The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- December 6, 1999

Notes

Facilities: The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation of Ardmore, Oklahoma, has pledged $8.17 million toward the University of Oklahoma's $16.3 million project to renovate Lloyd Noble Center and add a 63,000-square-foot facility for men's and women's basketball. It is the largest gift ever to intercollegiate athletics at Oklahoma. "With this new funding we will build new men's and women's basketball facilities that will be among the nation's finest, and we will enhance the event facilities used by many thousands of Oklahomans each year," said Oklahoma President David L. Boren. The Lloyd Noble Center expansion and renovation project is expected to be completed in time for the 2001-02 basketball season. The project features an addition to the south side of the center that will include two new full-sized practice courts, one for men's basketball and one for women's. Both programs also will have new training rooms, locker rooms and spa/sauna rooms in the addition ... The University of Northern Illinois has unveiled plans for a Convocation Center to replace the school's Chick Evans Field House as the primary facility for its men's and women's basketball teams. The $36 million facility will feature retractable seating that will create a 45,000-square-foot multipurpose area suitable for simultaneous workouts by several teams. Seating capacity for athletics events will be about 10,000. Once the center is completed in 2002, the school will renovated as an annex to the school's student recreation center.

Sports sponsorship: Coastal Carolina University announced it will add football as its 17th sport. The program will compete at the Division I-AA level. School officials said the program will begin competition in 2003, which will give the school time to construct an on-campus stadium.

Milestones: Stanford University women's volleyball head coach Don Shaw coached his 500th collegiate volleyball match when the Cardinal visited Arizona State University November 12. In 16 years as Stanford's head coach, Shaw has compiled an .862 winning percentage (430-69), currently tops in Division I ... Syracuse University won its 1,500th men's basketball game November 13, defeating the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the championship game of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Classic. Syracuse is the first institution with 1,500 men's basketball and 600 football triumphs. In addition, Syracuse's win over Princeton University the night before was coach Jim Boeheim's 550th victory. Boeheim is 551-193 overall.

Miscellaneous: Texas Christian University running back LaDanian Tomlinson broke the NCAA Division I-A single-game rushing record with 406 yards on 43 carries in a 52-24 win over the University of Texas at El Paso November 20. Tomlinson's 406 yards broke the previous mark of 396 set by Tony Sands of the University of Kansas in 1991. Tomlinson, who also scored six touchdowns during his record-breaking performance, is the first Division I or Division II runner to eclipse the 400-yard mark, but the sixth overall. The all-divisions record is 441 yards, set by Dante Brown of Division III Marietta College in 1996.

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown