Sports sponsorship: Centenary College (Louisiana) announced the addition of men's and women's swimming as varsity sports, bringing the Gents' total number of sports offered to 18. Centenary Athletics Director David Bedard named Butch Jordan to coach both squads. Jordan will spend the upcoming year recruiting swimmers and compiling a schedule for the the teams to begin competing in 2002-03. "Swimming was a natural sport for us to add with the completion of our Centenary Fitness Center and Natatorium," said Centenary President Kenneth Schwab. "This facility was part of our $103 million facility improvement campaign." The Gents currently compete as an NCAA independent but have been seeking a conference home for several months. "Part of our overall plan with the capital improvement projects during the past year has been to make Centenary more attractive to potential conferences," Bedard said. Bedard also said adding another sport won't put a strain on Centenary's athletics budget. "There'll be scholarship money available for swimming, but nationwide, the average athletics scholarship only pays about half the cost of attending a school," he said. "It costs about $20,000 to attend Centenary for a year, so I see it generating money from students who would not otherwise attend here."

Miscellaneous: The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has announced the creation of the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA). NACDA will serve as administrator of this newly formed association. This is the ninth association NACDA administers. DI-AAA ADA was initiated by Division I-AAA athletics administrators to focus upon the special issues of these institutions. "It is imperative that Division I-AAA athletics directors form a more cohesive group," said Bill Hogan, director of athletics at the University of San Francisco and president of DI-AAA ADA. "Our most important goal for the upcoming year is to build the membership to provide a solid base for long-term planning and effectiveness." In addition to Hogan, also elected to hold office in DI-AAA ADA for 2001-02 were Mike Bobinski, Xavier University, first vice-president; Dan Guerrero, University of California, Irvine, second vice-president; Mike Moore, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, third vice-president; Dianne Murphy, University of Denver, secretary; and Ken Kavanagh, Bradley University, treasurer ... With the newly renovated Memorial Hall Gymnasium as a backdrop, Delaware State University President William DeLauder unveiled the university's new athletics logos September 5, the first "licensed" logos in the history of the school. The nationally recognized New York design firm of Phoenix Works created Delaware State's new athletics logos, with input from school administrators, athletics department personnel and students. Phoenix has created logos for such clients as ESPN, Major league Baseball, the University of Arkansas, NASCAR and Coca-Cola. In all, 11 new logos have been created for Delaware State, including a "youth logo," featuring a miniature version of the new entomologically correct "Hornet."

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown