Fieldhouse

[vu84v2]

Building on wh's passionate comments, I would like to clarify the following in terms of where criticism might be laid or is not appropriate (in my opinion) on the university.

I am sure that I am missing some of the major capital improvement projects, but I will summarize the ones the I am familiar with:
-Expansion of engineering building - funded by donors directly contributing to the project
-New library - funded by donors directly contributing to the project

Both of these projects were desparately needed

-Buiding of a large new dorm in the middle of campus - as far as I know, this was funded by the university (i.e. from the Valpo fund).  New dorms are deparately needed.
-Some dorm renovation - funded by the university.  Desparately needed.  Furthermore, older dorms need to be replaced or dramatically renovated.
-Building of a new student union with overall better meeting facilities.  Pretty strong need and funded by the university.

That leaves two projects that, in my opinion, are highly questionable (and I make this point to attempt to support some of wh's arguments)
-Welcome Center on Rt. 30.  What value does this bring to the university versus other options for spending the money?  (admittedly, I am not totally sure where the money came from for this)
-Chapel Expansion.  Very unnecessary compared to other needs.  Putting aside the basketball stadium argument, several projects clearly should be a higher priority.  1. Dorm replacement or major remodeling, 2. Address the business building being way too small and vastly out-of-date, 3. an appropriate student recreation center.

The only way that a basketball stadium renovation and fieldhouse/student recreation center will happen is from a major private donor.  My opinion is that the university will steer any major donors away from those programs towards their priorities, though the Caterpillar donation for the engineering building was never going to go anyplace else and I doubt that the Christopher family would have agreed to any other program than the library.  wh's points are valid now that the university if moving beyond urgent projects and prioritizing less important "nice to haves".

Lastly, and unrelated to facilities but building off of wh's pleas, Valpo (like any other institution) is being irresponsible if they are not planning for how to replace Bryce Drew.  None of us likely have any idea of what they may or may not be doing, but targeting individuals like Roger Powell or Greg Tonagel (or whomever is a good fit) is part of good executive leadership.  Frankly, I would be VERY dissapointed if they did not implement a plan if and when Bryce decided to leave.

[valpopal]

Building on wh's passionate comments, I would like to clarify the following in terms of where criticism might be laid or is not appropriate (in my opinion) on the university.

I am sure that I am missing some of the major capital improvement projects, but I will summarize the ones the I am familiar with:
-Expansion of engineering building - funded by donors directly contributing to the project
-New library - funded by donors directly contributing to the project

Both of these projects were desparately needed

-Buiding of a large new dorm in the middle of campus - as far as I know, this was funded by the university (i.e. from the Valpo fund).  New dorms are deparately needed.
-Some dorm renovation - funded by the university.  Desparately needed.  Furthermore, older dorms need to be replaced or dramatically renovated.
-Building of a new student union with overall better meeting facilities.  Pretty strong need and funded by the university.

That leaves two projects that, in my opinion, are highly questionable (and I make this point to attempt to support some of wh's arguments)
-Welcome Center on Rt. 30.  What value does this bring to the university versus other options for spending the money?  (admittedly, I am not totally sure where the money came from for this)
-Chapel Expansion.  Very unnecessary compared to other needs.  Putting aside the basketball stadium argument, several projects clearly should be a higher priority.  1. Dorm replacement or major remodeling, 2. Address the business building being way too small and vastly out-of-date, 3. an appropriate student recreation center.

The only way that a basketball stadium renovation and fieldhouse/student recreation center will happen is from a major private donor.  My opinion is that the university will steer any major donors away from those programs towards their priorities, though the Caterpillar donation for the engineering building was never going to go anyplace else and I doubt that the Christopher family would have agreed to any other program than the library.  wh's points are valid now that the university if moving beyond urgent projects and prioritizing less important "nice to haves".

Lastly, and unrelated to facilities but building off of wh's pleas, Valpo (like any other institution) is being irresponsible if they are not planning for how to replace Bryce Drew.  None of us likely have any idea of what they may or may not be doing, but targeting individuals like Roger Powell or Greg Tonagel (or whomever is a good fit) is part of good executive leadership.  Frankly, I would be VERY dissapointed if they did not implement a plan if and when Bryce decided to leave.

