NCAA News Archive - 2001

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Briefly in the News

Aug 13, 2001 9:38:21 AM

The NCAA News

Ice hockey's popularity builds with third straight sellout

The return of the NCAA Men's Frozen Four to Minnesota has resulted in another sellout for the championship of men's collegiate ice hockey.

Scheduled for April 4 and 6, 2002, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, the 55th annual event sold out in advance for the fifth time in the last six years and for the third straight year at such an early date.

"The entire NCAA college hockey community is very pleased that St. Paul and the Xcel Center have continued the sellout streak," said Jack McDonald, director of athletics at Quinnipiac University and incoming chair of the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Committee. "College hockey has set many attendance records the past three years, showing the sport's incredible growth."

This year, fans who had attended previous Frozen Fours were given priority status during the sale and distribution of tickets. Priority was based on the number of ticket purchases made during the last five years, in ranking order (five years worth of purchases, four years, etc.). Seat locations also were arranged on a priority basis.

More than 6,000 tickets were sold to the priority list. The NCAA also received more than 11,000 additional requests from individuals who had not purchased tickets during the past five years, of which nearly 3,900 were filled from the remaining general public allotment.

"College hockey fans are extremely loyal," said Tom Jacobs, NCAA director of championships. "We are excited about implementing a system that rewards that loyalty. It's a great way for the NCAA to show its appreciation for all that these fans have done to make the Men's Frozen Four one of the premier collegiate sporting events in the country."

The state of Minnesota is hosting its eighth Men's Frozen Four, which will tie New York for second all-time behind Colorado's 14. Minneapolis hosted in 1958 and 1966, followed by Duluth in 1968 and 1981 and St. Paul in 1989, 1991 and 1994 at the St. Paul Civic Center. That building was demolished in 1998 and replaced with the 18,064-seat Xcel Energy Center, which opened in 2000.

"Minnesota is a great hockey market and the Xcel Energy Center is a world-class hockey venue," said Chris Hansen, general manager of the building. "There is a great history of NCAA championship hockey here."

The host school for this year's event is the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, which has a solid history of NCAA championships administration. The Golden Gophers' staff has handled events ranging from the Men's Final Four to the Division III swimming and diving finals. Minnesota hosted the inaugural Women's Frozen Four in March.

Ticket applications for the 2003 NCAA Men's Frozen Four at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York, will be available April 1, 2002, with a return deadline of May 1, 2002.

Hockey tournament features famous names

Women's basketball will take the stage at Walt Disney's Wide World of Sports this December when four perennial powerhouses in Division I face off for the Honda Elite 4 Holiday Classic.

The lineup features the teams of three coaches who are already members of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame: Tennessee's Pat Summitt, Louisiana Tech's Leon Barmore and North Carolina State's Kay Yow.

The fourth team isn't exactly coached by a slacker. Gail Goestenkors, a multiple winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year award, will lead the Duke Blue Devils, who also appeared in the 1999 Division I women's national championship game.

The doubleheader will feature Tennessee vs. N.C. State at 1 p.m. Eastern time and Duke vs. Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m. The first game is scheduled to appear on ESPN, with the second game on ESPN2.

All four teams have been projected in the top 10 for the 2001-02 season, and all four reached the Sweet Sixteen in last year's NCAA tournament.

Nittany Lion looks over stadium

The Penn State Nittany Lion is a familiar figure in Happy Valley, but the lion will debut at the school's football opener next month in an unusual capacity -- as a 1,500-pound weather vane atop the recently renovated Beaver Stadium.

Modeled after the limestone Nittany Lion on campus, the copper weather vane was designed by Massachusetts-based sculptor Travis Tuck and is thought to be one of the largest weather vanes in the world.

The weather vane is among the last of the finishing touches to Beaver Stadium that were part of a $93 million renovation that added 12,000 seats, sky boxes and an enclosed concourse. The stadium is now the nation's second largest, seating 106,500.

-- Compiled by Kay Hawes

Number Crunching

Looking back

The House the NCAA Built

On August 1, 1997, the NCAA implements the most significant structural change in its history. The Association's new federated governance structure, more than three years in the making, means greater autonomy for the three divisions and more control by chief executive officers.

Though the structure is designed to enhance the role of college and university presidents, athletics administrators will continue to play the primary role for the maintenance of college sports and, in most cases, for developing the legislation that presidents will consider.

The change from the previous governance structure is greatest in Division I, where the one-institution, one-vote principle has been set aside in favor of a legislative system based on conference representation. Legislation in the future will be approved by a Board of Directors, composed entirely of Division I presidents, rather than by a vote of the entire Division I membership at the NCAA Convention.

Legislation is processed for the most part through the Division I Management Council. Proposals are filtered through the Division I committee structure, which includes a cabinet level above the many other Division I committees.

Divisions II and III have Presidents Councils and Management Councils that function similarly to the Division I Board of Directors and Management Council. Neither division has the cabinet level featured in Division I, but each offers a large committee structure that is focused more tightly on division-specific issues than in the past.

The overall administrative structure includes an Executive Committee that is composed of CEOs and oversees Association-wide issues. The Executive Committee, as well as the Board of Directors and Divisions II and II Presidents Councils, also have the authority to establish task forces or study groups to focus on specific issues for a stated period of time.