Facilities: Western Kentucky University has received a gift of $1.55 million for an Academic Athletic Performance Center from a donor who wishes to remain confidential. The principal beneficiary of the proposed facility is the Hilltopper football program. Western Kentucky Athletics Director Wood Selig said, "This facility is at the top of our current wish list to benefit all of our 350 student-athletes. It will assist all student-athletes with computer labs, study areas, will serve as our primary academic advising center, and will also house a first-class weight training facility, athletic training and rehabilitation center, and offices and locker rooms for football and baseball. Prospective student-athletes 'buy with their eyes,' and facilities recruit athletes better than any other tangible asset." ... Former University of Oklahoma football student-athlete Roy Williams, just one year removed from his playing days for the Sooners, has contributed $100,000 toward a new strength training facility being built as part of the school's new indoor workout complex. The new area, which will carry Williams' name, will complement the main Robin Siegfried Complex at the Switzer Center. Williams currently is a member of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. "Roy Williams exhibits many great qualities, but none greater than his desire to help make those around him better," said Oklahoma Athletics Director Joe Castiglione. "Here is an all-America student-athlete who helped his team to a national championship and who now reflects on his time at Oklahoma, recognizes the positive impact the university had on his life, and decides to give back. This gift will make it possible for others to enjoy an experience similar to that which Roy enjoyed." The 4,500-square-foot Roy Williams Strength Training Facility will open in April ... Cornell University open its new wrestling facility January 26 with a match against Ohio State University. The Friedman Wrestling Center is the only facility of its kind in the nation and serves as a practice, workout and competition venue for the Big Red wrestling squad. The 15,000-square-foot, free-standing building features state-of-the-art training and weight rooms, a student lounge for studying, computers with Internet access, a large locker room for the Cornell squad, a smaller one for visitors, offices for the coaching staff and an arena with 1,100 seats. The $3.5 million facility is named for two Cornell alumni who made the lead gift toward the building, Stephen Friedman and his wife, Barbara Benioff Friedman. Stephen Friedman is a former Cornell wrestling star and 1959 graduate. Barbara Friedman, also from the class of 1959, has been a university trustee since 1993 and currently is co-vice-chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees.

Milestones: Jody Conradt, women's basketball coach at the University of Texas at Austin, won her 800th career game January 22 when her Longhorns defeated Texas Tech University, 69-58. Conradt, in her 34th year overall as a collegiate coach and her 27th at Texas, is now 800-262. Conradt is only the fifth Division I men's or women's coach (the seventh in all divisions) to reach the 800-win plateau and the second women's coach to do so this year. Pat Summitt (802-161) of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, won her 800th game January 14. Conradt's Longhorns beat Summitt's Lady Vols at Austin in December. "You know, I cannot remember lots of my wins, but I'll certainly remember No. 800," Conradt said during a postgame celebration. "I didn't want us to feel any undue pressure, due to the 800-win attention, and I'm happy that we had other things to focus on, like staying undefeated in the Big 12 and the fact that we had not lost at home yet this year. Sometimes, when there is pressure to win, a team may play not to lose, but that's not what happened. What I'm most pleased about concerning the 800th win is that I won't have to worry about it or think about it ever again." ... St. Cloud State University men's ice hockey coach Craig Dahl won his 300th game with the Huskies January 18 in a 5-3 win over visiting Providence College. The victory moves Dahl's record to 300-262-43 during his 16 seasons with the Huskies, which makes him the program's winningest coach. In his 22-year career as a college coach, Dahl now has a 376-349-45 record that includes stops at Bethel College and the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. Dahl also served for one season as an assistant coach with the Huskies under legendary U.S. Olympic coach Herb Brooks in 1986-87. Brooks was in the audience to watch Dahl gain his 300th win.

Miscellaneous: Mount St. Mary's College men's basketball coach Jim Phelan has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2002-03 season. Phelan is in his NCAA-record 49th season at the school and is third all-time on the NCAA Division I career win list with 824, behind University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, coach Dean Smith (879) and University of Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp (876) He has coached an NCAA-record 1,339 games. "The decision to step down was made much earlier," said Phelan. "I had discussed it with several of my close friends and decided that the time was right. Certainly, health-wise, I feel fine, but the energy needed for the virtual year-round recruiting just isn't there." Phelan, a 1951 graduate of LaSalle University, has guided 16 Mount St. Mary's teams to NCAA tournaments, including five trips to the NCAA Division II finals and the College Division national championship in 1962. Nineteen of his teams have reached the 20-win plateau. In 1967, Phelan also was named director of athletics at the school, a role he filled over the next 22 years, helping to lay the groundwork for the school's move to Division I in 1988. Once the move was made, however, he resigned as AD to devote his full attention to the basketball program. Mount St. Mary's announced that assistant coach Milan Brown will be Phelan's successor. Brown signed a three-year contract that begins in July.

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown