There's a ton of space behind the Comm Bldg and Moly Bio, which are right across the street, as well as 150+ spaces right next to the Armory itself.
Volleyball marks up watershed recruiting class
- Thread starter CyValley
- Start date
There's a ton of space behind the Comm Bldg and Moly Bio, which are right across the street, as well as 150+ spaces right next to the Armory itself.
Since most wrestling is either Friday night or Sunday, most normal campus lot policies wouldn't be in effect.
In theory...
Lot 22 - Team/staff/media
Lot 21 - Top donors
Lots 11, 12 - Secondary donors
Lots 9, 10, 27, 28, 29 - General public
Lot 6 (not shown, just south of 9) - General public
Those distances to the venue would be comparable to the current setup at Hilton.
In theory...
Lot 22 - Team/staff/media
Lot 21 - Top donors
Lots 11, 12 - Secondary donors
Lots 9, 10, 27, 28, 29 - General public
Lot 6 (not shown, just south of 9) - General public
Those distances to the venue would be comparable to the current setup at Hilton.
Nunez and Crum took us off a cliff, but we at least we were okay in volleyball before them. WBB was never good. BF's job is much better.
One of JP's stated goals was for ISU to break into the Director's Cup Top 25 all-sports rankings - volleyball's rise has certainly help us rise up from oblivion. It is imperative that they get a facility of their own to prove to recruits that the sport is serious here.
So basically there is only a few options for the remaining sports?
1. Change nothing.
2. Work something out with the university and pimp out existing spaces and make them better with combination of the $53 Million upgrade. I think this would be the best option until they can get funding later.
3. Shuffle some people around and try and take ownership of the armory (which would probably cost more than just putting up a $5 Million facility.
So practice areas:
Football has The practice fields and the Bergstrom Indoor facility.
MBB/WBB - New Practice Facility
Cross Country has their course and the Lied Rec Center winter
Womens/Mens Golf - Own course, but what do they do in winter?
Gymnastics - Beyer (do they have their own lockers etc.)?
Softball - its own field. Is there lockerrooms out there? Do they practice at Lied in winter?
Soccer - Field, Winter Lied? Do they have their own locker area etc.??
Swimming and Diving - Beyer
Tennis - Forker Courts/ Ames Raquet and Fitness -(This sport needs a lot of work, but how much do you put into it?)
Wrestling - Lied - Make it look better and they would be good.
Volleyball - Forker? Give them a locker room and area in Forker?
I guess I am really only seeing problems with Volleyball and Gymnastics and Tennis. The others will get a face lift with the Rec Upgrade.
1. Change nothing.
2. Work something out with the university and pimp out existing spaces and make them better with combination of the $53 Million upgrade. I think this would be the best option until they can get funding later.
3. Shuffle some people around and try and take ownership of the armory (which would probably cost more than just putting up a $5 Million facility.
So practice areas:
Football has The practice fields and the Bergstrom Indoor facility.
MBB/WBB - New Practice Facility
Cross Country has their course and the Lied Rec Center winter
Womens/Mens Golf - Own course, but what do they do in winter?
Gymnastics - Beyer (do they have their own lockers etc.)?
Softball - its own field. Is there lockerrooms out there? Do they practice at Lied in winter?
Soccer - Field, Winter Lied? Do they have their own locker area etc.??
Swimming and Diving - Beyer
Tennis - Forker Courts/ Ames Raquet and Fitness -(This sport needs a lot of work, but how much do you put into it?)
Wrestling - Lied - Make it look better and they would be good.
Volleyball - Forker? Give them a locker room and area in Forker?
I guess I am really only seeing problems with Volleyball and Gymnastics and Tennis. The others will get a face lift with the Rec Upgrade.
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I would add these, as it affects recruiting and therefore performance:
Track - Substandard track - our outdoor track is in total disrepair (I see they don't even include a photo of it on cyclones.com). We haven't hosted an outdoor meet in several years. Unbelievable.
Swimming - Substandard pool - we have an old 25-meter pool in Beyer; most schools have 50-meter pools now. The athletic department's plan to build a 50-meter pool as part of the new campus rec facility was scrapped because they didn't have the money ($10-15 million).
Softball - Substandard ballpark - we have, from what some visiting fans have told me, the worst facility in the conference. We don't even have lights. High schools in Iowa have better ballparks than we do.
The scoreboard at the track still has the team name captions from the Big Eight. Beyer isn't even a 25-meter pool -- it's 25 yards. Diving didn't have a platform (just 1m and 3m) until very recently. Softball has no permanent restroom or locker facility, and the only running water may be what they use to wet down the infield. Concessions are sold out of a trailer.
Softball and soccer have both used the IPF for practices on occasion.
Softball and soccer have both used the IPF for practices on occasion.
You're absolutely right about all three. Part of the reason for track and softball is the general neglect of the whole Southwest complex. That outdoor track is ash; it's not even the hard-surface stuff used these days. Nobody would want to run on it even if we had a meet. Softball has been neglected because baseball was shut down, apparently. It probably boils down to JP not wanting to spend any money on a facility that he wants to close and move in the near future anyway. That really sucks, but I guess I can't blame him; that's the smart financial decision. I wouldn't expect any upgrades at the SAC. Likewise, swimming's situation is not going to change any. I'm friends with a few swimmers; they say they deal with facilities well enough. At least they "own" their area. Fact is, our S&D teams are usually the worst in the conference. You can justify spending money on an olympic sport that's winning. It's much harder at this point to spend on a sport that brings in no money AND performs poorly. There is a definite plan to build a large natatorium on the west side of Lied in the future; this will provide a substantial competitive space as well as a moderate recreational aquatic area, which is part of the reason there isn't much aquatic stuff in the State Gym addition.
Also, I'm not sure why so many people have the idea that the new rec renovations are going to help the athletic department. With minor exceptions, the additions and renovations are for student use only, not for athletic department use. I'd have to go back and look through Daily articles, but I don't believe Athletics has much to do with the renovation/addition. They've been involved in all the talks, of course, but the whole point is to get more space that students can use all the time, instead of being turned away because a team is practicing. There will be upgrades at Beyer, of course, which will help out gymnastics (and now with the BB facility, maybe volleyball as well) but that's pretty much it.
I wonder if we will have to give up cyclone club benefits to get facilities for wrestling, volleyball and gymnastics. Donors at captains and above get free admission to those sports (if general admission seating is available). You can't make money if you're not charging people to see you play.
So what are we talking here $50 Million? Would that get a facility that houses locker rooms and practice/ meets for Swimming, Volleyball, Softball, Gymnastics, wrestling
$10 million for a new track, new softball park with the works, and upgrades to the soccer complex? And the Forker Tennis courts are really rough. Probably need something there also. This main facility could have locker rooms for each vasity sport except BB and Football and have a lounge and sports medicine location etc. Big recruiting tool. All this money makes my head hurt.
Here is where it gets tricky. Do you try and raise $60 million for sports that cost millions to run (guessing at 60) or do you throw more money at the big sports? I guess that is a tuff one. If the NCAA doesn't look out there won't be any other sports left, but the TV sports. This is where Boone Pickens exceeds. Give huge money for the BB and Football facilities and then give tons more so they other sports survive. Dang..
$10 million for a new track, new softball park with the works, and upgrades to the soccer complex? And the Forker Tennis courts are really rough. Probably need something there also. This main facility could have locker rooms for each vasity sport except BB and Football and have a lounge and sports medicine location etc. Big recruiting tool. All this money makes my head hurt.
Here is where it gets tricky. Do you try and raise $60 million for sports that cost millions to run (guessing at 60) or do you throw more money at the big sports? I guess that is a tuff one. If the NCAA doesn't look out there won't be any other sports left, but the TV sports. This is where Boone Pickens exceeds. Give huge money for the BB and Football facilities and then give tons more so they other sports survive. Dang..
