The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- November 22, 1999

Notes

Facilities: Northern Illinois University has announced plans to construct a $36 million, 8,900-seat Convocation Center that will serve as home for the Huskies' men's and women's basketball teams. Ground-breaking will take place in the spring, and construction is scheduled to take two years. Northern Illinois athletics director Cary Groth said DePaul University has agreed to play Northern Illinois in a men's basketball game to dedicate the arena during the 2001-02 season. The new arena, containing a regulation NCAA track, will allow Northern Illinois to start a women's track team as well. Student fees, corporate sponsors, private support and income from sports events will fund the cost of the arena. Evans Field House, the home of Huskies basketball since 1957, will undergo a $2.5 million overhaul and be used as a recreational center ... The University of Pittsburgh's November 13 football game against the University of Notre Dame was the last in Pitt Stadium. The 56,000-seat stadium was opened in 1925. Pittsburgh officials said the team will play next year's home schedule in Three Rivers Stadium before moving into a new downtown stadium with the NFL's Steelers in 2001.

Sports sponsorship: The University of California, Irvine, has named Julie Swail as head coach of the school's inaugural women's water polo team, which will begin play in the 2000-01 academic year. Swail currently is the captain of the U.S. Women's Water Polo Team, which will compete through September 2000. She has been a member of that squad since 1994 and captain since 1996. Swail is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego.

Milestones: Becky Burleigh, University of Florida, 100 victories in women's soccer. Besides being a milestone for Burleigh, Florida's 9-0 win over Clemson University also was the program's 100th win. Burleigh, who led the Gators to the national championship last year, is 100-12-3 since the program's inception in 1995 ... Santa Clara University's 9-0 victory over the University of San Francisco in women's soccer not only led the top-ranked Broncos to their third consecutive West Coast Conference championship, it marked the 200th victory in the 13-year coaching career of head coach Jerry Smith. The sixth-winningest coach by victories in NCAA women's soccer history, Smith has compiled a 200-50-14 (.784) record since taking over the Santa Clara program before the 1987 season, including a 44-7-1 (.856) mark in WCC play.

Miscellaneous: Birmingham-Southern College has unveiled a new logo to celebrate its acceptance as an NCAA Division I member. Birmingham Southern had been a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for the past 45 years. As part of its transition, the school will add women's basketball, men's and women's golf, softball and an additional sport to be named later. The new logo was created by the by the Birmingham, Alabama, firm Fitzmartin, Inc., and features the Birmingham Southern Panthers mascot.

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown