Stay in Bounds development program expands boundaries

The NCAA and the Horizon League have joined forces to expand the reach of Stay in Bounds, a youth character-development program designed by the NCAA that addresses fair play and sportsmanship.

Currently, Stay in Bounds, which is administered through the NCAA Hall of Champions, targets children in the Central Indiana area. The program also has a presence in South Bend, Indiana, at the College Football Hall of Fame.

In the new partnership, student-athletes from various Horizon League member schools will use Stay in Bounds classroom materials and will adopt a school or school system in their respective cities. The student-athletes also will involve students in various on-campus activities such as attendance at Horizon League sporting events.

According to Mark Hermann, NCAA associate director of educational programs, a majority of the conference's schools are participating and student-athletes already have received training and materials. The partnership will run throughout the academic year.

Horizon League Commissioner Jon LeCrone believes the Stay in Bounds program provides an excellent opportunity for student-athletes at all NCAA institutions.

"The participation of Horizon League student-athletes in the Stay in Bounds program will provide an educational win-win not only for the young people taking part in the program, but our student-athletes as well," he said.

The Stay in Bounds program includes a trip to the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis, where participants benefit from guest presentations, role-playing and volunteer mentoring designed to teach the RICHER principles: Respect, Integrity, Caring, Harmony, Excellence and Responsibility.

About 55,000 children have participated in Stay in Bounds since its inception in 2000.

Hermann said he hopes the partnership will become an annual occurrence and that other conferences will join in the effort.

Unique tripleheader showcases all divisions

College basketball fans were treated to a unique triple-dip of hardcourt action recently during the New Hampshire Hoops Classic. Billed as three games, one day, under one roof, the classic showcased men's basketball programs from across the state representing all three NCAA divisions.

Teams from Divisions I, II and III, squared off December 14 at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The first contest matched Division III rivals Keene State College and Plymouth State University. Keene State emerged with an 86-70 victory. In the Division II game, Southern New Hampshire University collected a 84-55 win against Saint Anselm College. In the final game of the day, the University of New Hampshire beat fellow Division I Dartmouth College, 56-45.

Tim Bechert, who serves as the general manager of the arena, said the tournament came about through numerous conversations with the schools involved and the local media in an attempt to expose the state of New Hampshire to college basketball.

"We're waiting to see, but we're very hopeful that it will occur annually. We entered into this with the hopes that this would become an annual event," he said.

Stats correction gives wins record to Yeagley

A recently discovered error in NCAA Division I men's soccer career coaching records revealed that Jerry Yeagley, head coach at Indiana University, Bloomington, is the all-time wins leader in Division I with 544 victories.

The NCAA discovered that Stephen Negoesco, former head coach at the University of San Francisco, was credited with four 1978 NCAA tournament victories that were later vacated due to the use of an ineligible player, giving Negoesco a revised total of 540 career wins.

Yeagley, who owns a 544-101-45 mark in 31 seasons at Indiana, sits third on the all-time victories list behind Joe Bean at Wheaton College (Illinois), who has 557 wins, and Cliff McCrath of Seattle Pacific University, who has collected 550 victories.

Yeagley, who retired at the end of this season, led Indiana to its sixth national championship in the Men's College Cup final December 14 (see story, page 9).

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

5 years ago

Here's what was happening within the NCAA in December 1998:

The NCAA announces that the next year's Division I men's and women's soccer championships will be called the "College Cup." The name was selected from more than 1,000 entries in the NCAA's "Name the Game" contest that challenged participants to suggest a name for the semifinals and finals of the Division I Men's and Women's Soccer Championships. The winning entry was submitted by Joe Fast, 11, of Minnesota. As the winner of the contest, Fast received two tickets to the Division I men's championship in Richmond, Virginia, as well as airfare and lodging.

Bill Richardson, then-secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is announced as the recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Award. Richardson, a 1970 graduate of Tufts University, was a Congressman for 14 years before his appointment to an ambassadorship. He was a former baseball student-athlete at Tufts, where he led his team to the co-championship of the Greater Boston League as a senior.

The NCAA announces that football attendance soars to more than 37 million for the first time, with the increase primarily in Division I-A. Home attendance totals for the four divisions and subdivisions were nearly 37.5 million, a jump of more than 600,000 fans from 1997. Division I-A averaged more than 42,500 fans per game. The top teams, in terms of attendance, were the University of Michigan, followed by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Pennsylvania State University. The top conferences, in terms of attendance, were the Southeastern, Big Ten and Big 12.

Florida defeats 14-time champion North Carolina in the Division I Women's Soccer Championship. The second-seeded Gators beat the top-seeded Tar Heels, 1-0, in the championship game before a record crowd.

Hawaii Pacific wins its first Division II Women's Volleyball Championship. The victory comes in the Sea Warriors' first tournament appearance. Hawaii Pacific defeated North Dakota State University, 15-10, 8-15, 15-12, 16-14, to win the title.