Valpo Begins Construction on New Track and Field Facility

[valpo04]

Construction has begun on Valparaiso University's new track and field facility, as Valpo breaks ground on the eight-lane Warren G. Hoger Track at Brown Field, part of a wholesale reevaluation of the campus' athletics and recreation facilities as outlined in the Campus Master Plan.

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mtrack/news/2013-14/13721/valpo-begins-construction-on-new-track-and-field-facility/

[okinawatyphoon]

Exciting! can't wait to see it at Homecoming.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

valpo04 edit: LAA, Google Chrome didn't like your memegenerator link. Apparently that site has been flagged for malware. I uploaded your image to imgur to get around it.

[okinawatyphoon]

What exactly is meant by "part of a wholesale reevaluation of the campus' athletics and recreation facilities as outlined in the Campus Master Plan."?? The track was a part of the FITT program but was never realized.

[valpotx]

I assume that it has something to do with the feedback we received from the MVC when they were entertaining us as an expansion option.  We are 'reevaluating' the timeline of said projects, I assume, to hopefully get our programs up to speed with some of the better mid-major programs.

[VULB#62]

Let's hope so.

BTW, I sent ML an email requesting that the Athletic Department investigate the possibility of setting up a webcam to record the construction and link it to the VUAthletics web site.  If that can't be done, I suggested a fallback of weekly Twitter/Facebook posts to publicize the construction. 

It would be great to follow the progress, because I believe this is the biggest athletic facility upgrade since the installation of the Brown Field turf.

[vu72]

Hey valpopal, this has nothing to do with this thread, but would you mind posting photos, from time to time, about the track project?  It would be much appreciated!

[valpopal]

Hey valpopal, this has nothing to do with this thread, but would you mind posting photos, from time to time, about the track project?  It would be much appreciated!

Already ahead of you on this. I went by there a couple of times Friday and Monday with my camera to check it out. So far, there is nothing much to show. At this point, they are just digging up the old tennis courts at the west end of the football field. I will keep an eye out for more interesting progress to photograph.

[okinawatyphoon]

Does anyone know if the track will be the standard red and white, or a different color? I for one think it would be awesome to have a brown track with gold lines.

[VULB#62]

Hey valpopal, this has nothing to do with this thread, but would you mind posting photos, from time to time, about the track project?  It would be much appreciated!

Already ahead of you on this. I went by there a couple of times Friday and Monday with my camera to check it out. So far, there is nothing much to show. At this point, they are just digging up the old tennis courts at the west end of the football field. I will keep an eye out for more interesting progress to photograph.

72 and Pal,

I contacted ML about doing a more widespread photo/constructioncam link to the athletic site.  He said he'd try.  Might be good to coordinate with him and get the pics (or video ) oy there to more than just this board.  Sorry - 

[VULB#62]

ML told me in an email that it would be standard.  The upcharge for non-standard is $40K and he wanted that money to pay for some new equipment (Hammer/discus barrier, jump pits, etc.)  Couldn't argue that that logic.

[historyman]

Hey valpopal, this has nothing to do with this thread, but would you mind posting photos, from time to time, about the track project?  It would be much appreciated!

Already ahead of you on this. I went by there a couple of times Friday and Monday with my camera to check it out. So far, there is nothing much to show. At this point, they are just digging up the old tennis courts at the west end of the football field. I will keep an eye out for more interesting progress to photograph.

Just one other note, the big fence between the west end goalpost and the now torn up parking lot has been removed. I'm sure that was a bigger part of the work than most people would normally believe.

[VUOR63]

Great news about the track!  Athletes in all sports will be in significantly better shape now that they can run intervals!

[vufan75]

Hey valpopal, this has nothing to do with this thread, but would you mind posting photos, from time to time, about the track project?  It would be much appreciated!

Already ahead of you on this. I went by there a couple of times Friday and Monday with my camera to check it out. So far, there is nothing much to show. At this point, they are just digging up the old tennis courts at the west end of the football field. I will keep an eye out for more interesting progress to photograph.

72 and Pal,

I contacted ML about doing a more widespread photo/constructioncam link to the athletic site.  He said he'd try.  Might be good to coordinate with him and get the pics (or video ) oy there to more than just this board.  Sorry - 

Thanks for the picture of week 1 construction on the track on Twitter, pal! You do a GREAT job with your photo's.

