Milestones: University of Tennessee, Knoxville, women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt became the first man or woman to reach 900 career wins in Division I competition when her top-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols defeated Vanderbilt University, 80-68, January 19 in Nashville. Tennessee rallied for the victory after trailing by 14 points late in the first half. After the win, Summitt’s career record stood at 900-172 (.840) in 32 seasons at Tennessee. She has coached the Lady Vols to six national championships, 16 Women’s Final Four appearances, 13 regular-season Southeastern Conference titles and 11 SEC tournament championships.
Conferences: According to the Associated Press, six institutions in the process of reclassifying to Division I are forming a basketball alliance called the United Basketball Conference that will offer home-and-away games against each other starting a year from now. The six schools are Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne; South Dakota State University; North Dakota State University; New Jersey Institute of Technology; the University of Texas, Pan American; and Utah Valley State College. North Dakota State Athletics Director Gene Taylor told the AP he didn’t know whether the schools involved will approach the NCAA about becoming a recognized conference. Some of the teams already play each other, but the alliance addresses the schools’ needs in January and February when established Division I teams are busy with conference play. “It’s a creation out of convenience,” New Jersey Institute men’s coach Jim Casciano said. “When I put my schedule together and looked at mid-January on, it was pretty scary. Who the heck am I going to play? Even though it’s not the most geographically attractive, it allows you to have games to carry you over until the first week of March.”
Miscellaneous: The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, women’s gymnastics team beat its rivals from the University of Florida January 20 in front of a first-time sellout crowd at newly renovated Coleman Coliseum. The Coliseum’s capacity for a gymnastics meet is 14,823, but the standing-room-only crowd was a Southeastern Conference and Alabama record 15,162. The total also was the third-largest for a collegiate gymnastics meet and the largest since the University of Utah and Boise State University drew 15,168 in 1993. In addition to a match-up between the two highest-scoring teams in the nation, the meet also was the Crimson Tide’s “Drive 4 the Cure” event during which fans donned pink shirts to raise awareness of the fight against breast cancer. It was the second annual “Power of Pink” meet. “More than just the sellout crowd, though, was the support for the cause,” said Alabama coach Sarah Patterson. “Tonight if one woman helps herself or a loved one, then all our work will be worthwhile.” Before the meet began, officials presented a check for $90,000 to the DCH Breast Cancer Fund, which was created to support Patterson’s initiative. “My most memorable moment tonight was the presentation of the check, because all the money goes to disadvantaged women,” Patterson said ... The Southeastern Conference has extended its multimedia rights and sponsorship sales agreement with Host Communications Inc. through 2016. Under terms of the agreement, Host renews its rights to represent the SEC through category-exclusive corporate-partnership sales, as well as radio broadcast production and distribution for certain championship events. Additionally, Host retains printing and publishing rights and the SEC Internet platform for www.secsports.com and www.seckids.com. “Host has been our marketing partner since 1990 and has done an outstanding job for the conference,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. “This long-term extension provides opportunities to grow marketing and multimedia efforts while helping us enhance the championship experience for all of our constituencies” ... The University of Virginia athletics department is giving $50,000 from its share of the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl football game proceeds to the school’s academic programs. For the second year in a row, athletics has split the money into two $25,000 gifts, one going to the marching band endowment and one to the institution’s faculty senate to support a graduate student fellowship recognizing excellence in teaching and research. “As we have done in the past, we are sharing the success of our football program in ways that benefit students and the university community,” Director of Athletics Craig Littlepage said. Since the football team’s first postseason appearance in the 1984 Peach Bowl, athletics has donated more than $930,000 toward academic projects. Among the causes bowl revenues have supported are computer purchases, the scholarship endowment programs and a newspaper database for the university library
