New facilities around the league

[Willie]

UDM To Name New Men's Basketball Locker Room In Honor Of Former Titan Great Willie Green
September 24, 2006

The newly-renovated UDM men's basketball locker room will be named in honor of Willie Green - a former Titan Horizon League Player of the Year and now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers - following Green's significant donation to help fund the ambitious project in Calihan Hall.

Complete renovations have been ongoing throughout the summer and the locker room will soon be ready for use by the Titans as they begin preparations for the 2006-07 basketball season. Due to Green's NBA schedule, a special recognition ceremony honoring the 76ers guard will tentatively be held during UDM's Homecoming basketball game on Feb. 10.

"It is absolutely wonderful when former student-athletes give back to their alma mater. Willie's gift speaks volumes, especially to our Titan alumni and friends who support and care so deeply about the program," UDM athletic director Brad Kinsman said. "Willie's outstanding generosity has enabled us to provide a first-class locker room facility for his former teammates and those to follow. UDM is delighted to name this exciting new improvement to Calihan Hall in Willie's honor."

The new Willie Green Men's Basketball Locker Room will feature:

* Dramatic, quality finishes and images throughout

* All new wood lockers

* Elevated ceilings to permit natural light

* Horizon League Hall of Honor entry way

* State-of-the-art audio-visual system including LCD and Plasma screens and Crestron controls

* Special student study area with internet access

* Addition of a new storage room with direct access to main hallway

* Year-round climate control system

* Improved shower and lavatory facilities

* Large photos of many former Titan greats including three of coach Perry Watson's former players who have gone on to perform in the NBA - Green, Jermaine Jackson and Desmond Ferguson.

Green graduated from UDM in 2003 as the fourth-leading scorer in Titan history with 1,779 career points. He enjoyed his most productive season as a senior, averaging a league-leading 22.6 points a game while earning Player of the Year accolades. He was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft by Seattle and then immediately dealt to Philadelphia. He has played three seasons for the 76ers.

"I wanted to do something for my former Titan teammates to show my appreciation for their friendship and all the good times we shared," Green said. "The University and the Titan basketball program played a key role in my development during my time there and I'm very happy to be able to give back in this way."

"UDM is a great academic school with a terrific basketball program."

The Willie Green men's basketball locker room is one of three major projects that have been designed to enhance Calihan Hall this year. The others are the John and Barbara Wolak Olympic Sports Office Suite and the Vito and Amy Cusenza Academic Hall of Honor.

www.detroittitans.com/mbasketball.jsp?id=1159140709513

[Willie]

Kress Center
Research shows a quality campus experience helps attract and retain talented students. UW-Green Bay students concur. Listing improved student life and recreational facilities as a top priority, they voted to assign $15 million in higher fees to the remodeling and expansion of the existing Phoenix Sports Center.

The community demonstrated its support during 2004 by pledging $7.5 million. Leading the way was a naming-rights gift from the George Kress Foundation. Local, private support was necessary to secure matching funds of $7.5 million from the state of Wisconsin. Now, with a “green light” for groundbreaking in late 2005, private fundraising continues with a total goal of $10 million to complete the facility as envisioned.

The Kress Events Center component is phase one of the Campaign for UW-Green Bay. The sequence was directed by the state-imposed deadline for matching funds.

www.uwgb.edu/campaign/KEC.htm

NEW FACILITY AT A GLANCE:

• Total cost: $32.5 million
• Funding sources: UW-Green Bay students ($15 million in student fees over course of the project); community donors ($10 million campaign in progress), state of Wisconsin ($7.5 million)
• Improves and expands Phoenix Sports Center, which opened in 1976
• Central area with seating capacity of about 4,000 for sporting events or 5,000 for concerts, large gatherings
• Main playing surface to be home court of women’s basketball, volleyball teams
• Auxiliary court to be practice court for men’s basketball team, site for student recreational activities
• New and improved facilities for running, racquet sports, intramural sports, cardiovascular and aerobic activities, and swimming and diving pools
• Site for campus events such as commencement, orientation, student career fairs, festivals, multicultural activities
• Projected opening fall 2007
• Private funds still needed to complete project as planned: about $2 million

www.uwgb.edu/campaign/virtual.htm

[Willie]

Facility changes on the Horizon at VU

Because Valparaiso University is a private school, it needs to raise money for projects such as renovation before it can think about its next undertaking.

Whereas a state school such as Michigan can get approval to move forward on a $226 million renovation and expansion on Michigan Stadium -- a.k.a. "The Big House" -- a university of Valpo's stature can't work it that way.

That's why renovations for the 22-year-old Athletics-Recreation Center are in people's heads rather than on any blueprint paper.

But that doesn't mean they aren't coming some time, just not really soon.

Before any plans are drawn for the ARC to expand, the $3.15 million Football, Intramural, Tennis and Track (FITT) Initiative must be completed.