[tweet]466743240775847937[/tweet]

[rink]

As I've opined elsewhere, a track around the football field is for high schools / middle schools.  For a bloody university, in 2014 (!!!), the track should have been put anywhere else.  This development pisses me off, I don't know why everyone else is so happy.  Yes, it was ridiculously embarrassing that we did not have an on-campus track.  But it's nothing to get excited about to see hefty funds misappropriated for new construction that adds it to our football complex like we're a damn high school / middle school (or a small college from 100 years ago).  What a joke.  And I say all this based on 2014 standards.  In 20 years, it will be even more laughable.  Perception is everything, too bad our leaders are blind and stuck in the 1950s.

[okinawatyphoon]

As I've opined elsewhere, a track around the football field is for high schools / middle schools.  For a bloody university, in 2014 (!!!), the track should have been put anywhere else.  This development pisses me off, I don't know why everyone else is so happy.  Yes, it was ridiculously embarrassing that we did not have an on-campus track.  But it's nothing to get excited about to see hefty funds misappropriated for new construction that adds it to our football complex like we're a damn high school / middle school (or a small college from 100 years ago).  What a joke.  And I say all this based on 2014 standards.  In 20 years, it will be even more laughable.  Perception is everything, too bad our leaders are blind and stuck in the 1950s.

While I agree that the track should have been placed somewhere else, I realize that our football "stadium" will never be like a FBS stadium and that's ok. I would rather see us build a track now despite its location because we've been lacking one for so long.

[a3uge]

As I've opined elsewhere, a track around the football field is for high schools / middle schools.  For a bloody university, in 2014 (!!!), the track should have been put anywhere else.  This development pisses me off, I don't know why everyone else is so happy.  Yes, it was ridiculously embarrassing that we did not have an on-campus track.  But it's nothing to get excited about to see hefty funds misappropriated for new construction that adds it to our football complex like we're a damn high school / middle school (or a small college from 100 years ago).  What a joke.  And I say all this based on 2014 standards.  In 20 years, it will be even more laughable.  Perception is everything, too bad our leaders are blind and stuck in the 1950s.

Geez, we could build the Barclays Center on campus and people would be unhappy. What kind of a football program do you think we have? We're in the Pioneer Football League, not the SEC. Of all the schools in the conference only Butler and Campbell have separate tracks. Dayton, Devidson, Drake, Jacksonville, and Morehead State all have tracks around their stadiums. Marist, Mercer, San Diego, and Stetson have no tracks and either have no track program or use their local high school's track. In the OVC half of their football schools have a track around their football stadium - Austin Peay, EIU, Murray State, and Tennessee Tech.

I'm not sure why you think it's so ridiculous to build a track around a football field, but it's pretty common in FCS. Where would they even put a standalone track? I think it would've been a huge mistake to build it off campus... the only place they'd be able to put a standalone track would be east of 130, unless they did something more ridiculous like waste the land by the hospital site. Logistically, a track around Brown Field made the most sense because it takes up 0 additional land.

[wh]

Let me get this straight. We live in the shabbiest house in the neighborhood that everyone in town laughs at, and we have family members discussing whether we should plant the flowers we just bought for the backyard around the plastic birdbath or put them in a area by themselves. So wrong on so many levels.

[vufan75]

Valpo track construction photo from week 2 from Facebook.

[VULB#62]

It is what it is.  Laid on the ground around the turf surface, it will be a good looking facility and will enhance the whole competition area.  It will sure look better than that wide expanse of grass that blatantly screamed "Track Wanted."  BYW, as I'm sure most of you have recognized, this was not a spur of the moment design decision -- the new score board was placed outside the outside radius of where a track would be a few years ago when the turf went in. 

What will help to distinguish it from most "high school" stadiums is the way the fencing and landscaping are planned and implemented.  IMO it will come down to:

   High School Look = 4'-8' Black chain Link fence and grass around the perimeter

   College Look = 6'-8' Black metal bar fencing connecting to brick posts with granite cap stones; curbed walkways around outer perimeter to the visitor stands, some grass between walkway and fence area, and mulch and plantings all along the fence base, including coniferous trees that as they mature help to enclose the stadium.

It will be interesting to see what we get as a final product.

[HC]

Austin Peays track is partially gone into a sink hole...so we are looking pretty good!

[VULB#62]

Here is a link to the article:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/05/austin-peay-state-university-sinkhole

From the picture with the article, they also look like they are making a major expansion to the 10,000 seat stadium.  For those who are interested here is the quote from their website on the $6 million expansion:

When renovated, Governors Stadium will have four levels, with most of the offices and dressing rooms, as well as a training room, on the first floor.

On the second floor, there will be meeting rooms and an additional weight room.

Fans on levels 3 and 4 will find the amenities of club seating and skyboxes – new features to the stadium. The skyboxes are tiered stadium-type seating with up to 22 seats per viewing room. In addition, each skybox has a bar with locations for bar stools, tables and chairs to seat four to six people.

Like most skyboxes seen in professional sports stadium complexes, the skyboxes in Governors Stadium will have sliding glass at the front of the viewing rooms, a push button to control a public address speaker and two television monitors.

BTW there is a track around the playing surface.

[a3uge]

Let me get this straight. We live in the shabbiest house in the neighborhood that everyone in town laughs at, and we have family members discussing whether we should plant the flowers we just bought for the backyard around the plastic birdbath or put them in a area by themselves. So wrong on so many levels.

I think in this case it's more like a slab is missing in the walkway to the house and when we go to pour some concrete, people start complaining it's not cobblestone.

We have to start somewhere. The administration has gotten in a terrible habit of creating unrealistic master plans without any sort of follow through. I think the most recent master plan is ridiculously optimistic, but at least they're following it. Do I have confidence they'll have a baseball stadium built across the ARC in the next 30 years? Not really, but at least they're not rushing out 5 years after creating a plan and plugging in campus holes with whatever donation comes along.



The master plan is overly ambitious and a bit unrealistic in all of our eyes because the university has invested only a fraction towards athletics compared to this proposal. But hey, it's something. The track was certainly the first item on the list, and we'll see in the next few years if they're serious about athletics. Will they redevelop the hospital land to something completely different? Will they re-purpose LeBien Hall? Or are they going to start buying the land between Lincolnway and Laporte and start razing some of the shady businesses that operate out of barbie-sized houses?

[78crusader]

I'm one of those guys who is all in favor of a track around the football field.  The other option -- to locate it in a different, separate area -- has already been tried, hasn't it?  I mean, for the last 40 years we've had a track in that lonely outpost known as Eastgate.  That didn't work out so well.  To me a track around the football field "feels" right for a school our size. 

I would agree with wh that the athletic facilities at VU are not highly thought of around the city of Valparaiso.  Whether that means that the ARC is "laughed at" by folks in town, I don't know.  I attended my youngest daughter's graduation on Sunday at the Knapp Center at Drake University (home of mens' and womens' basketball) and it is definitely a nicer facility than the ARC.  That being said, the Drake library and student union do not hold a candle to the library and student union at VU.  In my humble opinion, a "mere" single change to the ARC would make a big difference -- adding windows to the north side of the arena.  Drake did this and it is quite nice.  Natural light, not as dark.  More inviting.  Of course, such a change would just by itself probably cost several million dollars. 

We like to bemoan the fact that VU has not in the past followed through with grandiose Master Plans.  I would simply like to point out that right now there are three construction projects going on around campus -- a new track, a new dorm, and the Chapel addition.  That is a LOT for a 4,000 student school.  And it is two more projects than are currently underway at Drake (the one project they are doing this summer --dare I say it? This will stir the pot --is a basketball practice facility).

Paul

[a3uge]

We like to bemoan the fact that VU has not in the past followed through with grandiose Master Plans.  I would simply like to point out that right now there are three construction projects going on around campus -- a new track, a new dorm, and the Chapel addition.  That is a LOT for a 4,000 student school.  And it is two more projects than are currently underway at Drake (the one project they are doing this summer --dare I say it? This will stir the pot  --is a basketball practice facility).

For the first time in forever, I think we're seeing serious action on a grand plan, and that's why I'm more optimistic about them following it for athletics. But we'll see. I don't think it's a "hey there's some land available, lets put some tennis courts there" mentality. Greek Life will eventually go where Greek Life is planned to go now... they've seemed to change their mind a dozen times on this, from wanting it on the hill where the welcome center is now, to Eastgate, back to Mound Street, to now by the ARC. They're not building a new stadium, or waiting for one to be built for the area, so I think there's some form of a plausible strategy that involves building a cheaper athletics complex that isn't a new stadium (which I've argued would be a colossal waste of money). Maybe once they realized this, they can make improvements to the ARC without worrying that they're throwing money into a sinking ship. They got a new scoreboard and a new sound system, but there's a huge need to build out a concourse and create proper seats on both sides. They can't really do any of these things without an athletics complex, so I really think it's a project that will begin in the next 10 years.