Pitt AD Heather Lyke says if football is played in the fall, fans will be there

Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke said Wednesday if the football team is allowed into Heinz Field to play a normal season, fans will be a part of it.

“If we’re playing the game, we’ll be playing it in front of fans,” she said, speaking on a Zoom conference call with reporters. “If there is a concern about human contact, we wouldn’t be playing the game.

“I do feel fans are a part of the experience. Coaches and student-athletes playing the game with no one there, there is definitely something missing. We value that atmosphere.

“The social distancing, if those orders are still in place in the fall, we won’t be having games as we know them now. If we’re allowed to be around one another, hopefully, we would go back to what we would consider a normal football season.”

She said all ideas will be considered if and when it becomes necessary to adjust the football schedule. She also doesn’t expect any serious schedule conflicts at Heinz Field with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But she said the 12 spring practices that were canceled last month probably won’t be made up before training camp opens in August.

“Coach (Pat Narduzzi) and I have talked about it, as well as my colleagues in the country,” she said. “The reality of it is it’s pretty difficult to predict. I would anticipate there is probably not a lot of potential to recapture spring practices in any sort of formalized way.

“We have mentally prepared just in case we don’t get to make up those practices.”

She also emphasized it’s difficult to predict when players and coaches will be able to get together for practice. The NCAA on Wednesday extended the so-called dead period in recruiting through May 31, with no visits allowed either in homes or on campus.

“None of us know if this is going to subside in May, in June, where it puts us,” she said. “We’re very hopeful, and I hope we’re in a good position come the fall.

“Things are going to come back. They will. It’s just a matter of when.”

She said coaches are connecting with athletes through video conferencing, but it’s not the same as face-to-face contact. “As a complete creature of habit myself, it’s really a challenge,” she said. “As a group, (coaches) know they’re missing their student-athletes a whole lot and they’re missing massive structure in their lives.

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