National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Division I notes
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By Michelle Brutlag Hosick
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
Sport sponsorship: Seattle University will add baseball, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s and women’s tennis over the next two years, increasing the number of varsity sports at the school to 19. Coaches for the golf and tennis teams will be hired in January for the fall 2008 season. The baseball team is expected to begin competing in the 2009-10 academic year. All five sports were previously offered at Seattle. “Anyone who knows Seattle athletics will recognize that we have had many outstanding alumni from these sports in years past,” said Director of Athletics Bill Hogan. “The additional sports will also support our goal for Division I membership.” Seattle currently is in the exploratory year of reclassifying to Division I, with plans to play a full Division I schedule beginning in 2009-10. The school reclassified from Division I to Division II in the 1980s ... The 2007-08 season will be the final one for the Wayne State University (Michigan) men’s ice hockey team. The decision was approved by the school’s governing board and is attributed to state budget cuts. All current student-athletes will retain their scholarships if they remain academically eligible and progress toward their degrees. Those who wish to transfer after the 2007-08 season will be granted a full release and a waiver of NCAA year-in-residence rules to play immediately. The Warriors compiled a 113-143-26 record in their eight seasons. The women’s team is expected to stay intact.
Facilities: St. John’s University (New York) recently opened the Student-Athlete Center for Excellence within Camesecca Arena. The center houses a development program for student-athletes, which emphasizes academic support, career development, personal development, leadership and community service. It supports student-athletes from the recruiting stage through graduation. Among the amenities of the new space are a 54-seat study center, four private tutoring rooms and the office for the new campus minister for athletics, who encourages student-athletes to participate in community-service activities. “The Student-Athlete Center for Excellence gives us the cutting edge facility needed to complement the terrific student-athlete development and academic advising staff that we have here at St. John’s,” said Athletics Director Chris Monasch. “The center will create an optimum atmosphere for our student-athletes to continue to build on their history of success in the classroom, as well as continue the community outreach efforts that make us so proud.”
Conferences: The Big South Conference announced Crocs, Inc., as a corporate partner. Crocs apparel will be distributed to Big South student-athletes and the company will receive branding opportunities at 2007-08 Big South championships, including the league’s online scoreboard ticker ... The Mid-American Conference awarded its Institutional Academic Achievement Award for top cumulative grade-point average among student-athletes to Central Michigan University, which has won the award six consecutive years and 10 of the past 11 ... The Colonial Athletic Association awarded the 2007 John H. Randolph Inspiration Award to Drexel University’s Nicole Hester and Towson University’s Corey Cascio. The award — named for former College of William and Mary Athletics Director John Randolph, who died from cancer in 1995 — honors individuals who serve as an inspiration to others. Hester, a junior forward on the Dragons basketball team, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in November 2006 and withdrew from school to fight the disease. She kept in touch with teammates and returned to Drexel in April and is expected to return to the basketball squad this season. Cascio, a senior pitcher for Towson’s baseball team, had brain surgery to remove a mass in fall 2004. During that procedure, doctors discovered a small-scale aneurysm that required Cascio to have embolization and radiation treatments before he was cleared to play again in September 2006.
Milestones: The University of Washington men’s soccer team captured the program’s 500th win with a 1-0 victory over the University of Portland on September 18. The win was the third consecutive shutout for Washington and broke the Huskies’ four-game losing streak to the Pilots, dating back to the 2003 season ... Wayne State University (Michigan) women’s tennis coach Sheila Snyder won her 150th career match last month. The Warriors won their season opener, 8-1, over Saginaw Valley State University. Snyder is in her 19th season at Wayne State.
Miscellaneous: A referendum among students at the University of Texas at San Antonio seeking to raise the school’s athletics fees succeeded by a significant margin. If approved by the administration and the University of Texas System Board of Regents, the fees will increase from a maximum of $120 per semester to a maximum of $240 per semester, in part to support the possible addition of a football program. The additional funds will also support the school’s 16 existing sports programs. “UTSA students have spoken, and this vote endorses their dream to take the athletics program at the university to the next level,” said Gage Paine, UTSA’s vice president for student affairs ... The Southeastern Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee collected more than 40,000 pounds of food and financial contributions during a food drive at all SEC institutions September 21-30. All 12 campuses collected food and financial donations at various sporting events during the drive. Called “2007 SEC Together We CAN Drive,” the effort will benefit food banks in the region... Several college sport researchers have formed the College Sport Research Institute at the University of Memphis. Director Richard Southall, an assistant professor in the sport and leisure management department at Memphis, said the institute’s purpose is “to provide sustained opportunities for independent, organized and focused cross-disciplinary research regarding college sport in the United States.” Southall also said the institute will be “a strong advocate for college athletes’ rights and education.” The CSRI will host an annual national conference, the first of which will be April 16-19 at Memphis. The CSRI also will publish a peer-reviewed journal online ... Columbia University launched a fund-raising campaign, “The Columbia Campaign for Athletics: Achieving Excellence,” on October 12, part of a $4 billion university-wide effort launched in the fall of 2006. The initiative seeks to raise $100 million in support of “people, places and programs.” So far, the university has raised $40.5 million toward the final goal. University Trustees Chair Bill Campbell pledged $10 million to the campaign and Robert Kraft, chairman of the Kraft Group, owner of the New England Patriots and the recipient of the 2006 Theodore Roosevelt Award, promised $5 million. Priorities for the campaign include: endowing coaching and administrative positions, investing in facilities (including a new sports center and modernization, renovation and enhancement of existing facilities), creating endowments and unrestricted annual giving fund programs to support operations and fund new programs for student-athletes.
Facilities: St. John’s University (New York) recently opened the Student-Athlete Center for Excellence within Camesecca Arena. The center houses a development program for student-athletes, which emphasizes academic support, career development, personal development, leadership and community service. It supports student-athletes from the recruiting stage through graduation. Among the amenities of the new space are a 54-seat study center, four private tutoring rooms and the office for the new campus minister for athletics, who encourages student-athletes to participate in community-service activities. “The Student-Athlete Center for Excellence gives us the cutting edge facility needed to complement the terrific student-athlete development and academic advising staff that we have here at St. John’s,” said Athletics Director Chris Monasch. “The center will create an optimum atmosphere for our student-athletes to continue to build on their history of success in the classroom, as well as continue the community outreach efforts that make us so proud.”
Conferences: The Big South Conference announced Crocs, Inc., as a corporate partner. Crocs apparel will be distributed to Big South student-athletes and the company will receive branding opportunities at 2007-08 Big South championships, including the league’s online scoreboard ticker ... The Mid-American Conference awarded its Institutional Academic Achievement Award for top cumulative grade-point average among student-athletes to Central Michigan University, which has won the award six consecutive years and 10 of the past 11 ... The Colonial Athletic Association awarded the 2007 John H. Randolph Inspiration Award to Drexel University’s Nicole Hester and Towson University’s Corey Cascio. The award — named for former College of William and Mary Athletics Director John Randolph, who died from cancer in 1995 — honors individuals who serve as an inspiration to others. Hester, a junior forward on the Dragons basketball team, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in November 2006 and withdrew from school to fight the disease. She kept in touch with teammates and returned to Drexel in April and is expected to return to the basketball squad this season. Cascio, a senior pitcher for Towson’s baseball team, had brain surgery to remove a mass in fall 2004. During that procedure, doctors discovered a small-scale aneurysm that required Cascio to have embolization and radiation treatments before he was cleared to play again in September 2006.
Milestones: The University of Washington men’s soccer team captured the program’s 500th win with a 1-0 victory over the University of Portland on September 18. The win was the third consecutive shutout for Washington and broke the Huskies’ four-game losing streak to the Pilots, dating back to the 2003 season ... Wayne State University (Michigan) women’s tennis coach Sheila Snyder won her 150th career match last month. The Warriors won their season opener, 8-1, over Saginaw Valley State University. Snyder is in her 19th season at Wayne State.
Miscellaneous: A referendum among students at the University of Texas at San Antonio seeking to raise the school’s athletics fees succeeded by a significant margin. If approved by the administration and the University of Texas System Board of Regents, the fees will increase from a maximum of $120 per semester to a maximum of $240 per semester, in part to support the possible addition of a football program. The additional funds will also support the school’s 16 existing sports programs. “UTSA students have spoken, and this vote endorses their dream to take the athletics program at the university to the next level,” said Gage Paine, UTSA’s vice president for student affairs ... The Southeastern Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee collected more than 40,000 pounds of food and financial contributions during a food drive at all SEC institutions September 21-30. All 12 campuses collected food and financial donations at various sporting events during the drive. Called “2007 SEC Together We CAN Drive,” the effort will benefit food banks in the region... Several college sport researchers have formed the College Sport Research Institute at the University of Memphis. Director Richard Southall, an assistant professor in the sport and leisure management department at Memphis, said the institute’s purpose is “to provide sustained opportunities for independent, organized and focused cross-disciplinary research regarding college sport in the United States.” Southall also said the institute will be “a strong advocate for college athletes’ rights and education.” The CSRI will host an annual national conference, the first of which will be April 16-19 at Memphis. The CSRI also will publish a peer-reviewed journal online ... Columbia University launched a fund-raising campaign, “The Columbia Campaign for Athletics: Achieving Excellence,” on October 12, part of a $4 billion university-wide effort launched in the fall of 2006. The initiative seeks to raise $100 million in support of “people, places and programs.” So far, the university has raised $40.5 million toward the final goal. University Trustees Chair Bill Campbell pledged $10 million to the campaign and Robert Kraft, chairman of the Kraft Group, owner of the New England Patriots and the recipient of the 2006 Theodore Roosevelt Award, promised $5 million. Priorities for the campaign include: endowing coaching and administrative positions, investing in facilities (including a new sports center and modernization, renovation and enhancement of existing facilities), creating endowments and unrestricted annual giving fund programs to support operations and fund new programs for student-athletes.
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