Aug. 16, 2001

By Tony Phifer
Fort Collins Coloradoan

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - When it comes to arms races, you expect Air Force to be front and center. After all, you want the people in the planes to be properly equipped should we head into another international skirmish.

However, you don't necessarily expect Air Force to be part of the arms race in college athletics. The Falcons, after all, have some of the best facilities your tax dollars can buy.

Air Force, however, is not sitting idle still while the rest of Division I loads up on bigger and better facilities. The Academy broke ground Tuesday on a $30 million upgrade that will put its facilities on par with just about anyone in the Mountain West Conference.

The 110,000-square foot building will include an enhanced weight-training room, sports medicine facilities, offices, an auditorium and room for the school's hall of fame.

"We have good facilities but this puts us up to the next level," Air Force athletic director Col. Randy Spetman said. "It allows us to keep pace with what's going on across the nation in terms of facilities. This will help us be competitive with any university in the country."

The project is scheduled for completion in 2003.

With Air Force now building, that means that every MWC school has had at least one major addition to its athletic facilities over the past five years. And with Colorado State University (stadium expansion), Brigham Young (indoor practice facility) and New Mexico (renovation of The Pit) all talking about new projects, look for the arms race to continue for several more years.

ONE MAN, TWO TITLES - With CSU naming Jeff Hathaway as its new athletic director, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few days at UNLV.

Football coach John Robinson has expressed interest in replacing athletic director Charles Cavagnaro when he retires in the coming months. However, UNLV bylaws don't allow one person to hold both jobs.

That could change by week's end, though. The UNLV Board of Regents is meeting this week and will vote on whether to allow Robinson to pursue the AD's post. Only one other school - Arkansas State - currently has one man handling both jobs.

ADD UNLV - With the Rebels continuing to draw preseason attention, season-ticket sales are hotter than the desert sun. As of this week, UNLV has sold 9,000 season tickets, shattering the previous record by 700.

DOWNSIZING - BYU, which has a reputation for playing anyone, any time in football, is gearing down a bit in 2003. Facing a brutal schedule that included home games against Stanford and Georgia Tech and road games at LSU, Notre Dame and Southern Cal, BYU athletic director Val Hale traded the LSU game for a home date against Boise State.

Not that Boise State is a pushover, but getting anybody at home has got to be better than playing LSU in Death Valley.

Perhaps BYU learned its lesson last year, when aggressive scheduling led to a hugely disappointing 6-6 record and no bowl game in LaVell Edwards' final season.

AT LAST - While John Elway got most of the attention locally last weekend when the 2001 College Football Hall of Fame indiuction ceremony was held, they were celebrating in Laramie for a different reason. That's because former Wyoming great Eddie Talboom was in the class with Elway.

Talboom, Wyoming's first hall of famer, led the Pokes to a 10-0 record and a victory in the Gator Bowl in 1950. For many years he held the career NCAA scoring record with more than 300 points.

AND FINALLY - John Howell, CSU's standout free safety last season, apparently as a decent chance of sticking in the NFL. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are having Howell do a daily diary for the team - not exactly a task you would assign to a rookie you expect to cut.

Howell's diary can be found on Tampa Bay's website at buccaneers.com.