D1 College Football News

June 25, 2007

Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.


Football Community Remembers Terry Hoeppner

Hundreds of friends and supporters attended a "Celebration of Life" service for Terry Hoeppner at IU's Assembly Hall last Saturday. Indiana student-athletes wore game jerseys to the service in honor of the deceased coach. Memorials to Hoeppner currently are being collected via the Indiana Varsity Club. Pastor Anthony Thompson, 2007 College Football Hall of Fame inductee and former Hoosier All-America RB, spoke at the event.

Jane Hoeppner, wife of the late coach, recently attended a groundbreaking ceremony for several new athletics facilities outside IU's Memorial Stadium. She was greeting with a standing ovation prior to the ceremony. Two of the five new projects set for construction, the North End Zone Facility and the Academic Resource Center, were part of Coach Hoeppner's dream for further enhancement of the Hoosier football program.

Two-Minute Drill

Boise State reported a record $19 million in athletics donations for 2006-07... Florida Atlantic (FAU) has allocated $100,000 for additional grants-in-aid and support programs for athletics... Southeast Missouri State has signed to play Missouri on Sept. 6, 2008... Middle Tennessee student-athletes assisted in the building of a Habitat for Humanity home in Murfreesboro, Tenn... 2003 NFF Chris Schenkel Award winner and Georgia play-by-play man Larry Munson will not travel with the Bulldogs this season because of declining health... Tulane continued its season ticket drive for '07 with a nationwide Phone-A-Thon last Wednesday... Marshall has sold a record 17,000-plus season tickets... Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are discussing playing the annual game in either Dallas or Arlington, Texas, in the near future... Georgia Tech's "Rambling Wreck" 1930s vintage auto was wrecked on the way to a wedding appearance in Savannah, Ga., last week. School officials hope to have it repaired and running for the Yellow Jackets' Sept. 8, 2007, home opener... Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano recently threw out the ceremonial first pitch during the New York Yankees-Mets' three-game series... The NCAA has issued a ruling that blogging will be permitted at future NCAA events with the only live accounts being score and period/time remaining in contests... Miami and South Florida will meet in football five times between 2009-2013... The Northwest Indiana Chapter of the NFF has renamed itself the Joe Tiller Northwest Indiana Chapter in honor of the Purdue head football coach. Retiring Purdue University president Martin Jischke received the Gold Medallion Award and former Boilermaker Rosevelt Colvin won the Drew Brees Mental Toughness Award at the chapter's banquet on June 21.

Dan Deebe has been named interim commissioner of the Big 12 Conference... Incarnate Word (Texas) has tabbed Mike Santiago as its first head football coach. New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson is playing a major financial role in the start-up of the program... Steve Loney has been named interim head football coach at Drake... Florida director of athletics and 2007 NFF John L. Toner Award winner Jeremy Foley had his contract extended 11 years by the university... Northeastern has chosen Peter Roby as director of athletics... Rick Costello has been named AD at Delaware State.

Alabama AD Mal Moore and former Auburn AD David Housel were recognized as the 2007 Distinguished Alabama Sportsmen at the 39th Annual Alabama Sports Hall of Fame... James Gray, Ron Reeves and Jerry Johnson will be inducted into the Texas Tech Athletic Hall of Honor during the Tech-Texas A&M football weekend this October... James Maness and Mike Sullivan will be inducted into the TCU Lettermen's Association Hall of Fame on Sept. 20.

The Michigan Board of Regents approved $226 million in renovations of Michigan Stadium... Florida has doubled its 2007-08 budget for football facilities' improvements to $28 million... North Texas formally named its practice facility after former head coach Darrell Dickey after he guided the Eagles to four consecutive Sun Belt Conference titles from 2001-04... Arizona State has formed a committee to evaluate options for the improvement of Sun Devil Stadium... UC Davis has added Sportexe artificial turf to its new stadium... Bowling Green State has opened the $9 million Sebo Center with state-of-the- art strength and conditioning and training facilities and other amenities... Texas State will utilize a new scoreboard/message board manufactured by Daktronics in 2007... Albany has a $50 million, 15,000-seat football and multiple sports' stadium on the drawing board - possibly starting construction in 2008.

The Big Ten Network's first primetime telecasts will be at 8 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday, Sept. 1, when Bowling Green visits Minnesota and Indiana State treks to Indiana. The network has named Michael Feller vice president of programming, Erin Harvego vice president of marketing and Roy Seinfeld vice president of advertising sales... ESPNU will air more than 70 exclusive football contests in '07... Yahoo has purchased popular college football site Rivals.com... Revamped site www.CollegePressbox.com is providing key media information for 56 universities from five different conferences in 2007... FSN affiliated cable networks will carry 31 additional 2007 games, including 20 in HD mode, on a regional basis... XM Radio will air selected Big 12 Conference football contests as well as the Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship as part of a multi-year satellite radio agreement.

Indiana head football coach Terry Hoeppner, 59, died last week of complications from a brain tumor... Hall of Fame Army tackle and fighter ace Robin Olds passed away last week. He was 84... Former N.C. State player and coach Ernie Driscoll died at 75.