24, 2020 UTRGV Paul Leese Not retained October 18, 2020 Bryheem Hancock November 24, 2020 Radford Bryheem Hancock Hired by UTRGV November 24, 2020 Chris Barrett, February 2, 2021
New programs On November 27, 2017, it was announced that, in 2020, the Tritons of the University of California, San Diego, located in the San Diego, California district of La Jolla, would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the Big West Conference.
On January 11, 2019, it was announced that the Trailblazers of Dixie State University, now known as Utah Tech University, of St. George, Utah would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
On June 17, 2019, it was announced that the Knights of Bellarmine University of Louisville, Kentucky would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the ASUN Conference.
Chicago State University announced on June 23, 2020, that it would begin men's soccer effective immediately. The school had first committed to adding the sport when joining the Western Athletic Conference in 2014, and it budgeted for a team in 2016, but the school did not then begin play due to financial challenges and seriously discussed leaving Division I. The decision to finally add men's soccer came at the same time the school dropped baseball due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cougars will play in their full-time home of the WAC but will not begin conference play until 2021.
On July 15, 2020, after months of consideration, the NCAA granted the highly unusual request of the University of St. Thomas to move directly from Division III to Division I. The school had already accepted an invitation to join the Summit League, and the Tommies will enter Division I and Summit League competition in 2021.
Discontinued programs On November 20, 2019, Valparaiso announced that the men's soccer and tennis teams would be eliminated to allow greater attention to the school's other sports teams.
On April 14, 2020, Cincinnati announced that, due to uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the men's soccer program would be discontinued effective immediately.
On May 26, 2020, Appalachian State, a Division I men's soccer power in the late 1970s, cut the men's soccer program and two other men's programs in response to the financial impact of COVID-19.
Conference realignment SchoolPrevious ConferenceNew Conference Cal State Bakersfield Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Big West Conference UC San Diego California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) (Division II) Big West Conference Dixie State Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) (Division II) Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Kansas City Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Summit League Bellarmine Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) (Division II) ASUN Conference UConn American Athletic Conference Big East Conference Purdue Fort Wayne Summit League Horizon League Valparaiso Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Program discontinued (MVC now has only 5 teams) Cincinnati American Athletic Conference Program discontinued Appalachian State Sun Belt Conference Program discontinued (Sun Belt now has only 5 teams) NJIT ASUN Conference America East Conference Robert Morris Northeast Conference Horizon League Chicago State No team Western Athletic Conference(played as independent in 2020)
Other changes In June 2020, the Missouri Valley Conference and SIU Edwardsville jointly announced that SIUE men's soccer would leave the Mid-American Conference and return to the MVC effective with the 2021 season. While restoring the MVC to six teams, the move then reduced the MAC to only five teams.
The Sun Belt Conference had begun the 2020–21 school year with five men's soccer members, but by the start of the spring 2021 season, two were confirmed to be departing that July for conferences that sponsor men's soccer. On July 6, 2020, Howard announced that it would become an associate member of the Northeast Conference (NEC) in six sports no later than July 2021. Two sports joined the NEC for the 2020–21 school year, while the remaining four, including men's soccer, will join in July 2021. Then, on January 29, 2021, the ASUN Conference officially announced three schools as incoming full members, including Sun Belt men's soccer associate member Central Arkansas. With the Sun Belt men's soccer league by that time all but certain to disband after the 2020–21 school year, Conference USA (C-USA) and Coastal Carolina jointly announced on February 25 that the Chanticleers would become men's soccer members of the league effective with the fall 2021 season. The end of Sun Belt men's soccer was confirmed on May 21 when the Mid-American Conference announced that the last two Sun Belt men's soccer members, Georgia Southern and Georgia State, would join the MAC for the fall 2021 season. This move also restored the MAC men's soccer league to seven teams.
Season outlook Preseason polls NOTE: College Soccer News released its pre-season poll before the NCAA moved the season to the Spring semester. The ACC and the Sun Belt and some other teams played son Fall games, and the Ivy League cancelled its season. Before the Spring season got underway, College Soccer News conducted a new poll and published a new Top 30. The new poll is to the right of the older one. United Soccer Coaches RankTeam 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 College Soccer NewsRankTeam 1 Georgetown 2 Stanford 3 Clemson 4 Wake Forest 5 SMU 6 Indiana 7 Virginia 8 UCF 9 Washington 10 Missouri State 11 UCSB 12 Maryland 13 Michigan 14 Virginia Tech 15 Marshall 16 Seattle U 17 St. John's 18 Louisville 19 Campbell 20 Penn State 21 Kentucky 22 Charlotte 23 UC Davis 24 Boston College 25 Yale 26 NC State 27 North Carolina 28 Pitt 29 California 30 Akron College Soccer NewsRankTeam 1 Georgetown 2 Stanford 3 Clemson 4 Wake Forest 5 SMU 6 Indiana 7 UCF 8 Washington 9 Pitt 10 Missouri State 11 Virginia Tech 12 Maryland 13 Michigan 14 Marshall 15 Seattle U 16 Notre Dane 17 St. John's 18 North Carolina 19 Kentucky 20 Campbell 21 Penn State 22 Charlotte 23 Coastal Carolina 24 Boston College 25 California 26 Akron 27 Loyola Marymount 28 James Madison 29 Virginia 30 NJIT Top Drawer Soccer RankTeam 1 Georgetown 2 Clemson 3 Pittsburgh 4 Stanford 5 Wake Forest 6 Akron 7 Indiana 8 SMU 9 Marshall 10 UCF 11 Virginia Tech 12 Notre Dane 13 Kentucky 14 North Carolina 15 Loyola Marymount 16 Washington 17 Saint Mary's 18 James Madison 19 Charlotte 20 Coastal Carolina 21 Maryland 22 Portland 23 Penn State 24 St. John's 25 Florida International Soccer America RankTeam 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Impact of COVID-19 on season
For the 2020 season, several changes in how the season began, and how conference play was organized affected the 2020 season.
The Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from eight teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination. The Big East Conference divided into two divisions, the "East" and "Midwest" divisions to minimize travel and to regionalize conference play. The Big South Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from six teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference announced that the men's soccer season will begin on September 11, rather than August 28. The Mid-American Conference discontinued its men's soccer tournament. All teams will play each other home-and-home. The Southern Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from six teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination. On July 8, the Ivy League cancelled all intercollegiate sports for the 2020 Fall semester; this includes both men's and women's soccer. On July 10, the Big Ten and Pac-12 Conferences announced all teams will play the 2020 season with conference-only matches On July 13, the Patriot League announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer would be cancelled. On July 17, the Atlantic 10 Conference announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be postponed to spring 2021.