Facilities: Because of a student referendum passed April 2005, the University of Northern Colorado has secured $16 million dollars to improve facilities at the Butler-Hancock Athletic Sports Complex, the Jackson Sports Complex and the Student Recreation Center. The Northern Colorado soccer team will play at the renovated Jackson Soccer Complex, the Butler-Hancock Athletic Fields will receive new synthetic turf, and the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion will receive a major overhaul that includes chairback seating and a message-center sound system. A new intercollegiate athletics practice center also will be added to the Campus Recreation Center. The projects are in the design phase, with construction set to begin on most this summer. "The action of the students with the referendum indicates their passion for the University of Northern Colorado," said Director of Athletics Jay S. Hinrichs. "The referendum will change the face of the university for generations to come. We plan to offer the use of these new facilities to the community of Greeley and host major athletics events on our campus." ... University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, officials selected HOK Sport of Kansas City, Missouri, to design its new TCF Bank Stadium on campus. HOK is known for its design work with Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Camden Yards in Baltimore and the new Arizona Cardinals stadium in Phoenix. The firm also has worked with many college football programs. "We believe HOK is an ideal firm to help create a facility that renews our Big Ten football traditions and meshes with the campus and our neighborhoods," said Minnesota President Robert Bruininks. "We’re excited to have them on board to help build the first new stadium in our conference in nearly 50 years." Construction of TCF Bank Stadium will begin this summer, with the goal of opening in 2009. The Minnesota team has played in the Metrodome since 1982 ... Pennsylvania State University has installed an AquaClimb poolside climbing wall at its McCoy Natatorium Aquatics Center. "Young and old alike appreciate and use the wall as well as highly trained athletes and the disabled," said Thomas Griffiths, aquatics director at the school. The AquaClimb is a modular wall system based on one meter by one meter, non-slip fiberglass panels and with moveable, resin-based handholds. The wall at Penn State is three meters high by three meters wide between two three-meter diving boards. The climbing wall extends into the pool to ease swimmers’ ascent and sits at an angle over the water to ensure that climbers safely fall back into the water from any height ... University of Detroit Mercy announced it will add an Olympic sports office complex in Calihan Hall, the school’s basketball arena. Athletics Director Brad Kinsman said the new office suite will be named in honor of longtime Titan supporters John and Barbara Wolak. The suite will feature reception and work room areas, a conference room, four offices and a video editing room for women’s basketball, and seven other offices for track, fencing, golf and softball. Completion of the project is expected by mid-October.

Milestones: Stetson University baseball coach Pete Dunn became the 34th coach in NCAA Division I history to record 1,000 career victories May 25 when his Hatters defeated Mercer University, 6-5, in the second round of the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. "It is a special win," Dunn said. "I never went into this 27 years ago dreaming about 1,000 wins, but it turned out that way. The big thing for me right now is I don’t want this season to end on 1,000." It didn’t. Stetson went on to win the league title for the second straight year and advance to an NCAA regional, putting the coach’s career record at 1,002-602-3. Dunn is one of only 13 active coaches at the Division I level to record 1,000 career wins. "The university has been very supportive of this program," Dunn said. "I didn’t win one game by myself — it is all about surrounding yourself with good people and good players and having a very supportive administration, and I have been very blessed to have all of those." ... A little irony crept into Quinnipiac University baseball coach Dan Gooley’s 400th career win. It came May 4 when the Bobcats defeated the University of Hartford, a team with which Gooley coached and accumulated 101 of those wins. Gooley, the winningest coach in Quinnipiac baseball history, ended the season with a 404-334-7 career record.