Facilities: The University of Pittsburgh supplied 310 pizzas, 120 cases of soft drinks and commemorative water bottles as a gesture of thanks to the 1,200 construction workers at the nearly completed North Shore football stadium. "I've never seen anything like this," defensive end Bryan Knight told the workers. "I'm still looking around in amazement. I feel like a little kid. I appreciate the hard work from the bottom of my heart for the team." Athletics Director Steve Pederson and head football coach Walt Harris also addressed the crew at the stadium, which Pittsburgh will lease from the Steelers for its home games. Harris also toured the Steelers' locker room complex and the space for Pittsburgh's locker room complex. "It's humongous," he said. "It's breathtakingly big" ... The University of San Diego opened its Jenny Craig Pavilion, a state-of-the-art athletics facility, this year. The 5,100-seat arena is home to San Diego's volleyball and basketball teams and serves as a venue for many educational, cultural and athletics events. The Toreros showcased the facility by hosting the West Coast Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments in March. Sid and Jenny Craig, founders of Jenny Craig International, one of the largest weight-management services in the world, gave the lead gift of $7 million to fund the $17.5 million facility.

Conferences: The nine-member Midwestern Collegiate Conference has changed its name to the Horizon League. "A cornerstone of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference has been our strong emphasis on academic success, personal responsibility and community outreach. We want to expand on those values with new initiatives," said Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and co-chair of the Horizon League's branding subcommittee. "The Horizon League is not moving away from the ideal of our teams being champions in every sport," Zimpher said. "More than ever, we want to win. But this is another step in creating a better athletics environment, sense of purpose, and dedication to community service and personal responsibility for our student-athletes." Commissioner Jonathan LeCrone announced specific initiatives that will form the cornerstone of the student-athlete experience in the Horizon League, including new academic awards such as the Horizon League Academic Achievement Award given annually to the institution with the highest overall student-athlete grade-point average, and the Horizon League "Raise Your Sights" Award given annually to the team with the highest grade-point average (one per institution). LeCrone also is recommending a modification of conference revenue distribution that would include an academic performance component. Other initiatives will be implemented in the areas of community outreach, and personal responsibility and accountability. The Horizon League is composed of Butler University; Cleveland State University; the University of Detroit Mercy; the University of Illinois at Chicago; Loyola University (Illinois); the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay; the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Wright State University; and Youngstown State University.

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown