Post by Big D on Aug 21, 2005 7:06:15 GMT -5
Pavilion puts Wright State in 'big time'
By Tom Archdeacon
Dayton Daily News
Sitting in her office at Wright State's new Setzer Pavilion/Mills-Morgan Center — a state-of-the-art athletics training facility that matches and, in many cases, tops anything you find in the Big Ten, Big East or across town at the University of Dayton — Bridgett Williams was surrounded by detailed woodwork, leather-covered furniture, a flat screen plasma TV, top-of-the-line computer and big windows that reached to the ceiling.
Beyond the door of her women's basketball office was a Wright State athletics hall of fame, a full-sized practice gymnasium, a big, new weight room, NBA-style locker rooms for both the women's and men's hoops teams, separate film rooms for both teams, players' lounges filled with over-stuffed leather chairs and couches, even bigger plasma televisions, a surround sound system and so much more.
Out of the coach's front window, you saw the massive Nutter Center — "another ace," as her men's counterpart, Paul Biancardi, called the loaded poker hand the WSU hoops' teams now hold. And just when you thought you'd seen it all, you glanced behind Williams and there, walking out of thick woods that's just a few yards beyond her window, came a doe and her two fawns.
"Oh my goodness," Williams gushed. "That's pretty awesome."
She meant Bambi, but the exclamation better fit the multi-million dollar, soon-to-open building that's now home to the Raiders men's and women's basketball teams.
Over in his similarly appointed office, Biancardi felt the same: "When I walked in here after it was completed, it was even more breath taking than I could have imagined."
The 28,000 square foot facility opens Tuesday with a private affair for the benefactors, community leaders and university brass and will be open sometime next month for the public.
There are a lot of things to like about the place from its natural setting southwest of the Nutter Center to the interior woodwork done by builder Bob Mills, who, along with Fred Setzer and Sam Morgan, are the primary donors in this privately-funded venture.
And while many will gravitate to the viewing room, the pavilion centerpiece with its plush furniture, clubby feel and glass wall looking out onto the gleaming court, the most resonating part of the complex is the Hall of Champions just inside the building's front door.
It has plaques and pictures recognizing the athletic and academic stars of past Raiders teams from all sports. There are large photos of people like basketball great Bill Edwards, swimmer Amanda Dieter, baseball's Jon Sbrocco, softball's Nikki Scott and long-time men's basketball coach Ralph Underhill. Atop one weight room wall are murals of three Wright State athletes who went on to professional success — golfer Frank Lickliter, baseball pitcher Brian Anderson and basketball big man Vitaly Potapenko.
"We wanted everyone whoever played here to feel like they have a piece of this building," said Wright State athletics director Mike Cusack, who first envisioned the building some five years ago and initially elicited the support of Setzer to make it happen. "Without all the people who played here over the years and the people who coached them, we wouldn't be here today. Because of them, we have this special place."
Some of those athletes from the past have now given there financial support to this facility and their names are found on a donors' plaque near the foyer.
And the current Raiders athletes realize what a special place they've been given. You could see that in the reaction sophomore forward Sierra Crayton gave as she walked down the hallway toward the dressing room the other day and saw the full-sized wall mural of herself in hoop action along side a series of similar likenesses of her teammates.
"She did a double take and then all I heard was 'Oh my God!' " said Williams. "Sierra was so excited, she got out her cell phone, took a picture and sent it right back to her mom in Illinois."
That's the same kind of take Wright State hopes it gets from the recruits it brings to campus.
"I can tell you right now we've got some pretty good players on our (recruitment) list that we never had before and a lot of it is because of this building," Williams said. "This helps take us to the next level. No one in our conference holds a candle to this. It puts us right up there with the Ohio States. As one of my players told me today, and these are her exact words, 'Wow, Coach, this is big time!' "
Biancardi has heard similar reactions from his players: "Right now they're still like kids in a candy store. And that's understandable. It's hard to imagine anyone having a better practice facility than this."