Gymnastics- probably won't see any change for a long time, unless we build a new competition venue for Olympic sports. They're getting a Beyer upgrade, and they compete in Hilton.
Swimming- won't get anything while they're at Beyer. As mentioned, the eventual plan is build a natatorium on Lied to house both competition and recreation aquatic facilities. They're not going to waste dollars building two separate facilities.
Wrestling- also set for the moment. They're happy in Lied; they have the whole second floor and compete in Hilton. Again, no change unless an Olympic arena is built.
Softball- won't get any upgrades while they're at the SAC. New field will eventually be built where current IM diamonds are, across from Jack Trice.
Track- same as softball. Lied serves acceptably for now; will eventually get new outdoor track.
Swimming- won't get anything while they're at Beyer. As mentioned, the eventual plan is build a natatorium on Lied to house both competition and recreation aquatic facilities. They're not going to waste dollars building two separate facilities.
Wrestling- also set for the moment. They're happy in Lied; they have the whole second floor and compete in Hilton. Again, no change unless an Olympic arena is built.
Softball- won't get any upgrades while they're at the SAC. New field will eventually be built where current IM diamonds are, across from Jack Trice.
Track- same as softball. Lied serves acceptably for now; will eventually get new outdoor track.
Just the fact that WBB and MBB now will have their own facility, frees up any space thiey used to use for the other sports. That can only help. It's not totally about the practice facility itself, but the access to it. Scheduling practice time should be a lot easier with two less teams competing for space.
People don't really get this, do they? No, MBB and WBB moving out is not going to help volleyball nearly as much as most folks are guessing. To start with, State Gym is basically useless for the volleyball team. You can't set up nets in there. They already use Forker, and nothing's really changing over there: they still don't have lockers there and they still have to share the facility with classes during the day and clubs at night, and both of those have every right to be in the building. They also already use Beyer and Hilton. I don't see how it's okay to make them shuttle between three different buildings when nobody else has to. It's not like with the BB teams gone, all of sudden there are vacant gymnasiums galore all over campus. What will actually happen is that clubs might actually get the activity space they request, or regular peon students will be able to play pick-up basketball games without waiting over an hour for a court to open up. Everything is still going to be used at full capacity.
This scares me a little for a different reason. ROTC programs at most schools are treated very poorly by the "liberal" academic leadership of most universities. ISU isn't much different, visit their current offices if you want some proof. I shudder to think what hell hole they'd find for them if they kicked them from the Armory.
As a 24 year military guy, I might be a bit biased but it does happen. I have to give ISU credit though. I visited the EIU ROTC offices a few years ago and the university leadership over there should be ashamed of themselves for how they treat those poor kids!! :no:
Up until they redid State both the men's and women's basketball teams had to do just this. They would practice at a combination of State, Forker, and Hilton (with some individual workouts in Beyer). Also, I'm pretty sure they play intramural volleyball at State so how can they not be able to set up nets in there?
Until volleyball, softball, gymnastics start bringing in a ton of money.... they should just be happy with what they get.
Football and basketball HAVE to take care of themselves first... then they can fund other programs. If FB and MBB are bad, the entire athletic department suffers.
It is just reality.
Football and basketball HAVE to take care of themselves first... then they can fund other programs. If FB and MBB are bad, the entire athletic department suffers.
It is just reality.
The biggest thing to me is the lack of their own locker room facilities, some place they can call home. As to the earlier question as to how we can help the volleyball team, we can go to matches, they are cheap, sometimes free, or at least in the past they were, with a same day football ticket. Get a chance to know these girls, they are playing a great brand of volleyball. They are fast and they should be fun to watch, I for one will be there a bunch this fall hopefully taking my high school girls up a bunch!
Unfortunatly this really has nothing to do with how good we are in VB or how fun they are to watch, or how hard these girls work. It is all about money. FB and basketball will pay for the VB team to have a nice place to workout in the future.... after it takes care of itself.
