UH president breaks silence after workouts halted
University of Houston president Renu Khator, who had not previously commented since UH athletes began testing positive for COVID-19 more than a week ago, said Monday that the health and safety of students is a priority.
Khator made her first public comments in a brief post on Twitter, 10 days after six studentathletes tested positive for COVID-19 and athletic activities on campus were suspended.
“No one said Fall 2020 will be easy, but we will continue walking forward, one step at a time, keeping the health and safety of our students and staff as priority!” she wrote.
Khator and athletic director Chris Pezman have remained silent since June 12, when UH became the first school to suspend athletic activities since the NCAA cleared the return of student-athletes to campus following a nearly three-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
UH was one of only two FBS schools in Texas not to require mandatory testing for studentathletes upon their return to campus. Testing was done only for student-athletes who showed symptoms.
At the time, UH said it was halting workouts — which included those for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball — “out of an abundance of caution.”
Any resumption of workouts will now include repetitive COVID-19 testing, the school said. A timetable has not been announced when UH will attempt to resume workouts.
Khator and Pezman have declined repeated requests for comment.
UH lands transfer from Arkansas
Arkansas forward Reggie Chaney announced he will transfer to the University of Houston, providing some much-needed frontcourt help following the seasonending injury to Fabian White.
Chaney has two years eligibility and is expected to apply for a waiver to be eligible this season.
The 6-8 Chaney averaged 4.1 points and 3.3 rebounds in 29 games for the Razorbacks last season.
UH is in search of frontcourt help after White, a key member of back-to-back American Athletic Conference title teams, suffered a torn knee ligament in May.
Oklahoma State keeps top recruit
Cade Cunningham, one of the nation’s top basketball recruits, has chosen to remain at Oklahoma State despite the program being banned from the 2021 postseason.
Cunningham, an Arlington native who played at Montverde (Fla.) Academy, won the Naismith High School Trophy given to the nation’s best player. He is No. 1 in the Rivals and 247Sports recruiting rankings for his class and No. 2 in the ESPN 100.
Baylor and Iowa reveal positive tests
Five more Baylor athletes have tested positive for COVID-19, making it eight positives from among 109 tests conducted in the process of returning to campus for voluntary workouts and conditioning.
There was no breakdown by sport, but the school said of the eight athletes who tested positive, four were showing symptoms and the other four were asymptomatic. Some of the 109 athletes tested so far weren’t yet at the Texas school.
After reporting three positive results among 59 tests last week, Baylor’s updated numbers Monday included five new positives among 50 tests.
Under Baylor’s prevention and response protocols, including current CDC guidelines, the athletes who tested positive went into self-isolation. Other athletes identified by contact tracing as having potential direct exposure are being instructed to self-quarantine.
Meanwhile, Iowa’s athletic department says nine athletes, coaches or staff have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week.
That accounts for nearly onequarter of the 40 tests conducted in that time frame. Since the beginning of the return-to-campus protocol May 29, there have been 12 positives among 386 tests.