The Raiders coach appreciates the new digs because he knows the other side of it, too: "When I coached at Suffolk (Ma.) University, we didn't even have a gym. We had to use the Cambridge YMCA. That was our home court, our practice court, our everything.
"Our building here is at the other end of the spectrum. It helps build a perception about your program. And in this case perception is reality. When you bring people in, they see we're committed to the basketball program. It's a sophisticated way of keeping up with the Joneses."
Cusack said the need for this facility arose a few years ago when ice for pro hockey was added to the Nutter Center and his programs started to "feel a squeeze" that the next-door McLin Gym couldn't fully alleviate.
"There were some scheduling conflicts because men's and women's basketball, our other teams and the university in general all used McLin," Biancardi said. "It made for a pretty tight schedule and if you had to make any changes at all because of travel or kids' having a class, you could schedule yourself right out of practice. There also were the distractions from the other courts next to you and the running track up above. All that has now been eliminated by this one new building."
Cusack — who toured similar complexes at the universities of Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon to glean ideas — said WSU's new facility will benefit the school's entire athletic program:
"It expands what other teams can do. There's just a tremendous ripple effect. It opens McLin's Gym. When the men moved over here, the women's volleyball team inherited a beautiful locker room in the Nutter Center. And all of our school's athletes will use the weight room and cardiovascular center in the new building. "
While the Setzer Pavilion/Mills-Morgan Center benefits everyone, the basketball programs are the focus. Cameras in the practice gym send images straight to lap top computers in each of the viewing rooms for instruction. The players' lounges include side-by-side refrigerators, dishwashers and microwaves. The players' and coaches' locker rooms have large individual photos above each person's dressing stall.
"I don't know of any place in the country that has this kind of facility for both men and women," said Paul Newman, WSU's senior associate athletics director. "When you bring people in here, they just can't believe it."
And some don't want to leave.
When Biancardi showed the place to his wife and two young girls, he got to his expansive office and daughter Katerina marvelled:
"Hey, we could live right here."
And that was even before she saw Bambi.
www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/wsu/daily/0821arch.html
By Tom Archdeacon
Dayton Daily News
Sitting in her office at Wright State's new Setzer Pavilion/Mills-Morgan Center — a state-of-the-art athletics training facility that matches and, in many cases, tops anything you find in the Big Ten, Big East or across town at the University of Dayton — Bridgett Williams was surrounded by detailed woodwork, leather-covered furniture, a flat screen plasma TV, top-of-the-line computer and big windows that reached to the ceiling.
Beyond the door of her women's basketball office was a Wright State athletics hall of fame, a full-sized practice gymnasium, a big, new weight room, NBA-style locker rooms for both the women's and men's hoops teams, separate film rooms for both teams, players' lounges filled with over-stuffed leather chairs and couches, even bigger plasma televisions, a surround sound system and so much more.
Out of the coach's front window, you saw the massive Nutter Center — "another ace," as her men's counterpart, Paul Biancardi, called the loaded poker hand the WSU hoops' teams now hold. And just when you thought you'd seen it all, you glanced behind Williams and there, walking out of thick woods that's just a few yards beyond her window, came a doe and her two fawns.
"Oh my goodness," Williams gushed. "That's pretty awesome."
She meant Bambi, but the exclamation better fit the multi-million dollar, soon-to-open building that's now home to the Raiders men's and women's basketball teams.
Over in his similarly appointed office, Biancardi felt the same: "When I walked in here after it was completed, it was even more breath taking than I could have imagined."
The 28,000 square foot facility opens Tuesday with a private affair for the benefactors, community leaders and university brass and will be open sometime next month for the public.
There are a lot of things to like about the place from its natural setting southwest of the Nutter Center to the interior woodwork done by builder Bob Mills, who, along with Fred Setzer and Sam Morgan, are the primary donors in this privately-funded venture.
And while many will gravitate to the viewing room, the pavilion centerpiece with its plush furniture, clubby feel and glass wall looking out onto the gleaming court, the most resonating part of the complex is the Hall of Champions just inside the building's front door.