The Welcome Center and the Chapel addition were donor-funded projects. The Duesenbergs donated to the Welcome Center, and the Chapel addition was funded by the Helges. You also left out the badly-needed major construction in the Arts & Sciences building that replaced Huegli Hall. In addition, major construction will soon begin on the new sorority building, while Scheele will be renovated, and a new science building. As has been mentioned, the new track will host its first meet in April and the Horizon League championships in 2016. There have been a number of recent improvements to athletic facilities, such as the weight room, and some are in progress or will be beginning, influencing softball, tennis, baseball, etc.  Finally, the university is not going to leave empty the hospital space purchased. Building of a new fieldhouse is already in the planning stage, which will make renovation of the ARC possible, perhaps the way Loyola renovated the Gentile Center, which would be an ideal model for Valpo.

As for coaching decisions, I have confidence in Mark LaBarbera.

[bbtds]

Finally, the university is not going to leave empty the hospital space purchased.

Why not? It's been empty for how long now? The area where the chapel was built was a farmer's field before and from the chapel all the way over to Sturdy sat vacant for 10 to 20 years.

[a3uge]

Finally, the university is not going to leave empty the hospital space purchased.

Why not? It's been empty for how long now? The area where the chapel was built was a farmer's field before and from the chapel all the way over to Sturdy sat vacant for 10 to 20 years.

I guess the fact that they connected the parking garage and haven't made the empty space a parking lot shows there's some sort of plan for the area.

A fieldhouse is going to require massive capital, and, like dorms, it's not something alumni are all that interested in. The welcome center costs a fraction of what a giant fieldhouse would cost. It took 20 some years to find a donor for a track, so I think a project like a new fieldhouse is still down on the totem pole.  While the new adminstration has been significantly better than the old administration with athletics, expecting a $25-$30 million athletics center in the next couple of years is probably going to lead to disappointment.

[valporun]

The most difficult part of getting athletic alumni excited about a fieldhouse is that most of the sports using the fieldhouse for competition or practice are the non-revenue sports. It's hard to get those teams excited when none of their alums went professional in their sport. I'd love to have the fieldhouse because of the economic boom it could provide for more youth sports rental and AAU uses it would have in the summer, instead of being an empty building for three months, it would get used regularly in the summer, as much as it would during the academic year. I look more at the economic boom aspect, more than the excitement of it making the ARC more of an arena, rather than an over-sized high school gym.

[vu72]

I just got an email from an athletic fundraisier.  It was in response to a question concerning the possible fund raising for the fieldhouse, which, as has been said before, must be done before an over haul of the ARC could take place.

He said that fund raising for the fieldhouse can't start until design work is complete so they know what they need.  The design work has started but is in the very early stages.  Still, it is underway, as verified by the bid that 78 found.

[valpotx]

72, is John Kuka coming out to meet with you as well, when in DFW next week?

[vu72]

72, is John Kuka coming out to meet with you as well, when in DFW next week?

He did contact me but I'm totally slammed the two days when he had time.

[78crusader]

Attached is a picture of the University of Dubuque Wellness Center/Fieldhouse, which was designed by Hastings & Chivetta, architects for the new VU science building that will be going up soon.  I thought that if UD, which has a student enrollment of 1400, can have this type of building, then maybe we could too.  I hope our administration has feels the same way.

Paul

[78crusader]

Here is the inside of the UD Wellness Center/Fieldhouse:

Paul

[VULB#62]

What was the price tag?

Let's compare:
UD
D-III
1400 students
Endowment - $76,000,000 (2013)

VU
D-I
4000 students
Endowment - $202,000,000 (2014), $176,000,000 (2013)

Yeah, we can afford it.

[wh]

Construction Cost: $17 million

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/project-440.html

Cost includes football stadium reconfiguration and expansion of concessions stands, a press box, ticket booths and the presidential suite. The suite offers views of Dubuque's rolling landscape in all directions and also serves as a meeting room. The two-story press box and suites rise above the bleachers, mimicking building forms seen throughout campus. The football field received new lighting, synthetic turf, an outdoor track and visitor seating.

