The NCAA News - News and Features

August 3, 1998

Division I Notes

Facilities: The University of Nevada has received a $1 million gift toward its women's basketball program, $300,000 of which will be used to renovate the Old Gymnasium. The renovation includes the purchase of floor bleachers, expanded seating, hardwood flooring, ceiling modification and state-of-the-art heating. Afterward, the Old Gym will become the home court for the women's basketball and volleyball teams ... Robert Morris College recently completed construction on its $2.5 million North Athletic Complex. The complex, a 23-acre development, includes nine lighted basketball/tennis courts, two natural grass soccer fields, space for a future softball field and football stadium. The complex is part of a larger campus-wide project that also includes a new student center scheduled to open in October ... The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has broken ground on a new $5.56 million facility that will nearly double the size of its existing fieldhouse. The new Retrievers Activities Center will be a multipurpose facility for indoor tennis, lacrosse, soccer and traditional court sports ... The University of Delaware received a $1 million gift from Fred P. Rullo, former letterwinner in football and baseball for the Blue Hens, to go toward a new $3.3 million artificial turf stadium as part of the school's David M. Nelson Athletic Complex.

Sports sponsorship: The University of Delaware will add women's rowing this year, bringing to 23 its total number of sports. The team has operated on the club level for the past seven years ... Sacred Heart University announced that its football and men's ice hockey teams will compete at the Division I level beginning this fall. Sacred Heart's entire athletics program will make the move from Division II to Division I in September 1999 ... The University of Alabama, Huntsville, will begin competing at the Division I level in men's ice hockey beginning this season.

Conferences: The Colonial Athletic Association will sponsor women's championships in softball and golf beginning with the 1999-2000 academic year. The CAA currently sponsors championships in 18 sports -- nine for women and nine for men. "The addition of these two sports demonstrates the continued commitment to women's athletics within our organization," said CAA commissioner Thomas E. Yeager. The league also made adjustments to a pair of its 1998-99 championship sites. The Kellogg's-CAA Women's Basketball Championship will split from the men's tournament and be played at the University of Richmond's Robins Center March 3-6, 1999, and the Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held at George Mason University April 16-17, 1999 ... America East has officially changed its name to America East Conference, effective immediately.