It has plaques and pictures recognizing the athletic and academic stars of past Raiders teams from all sports. There are large photos of people like basketball great Bill Edwards, swimmer Amanda Dieter, baseball's Jon Sbrocco, softball's Nikki Scott and long-time men's basketball coach Ralph Underhill. Atop one weight room wall are murals of three Wright State athletes who went on to professional success — golfer Frank Lickliter, baseball pitcher Brian Anderson and basketball big man Vitaly Potapenko.
"We wanted everyone whoever played here to feel like they have a piece of this building," said Wright State athletics director Mike Cusack, who first envisioned the building some five years ago and initially elicited the support of Setzer to make it happen. "Without all the people who played here over the years and the people who coached them, we wouldn't be here today. Because of them, we have this special place."
Some of those athletes from the past have now given there financial support to this facility and their names are found on a donors' plaque near the foyer.
And the current Raiders athletes realize what a special place they've been given. You could see that in the reaction sophomore forward Sierra Crayton gave as she walked down the hallway toward the dressing room the other day and saw the full-sized wall mural of herself in hoop action along side a series of similar likenesses of her teammates.
"She did a double take and then all I heard was 'Oh my God!' " said Williams. "Sierra was so excited, she got out her cell phone, took a picture and sent it right back to her mom in Illinois."
That's the same kind of take Wright State hopes it gets from the recruits it brings to campus.
"I can tell you right now we've got some pretty good players on our (recruitment) list that we never had before and a lot of it is because of this building," Williams said. "This helps take us to the next level. No one in our conference holds a candle to this. It puts us right up there with the Ohio States. As one of my players told me today, and these are her exact words, 'Wow, Coach, this is big time!' "
Biancardi has heard similar reactions from his players: "Right now they're still like kids in a candy store. And that's understandable. It's hard to imagine anyone having a better practice facility than this."
The Raiders coach appreciates the new digs because he knows the other side of it, too: "When I coached at Suffolk (Ma.) University, we didn't even have a gym. We had to use the Cambridge YMCA. That was our home court, our practice court, our everything.
"Our building here is at the other end of the spectrum. It helps build a perception about your program. And in this case perception is reality. When you bring people in, they see we're committed to the basketball program. It's a sophisticated way of keeping up with the Joneses."
Cusack said the need for this facility arose a few years ago when ice for pro hockey was added to the Nutter Center and his programs started to "feel a squeeze" that the next-door McLin Gym couldn't fully alleviate.
"There were some scheduling conflicts because men's and women's basketball, our other teams and the university in general all used McLin," Biancardi said. "It made for a pretty tight schedule and if you had to make any changes at all because of travel or kids' having a class, you could schedule yourself right out of practice. There also were the distractions from the other courts next to you and the running track up above. All that has now been eliminated by this one new building."
Cusack — who toured similar complexes at the universities of Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon to glean ideas — said WSU's new facility will benefit the school's entire athletic program:
"It expands what other teams can do. There's just a tremendous ripple effect. It opens McLin's Gym. When the men moved over here, the women's volleyball team inherited a beautiful locker room in the Nutter Center. And all of our school's athletes will use the weight room and cardiovascular center in the new building. "
While the Setzer Pavilion/Mills-Morgan Center benefits everyone, the basketball programs are the focus. Cameras in the practice gym send images straight to lap top computers in each of the viewing rooms for instruction. The players' lounges include side-by-side refrigerators, dishwashers and microwaves. The players' and coaches' locker rooms have large individual photos above each person's dressing stall.
"I don't know of any place in the country that has this kind of facility for both men and women," said Paul Newman, WSU's senior associate athletics director. "When you bring people in here, they just can't believe it."
And some don't want to leave.
When Biancardi showed the place to his wife and two young girls, he got to his expansive office and daughter Katerina marvelled:
"Hey, we could live right here."
And that was even before she saw Bambi.
www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/wsu/daily/0821arch.html
