BPSports.net takes note of the selection of Belmont University head men’s basketball coach Rick Byrd to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame..
BPSports.net notes that “this is the second straight season that Belmont University has been recognized by the NAIA in such a manner.” Last year the NAIA Hall of Fame inducted Belmont’s three-time NAIA All-American Joe Behling.
Nashville City Paper also notes Byrd’s Hall of Fame induction, and reports on a media tour of the new Curb Event Center, which has already hosted three Belmont volleyball matches and will host its first men’s basketball home game on Nov. 21 when the Bruins play Vanderbilt.
Says the City Paper:
The CEC is the fruition of sorts for Belmont’s transition from the NAIA to NCAA Division I, a process that began seven years ago. After having played for so many years in the old and cramped Striplin Gymnasium – and for the past two seasons in a variety of locations while the CEC was being built – the Belmont basketball teams and other athletic squads now have some 90,000 square feet of state-of-the-art elbow room.
“Our players like it a lot,” said Byrd, who has some significant historical perspective himself, what with this being his 18th season with the Bruins. “I’m particularly happy for our two seniors, Adam Mark and Steve Drabyn. Those two guys have played at Striplin, Municipal Auditorium, Gaylord (Entertainment Center), Aquinas. And now they can end their careers in a facility like this. They really deserve it.”
The City Paper also provides a Curb Event Center slideshow.
