On the sidelines

Terri DiNardo, wife of football coach Gerry DiNardo, showed the Marching Hundred just how much the football team depends on their support. Dinardo hosted an Outback Steakhouse dinner for all 270 band members Wednesday night at the Mellencamp Pavilion. \n"This is just awesome," Director of Athletic Bands David Woodley said in a statement. "When Mrs. DiNardo called me she said that she would like to treat the band to dinner because they are such an important part of the team. I told her that it would be 270 people, and she said terrific."\nDiNardo addressed the band after dinner. \n"The band is so important to the team's success," she said in a statement. "It is the band that gets people fired up before the game and gets the crowd going."\nTrack athletes nab academic award\nThe National Collegiate Division I Track Coaches Association named three Hoosiers to their All-Academic team. Junior Chris Powers and seniors Patrick Miller and Wasyl Fedoriw were each named to the prestigious team. \nAll honorees maintained a grade point average of at least 3.10 and were nominated by coach Marshall Goss. \nMiller competes in the javelin event and finished second in the Big Ten last spring. Powers, a distance runner, finished 12th in the NCAA 5,000 meters, and Fedoriw competed in the discus, hammer throw and shotput events. \nAssembly Hall floor renovation complete\nStudents attending basketball games this season will notice a change on the floor of Assembly Hall. Workers completed a three-week refinishing project to implement the new IU logo and to change the direction of the state of Indiana. The map, at center court, now will appear right-side up on television coverage.\nColts release \nformer first-round pick Johnson\nIndianapolis -- Starting defensive tackle Ellis Johnson was released by the Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday, a surprising move that team officials said Johnson requested.\nJohnson was the Colts first-round pick in 1995 and started all but four games for the team since 1997. He started all three of Indianapolis' preseason games.\nTeam president Bill Polian said Johnson did not believe he fit well into Tony Dungy's new defensive scheme and that he preferred playing full-time rather than being part of a rotation.