Pitt planning for full capacity
Score one for Pitt’s oncampus events, and for another step toward normalcy this fall — pandemic or not.
Pitt confirmed Wednesday that it is planning to “host full-capacity crowds for home events on campus this fall.” Athletic department officials also outlined masking guidelines as they and the rest of the university continue to plan for fall semester.
Officials also offered details about policies that will be in place regarding COVID-19, including masking: “Indoors: Regardless of your vaccination status, face coverings are required when indoors, unless you are in your enclosed private office or dwelling,” said a statement released by athletic department spokesman E.J. Borghetti. “Outdoors, individuals who are not fully vaccinated, as well as those who are or live with someone who is immunocompromised, should wear face coverings when outdoors and unable to maintain physical distancing.”
As the football home opener Sept. 4 against Massachusetts approaches, all eyes will be on an off-campus site: Heinz Field. As early as May, athletic director Heather Lyke expressed an intent to accommodate full capacity crowds at Heinz Field this fall. “That’s our expectation, and that’s our hope,” Lyke said at the time, a hopeful sign for the athletic department after losing “significant” gate revenues and spending up to $300,000 on COVID-19 testing.
But colleges and universities nationally — including their athletic departments — have been watching warily as a spike in cases fueled by the delta variant has intensified this summer.
Baylor
The NCAA said its long investigation of the Baylor sexual assault scandal would result in nothing more than probation and other relatively minor sanctions because the egregious, “unacceptable” behavior at the heart of the case did not violate its rules.
Along with four years of probation and a $5,000 fine, Baylor will face recruiting restrictions during the 202122 academic year.
The NCAA ruling came more than five years after the scandal rocked the world’s largest Baptist university, leading to the firing of successful football coach Art Briles and the departure of athletic director Ian McCaw and school president Ken Starr.
The NCAA said the allegations centered on conduct never before presented to the Committee on Infractions, which has existed since 1951 — that Baylor “shielded football student-athletes from the institution’s disciplinary process and failed to report allegations of abhorrent misconduct by football student-athletes, including instances of sexual and interpersonal violence.”
Virginia Union
Quandarius Wilburn, a freshman defensive end at Virginia Union, collapsed during a conditioning drill Sunday and later died at VCU Medical Center. Sandra Nelson, Wilburn’s grandmother, told the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch that he “went into cardiac arrest. They did everything they could to save him, and they couldn’t save him.”