RU Facilities: The "OTB Feasibility Study", Part 2

We started you off with our first six projects yesterday.  We move on to another five today.

We showed the University's Master Plan.  This is our athletics master plan, continuing with....

Priority 7, Golf Facility:  Why, you ask?  Because we have nothing now.  Nothing.  Not sub-par, not old....nothing.  The other sports have locker rooms. Team areas, indoor practice facilities.  Should these student-athletes have anything less?

Priority 8, Reconfigure track, build track stadium:  We built an indoor facility first, long overdue and absolutely needed.  But what we currently have, the Bauer Track & Field Facility, is a joke.  It is an embarrassment to a division one program.  It is an embarrassment to a Group 4 high school.

So while we tweak the location, we also plug in a track "stadium" with proper seating, press box, lights, scoreboard, etc.  Don't make me show you photos of the rest of the Big Ten's track facilities....I'm warning you, it isn't a pretty comparison.

Priority 9, Field Hockey Stadium: When field hockey turf was installed in the track infield several years ago, it was done like so many other things are done at Rutgers: where can we put it, oh, there's an open space. Plop.  Then-head coach Liz Tchou said that wasn't an issue since other schools had it there (e.g. James Madison, Michigan State).  But it should have been put in the right location.  For several years, the team's locker room was still at the stadium while their field was behind the RAC.  Great planning, great way to treat your athletes.  With Priority 3 we built an indoor facility by Yurcak for the "field sports".  Now we build field hockey their own facility there, as well. And we add proper game day facilities to Yurcak: welcoming entry, concessions, game day locker rooms.

Priority 10, Baseball and softball stadiums: Not fields with bleachers, but real stadiums.  Not the Cowboys' JerryWorld, but something that is more than a high school-equivalent park.  Seat back chairs, fan amenities (bathrooms would be nice) including concessions, press box, all that nice stuff that real schools and real teams have.  I don't know, like, hmmm, the Big Ten?  This is Minnesota's softball set up:

This is Rutgers':

Look at that; just saved a thousand words.

We're going to skip No. 11 right now, leaving it for the final three.  So let's jump to....

Priority 12, New Boat House: It would have been better if we still had crew, but rowing needs to compete.  The 1914 Boat House was great....when it was built in, I believe the 1950's.  But except for new paint, what's changed?  There needs to be training facilities, a place for meetings, events.  It's currently not much more than a garage for shells.  And compared to the rest of the B1G?  Don't get me started.   So, here's the Rutgers boathouse:

And here's just one example of the competition - Wisconsin:

Yeah, I thought that would end the discussion pretty quickly.

We've dealt with every sport except football and swimming - which doesn't really need anything new.  And we only skimmed the surface for hoops. Tell us what you think.  There's more to come but, so far, where do you stand?

Tomorrow: The finale...and some big ideas

Current project timelines:

Priority	Project	Break Ground	Operational
7	Golf Facility	2016 Fall	2017 Fall
8	Reconfigure track, build track stadium	2017 Spring	2018 Spring
9	Field Hockey Stadium	2017 Spring	2018 Fall
10	Baseball/Softball Stadiums	2017 Spring	2018 Spring
12	New Boat House	2017 Spring	2018 Fall