"Once we get that done, what I'd really like to do is take on renovating the ARC," VU director of athletics Mark LaBarbera said. "That would be wonderful to see."

Fund raising is about halfway done on the FITT project. Phase 1 is complete with the 12 new tennis courts already in operation and where the Crusaders women's tennis team defended its conference title a few weeks ago.

The tennis courts had to be moved so that VU could expand the amount of land engulfed by Brown Field, which will eventually be stripped of its natural grass, re-plotted with rubber grass called FieldTurf, and surrounded by an eight-lane track. The track will overlap the land where the current, old tennis courts lie.

The construction of the football and track complex is estimated at $1.69 million.

According to valpo.edu, the entire project is to be "funded by gifts from the university's many generous alumni-athletes, parents, and other alumni and friends who promote and support VU athletics."

Valpo is moving just about every one of its sports from the Mid-Continent Conference to the Horizon League effective July 1, 2007, and there have been concerns about the size and capacity of the ARC.

The Horizon League's conference basketball tournament starts with first-round games hosted by the higher seeded teams. The minimum seating capacity necessary to host a first-round game is 5,000, which is right where the ARC is.

The ARC will be the smallest basketball facility, seating-wise, in the Horizon League. Valpo's enrollment of approximately 4,000 is also lower than any current Horizon League schools' student population.

But a new-look ARC -- which could potentially have expanded seating, new locker rooms, a better scoreboard system and a new floor -- could be quite a few years away, at least.

"That's way down the road," LaBarbera said.

valpofans.proboards28.com/index.cgi?board=valposports&action=display&thread=1149610496

[Retired Coach]

Looks like everyone in the league has seen the Pavillion and realized they need to upgrade too.

[Retired Coach]

UWM also upgraded their lockerroom.

uwmfreak.proboards5.com/index.cgi?board=New&action=display&n=1&thread=1159824500

[Fastbreak]

OSU not alone: Other area colleges spending millions on athletic facilities, too
By Doug Harris

Staff Writer

Friday, October 06, 2006

University of Dayton

The University of Dayton has invested $36.5 million in athletic facilities in the past 10 years, including the UD Arena renovation, the Time Warner baseball stadium, and new track and practice football field. Only about $6 million of that came from school coffers.

"There's a really special relationship between the Flyers and the community," 14th-year Athletic Director Ted Kissell said. "Guys who played here, stayed here. People remember seeing them on the court and now see them on the street, and I think that's powerful.

"And the fact that we carry the name of the city, the University of Dayton, is symbolic in a way that's really helpful to us."

Kissell believes the impeccable reputations of former longtime basketball coach Don Donoher, AD Tom Frericks and school president Brother Raymond Fitz contributed to UD's good name, and others have built on their legacies.

"We have kept an ethical compact with the community," Kissell said, "and we have people tell us all the time that it's important to them."

Miami University

When Miami AD Brad Bates was hired in 2002, he knew one of his primary tasks was to upgrade facilities. And he certainly didn't dawdle.

In his first month on the job, he acquired a $1 million gift to install FieldTurf at Yager Stadium.

"It was the first facility enhancement we had done," Bates said, "and it sent a message that we're just getting started."

Since then, Miami has raised money for the new $34.8 million Goggin Ice Center, a 170,000-square-foot and 3,800-seat hockey arena that rivals the best arenas at the college level. But Bates insisted the motivation for that venture didn't come from trying to keep up with what other schools were doing.

"All of us in athletics are inherently competitive," he said, "but, honestly, we don't philosophically approach it that way. We're trying to create the greatest athletic classrooms for our players — in the same way we're trying to create the best intellectual classrooms or laboratories for our students. Whatever we do, we want to do it with excellence."

Wright State University

To Wright State Associate Athletic Director Bob Grant, fundraising at a school not quite 40 years old presents a unique challenge.

"We're at a stage in our life cycle that's very different from the folks we compete against (for donors) — like Bowling Green, Kent State and Dayton. Those schools have had a 50-, 60-, 100-year head start on us," Grant said.

"Not being an older institution, we don't have folks looking to leave a legacy gift."

That meant WSU had to get creative in building the $3.9-million Setzer Pavillion/Mills-Morgan Center, the first privately funded facility on campus that opened last year and houses the men's and women's basketball offices, a practice court, a players' lounge, and a conditioning and weight-training area for all sports.

One contractor, Bob Mills, agreed to build the facility at cost. And the school cast a wide net to reach its financial goal, even finding about three dozen former athletes willing to contribute $1,500 to equip the weight room.

"It's been a five-year labor of love," Grant said. "We can take recruits from all our sports through there and show them our commitment to making them better."

www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/osu/2006/10/05/ddn100606facilitiesglance.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=32

[Bomber]

That article really shows what a disadvantage WSU is in compared to other local colleges. Miami and UD have both raised 10x as much in private donations for athletics.