USF moves stadium groundbreaking ceremony and Homecoming Week
USF has moved the event lineup for Homecoming Week, including the groundbreaking ceremony of its on-campus stadium, following the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
USF cited “ongoing recovery efforts” as the reason for the postponement.
The groundbreaking ceremony will now take place on Nov. 8 at 3:30 p.m. It was initially slated for this Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Sycamore Fields, one day prior to USF football’s game against UAB.
The game against UAB is still scheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
The Homecoming Week events schedule will be announced soon, according to the university. USF has a home game scheduled against Navy on Nov. 9. The time for the Navy game has not been announced.
President Rhea Law said the university’s focus is on the community’s safety and reopening USF’s campuses after the hurricane.
The Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses opened on Monday, while the St. Pete campus is set to reopen on Tuesday.
Related: USF will reopen in the wake of Hurricane Milton
“By rescheduling our Homecoming and on-campus stadium groundbreaking ceremony to November, it will allow us to celebrate these important events at a more appropriate time,” Law said.
USF also moved its event lineup for Homecoming Week, which included the Running of the Bulls Parade, a Carni-Bull and the annual Round Up Comedy Show with comedian Trevor Wallace.
The university said it would move the celebrations to the week of Nov. 4, but did not clarify when each event would take place.
Related: PHOTOS: USF Tampa before and after Hurricane Milton
Homecoming Week is a 60-year-old tradition to celebrate Bull pride and school spirit, according to its website.
The Round Up Comedy Show was set to take place on Thursday night at the Yuengling Center, which is currently closed as the building is without power. The email did not mention when the event would be rescheduled to.
Wallace, who has over 3 million followers on Instagram and 10 million on TikTok, was under contract to perform at the show. The Tampa Campus Activities Board had not answered The Oracle’s records request for the contract at the time of publication.
The festivities were originally set to begin this Sunday with “Color the Campus” and “Homecoming Kickoff” on Monday but the events were rescheduled due to the Tampa campus’ closure due to Hurricane Milton.
Other attractions for students to check out during the week would’ve been the Homecoming Ball and the crowning of USF’s Homecoming Royalty.
More Stories
USF will reopen in the wake of Hurricane Milton
USF will reopen this week with some stipulations after closing for Hurricane Milton. The Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses will reopen Monday and the St. Pete campus will reopen Tuesday, according to a universitywide email sent out Sunday evening. USF plans to fully reopen in-person classes by Oct. 21, according to the email. Related: USF extends […]
USF students seek comfort at MSC in Milton’s aftermath
Maria Aleksandrova hid in her bathroom at The Flats at 4200 as Hurricane Milton pelted the Tampa Bay area. Alone with her cat, Donut, the Russian international student said she prayed for her safety. “Unfortunately, I just did not have the opportunity to evacuate,” said Aleksandrova, whose apartment is across from campus on Fletcher Avenue. […]
How USF football played after a hurricane: ‘There’s no playbook’
When USF took the field against Memphis on Saturday, just two days following Hurricane Milton, it seemed like football could be the last thing on anyone’s minds. Entire neighborhoods in Tampa were flooded. Hundreds of thousands were without basic necessities, such as power and gas. Bulls coach Alex Golesh said players and coaches lost homes […]
USF to reopen Tampa dorms, except Juniper-Poplar Hall, Sunday
USF will welcome back its Tampa residents Sunday morning after closing residence halls for five days due to Hurricane Milton. Related: USF closes all campuses until Saturday due to Hurricane Milton – The Oracle Juniper-Poplar Hall, however, will remain closed, USF announced in a university wide email sent Saturday afternoon. The university told students who […]
PHOTOS: USF Tampa before and after Hurricane Milton
After Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key on Wednesday night, it made its way inland – passing by USF and leaving its mark on the Tampa campus. While the campus emerged largely unscathed from Hurricane Helene just 13 days before, Milton was a different story. Debris from fallen trees have been left behind and […]
Hurricane Milton forced USF students to evacuate campus: ‘Like a community’
Hunkering down at Jennings Middle School wasn’t as bad as Luiza Medeiros De Campos thought it would be. As a freshman international student from Brazil, she talked with her family and decided to ride out Hurricane Milton in her dorm room, just like she did during Hurricane Helene. But when she learned she would have […]