The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- September 27, 1999

Notes

Facilities: The University of Kansas volleyball team christened the new Horejsi Family Athletics Center earlier this month with a 3-1 win over the University of Missouri, Kansas City. The Horejsi Center is a $3.8 million project, completed shortly after the conclusion of the 1998 volleyball season. It is a 16,500-square-foot facility that will seat 1,300 fans for volleyball matches. The facility also features a new volleyball locker room and team room, concession stands and ticket booth. The Horejsi Center also will be used for men's and women's basketball practices ... Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is developing plans to expand its football stadium to a minimum of 63,000 seats, but in the interim, the school has added 2,100 seats to the north end zone, increasing Lane Stadium's capacity to 51,907. Next season, about 1,700 seats and a video-replay scoreboard will be added to the north end zone. By the beginning of the 2002 season, Virginia Tech hopes to add 10,000 to 12,000 seats to the south end zone. By 2003, the school hopes to open a rebuilt press box tower with 40 to 50 luxury suites and more than 1,000 club seats. Funding for the project is expected to come from alumni, and revenues from the suites and additional seats. Though state funds will not be used for the expansion, the plans must be approved by the state ... Pennsylvania State University announced plans to expand Beaver Stadium's seating capacity to more than 100,000. Construction will begin after the season and is scheduled to be completed before the 2001 season. The $93 million expansion also will add 60 luxury boxes and an all-sports museum.

Sports sponsorship: The University of Cincinnati will add women's rowing as a varsity sport beginning with the 2000-01 academic year. The school also has appointed Tim Royalty as the program's head coach. Royalty, who served as the head coach of the school's rowing club for the past nine years, will begin developing the new sport this fall.

Conferences: Elon College and High Point University joined the Big South Conference September 1 when both schools became Division I institutions. Both schools are immediately eligible to compete as conference members and represent the conference in all NCAA championship sports. The two institutions join Charleston Southern University; Coastal Carolina University; Liberty University; the University of North Carolina, Asheville; Radford University; and Winthrop University as members of the 16-year-old conference.

Milestones: Kathy Gregory, women's volleyball coach at the University of California, Santa Barbara, became just the 10th coach in Division I women's volleyball history history to reach 600 career victories. Gregory achieved the milestone in a three-game sweep over the University of Illinois, Champaign, in this year's season opener.

Miscellaneous: The University of Missouri, Kansas City, Sacred Heart University and the University of Denver have unveiled new athletics logos. The Denver logo is a iconic rendering of a red-tailed hawk -- a bird indigenous to Colorado and a prominent bird of prey in the region -- and is a departure from the traditional Pioneers images of the past. The school will retain the nickname "Pioneers," but will establish a new mascot, a cartoon-like character resembling a red-tailed hawk wearing a cowboy hat and a crimson-colored vest. Sacred Heart's logo celebrates the school's inaugural season as a member of Division I. "The logo serves as a rallying symbol for the university community and its alumni," said Sacred Heart athletics director Don Cook. "Our move to Division I demonstrates our commitment to providing a quality educational experience in all aspects, academically, athletically and student life."

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown