Athletics
The University of Pittsburgh's athletic teams, referred to as the "Pittsburgh Panthers" or "Pitt Panthers," include 19 university-sponsored varsity teams at the highest level of competitive collegiate athletics in the United States: the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for american football).
Varsity men's sports sponsored by the university are baseball, basketball, cross country, football, soccer, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and wrestling; while sponsored women's varsity sports include basketball, cross country, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and volleyball. All varsity sports teams compete as members of the Big East Conference since the 1982-83 season, with the exception of the gymnastics team competing in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) and the wrestling team competing in the Eastern Wrestling League. The university also maintains membership in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
On September 18, 2011, it was announced that the University of Pittsburgh will officially leave the Big East to join the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports on July 1, 2013.
Scholastically, during 2012 calendar year, out of approximately 450 Pitt varsity student athletes, 350 had term grade point averages exceeding 3.0, including 16 that had a perfect average of 4.0, and 174 were named Big East Academic All-Stars or placed on the all-academic Big East football team.
There are also approximate 30 additional athletic teams that compete at the non-varsity club sports level.
Pitt’s highest-profile athletic programs, American football and men’s basketball, are consistently competitive. Pitt has been regularly ranked as having one of the best combinations of football and basketball programs by multiple sports media outlets, including CBS Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated.
In the fall of 1909, the University of Pittsburgh was the first college or university to adopt the panther (Puma concolor) as its mascot. Popular as photo sites, there are ten representations of Panthers in and about Pitt's campus, and ten more painted fiberglass panthers placed around the campus by the Pitt Student Government. These fiberglass panther structures are given to a campus group for a year and painted by the group to reflect their interests. The oldest representations are four panthers that guard each corner of the Panther Hollow bridge. Other Oakland locations include both inside and in front of the William Pitt Union, outside the Petersen Events Center, "Pitt the Panther" on the carousel in Schenley Plaza, the Panther head fountain on the front of the Cathedral of Learning, and the Pitt Panther statue outside Heinz Field on Pittsburgh's North Side.
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