[a3uge]

University of Duwhat?

Sent from my XT1095 using Tapatalk

[VULB#62]

It's beautiful and as the article points out is much more than just a field house. My own thought is that we should do almost the exact thing except make Brown Field the soccer/track/lacrosse complex and the east side of the field house becomes a new integrated stadium and press box/ entertainment suite with a 6000 seating capacity for football. The playing field would then have a north/south alignment as a football field should be. All the Brown Field/Horger Track infrastructure remains unchanged (accept that the  main grand stand might be downsized a bit and the north (visitors) side would get moved over to the new visitors side of the football stadium.  The 30 year plan left Brown Field alone and called for a new soccer stadium in the spot I am referring to.

Dream on!

[wh]

Love the idea! 

[VU72too]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_Division_I_non-football_programs

Dump football, build a legitimate arena  for bb and put the savings into a top notch engineering &  science curriculum...Seems easy to me

[VULB#62]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_Division_I_non-football_programs

Dump football, build a legitimate arena  for bb and put the savings into a top notch engineering &  science curriculum...Seems easy to me

Disagree on four levels. 
1) Valpo is never going to build an arena.  Why? Because a dedicated arena would be wasted money.  Valpo desperately needs a full facility field house for all the other sports AND for student recreation.  Right now, that is woefully lacking. An arena would not serve that purpose (check out what has happened at Wright State and their arena). And secondly the ARC was designed to be renovated and expanded to the north to provide BOTH an exciting and appealing BB venue as well as a multi-activity team facility.
2)  A field house and associated facilities that all students can use is a greater attraction to prospective students than an arena.  Which would spur increased applications?  A basketball arena or a multi-function field house that the average students could see themselves using on a regular basis?
3)  Football is part of the Valpo DNA and there is a commitment to it being apart of the overall campus environment.  It is a program that is in balance with the overall mission of the school AND it brings in 100 tuition-paying men to the campus (check the ratio, 72too, we are still a female majority campus). Drop FB and the balance skews further.  BTW - The most sought after major right now is nursing (22%).  Engineering? 5%
4)  Valpo has already earmarked funding for building expansion for the sciences.   Phase one (Chemistry) is already started. 

[usc4valpo]

Engineering? 5%

I feel like an outsider in the Valpo world.

I still have dream of Valpo Hockey...and the Chicagoland area has a need for this. Valpo is too frugal and too conservative to take such a risk.

[VULB#62]

Yeah. Because of the rink, 30 games, and equipment it can be costly.  That's why I like lacrosse. Brings in more students (45-50 vs. 25-30 for hockey), only 14 games, equipment costs are lower and the facility (Brown Field) is already there. Plus it would not impact Title IX because if you start lacrosse you do both men's and women's. 

[usc4valpo]

62 - nice idea on LaCrosse, but not visionary enough for Valpo and Chicagoland. Hockey is growing in popularity in the US and currently huge in Chicagoland.

[a3uge]

62 - nice idea on LaCrosse, but not visionary enough for Valpo and Chicagoland. Hockey is growing in popularity in the US and currently huge in Chicagoland.

Without a major donor, Valpo isn't going to spend millions of dollars on a rink for a team that doesn't even exist. It doesn't matter how popular hockey is, or will be in 5 years. Valpo has a hard enough time staying at the top of the league in terms of basketball spending, and Valpo is located in basketball-crazy Indiana. There's no way a hockey arena would even remotely generate enough revenue to justify millions spent on it.

[valpotx]

If Valpo added hockey, you would still have the opportunity to be Title IX compliant, since there are men and women's divisions...

[VULB#62]

Yes, you're correct Tex, but that means doubling high equipment, arena and travel costs and scheduling ~30-34 games (not including conference championships and NCAA) for each team.  The collegiate season is painfully long and starts the first week in October and extends through the third week in March.  Players would start practicing when school opens in September and finally take their skates off after spring break.  Lacrosse can more easily support both teams from those perspectives. And we would be required to be D-I. Detroit's MLAX schedule (they have WLAX as well), for example, lists 13 games starting in February and ending late April - 6 games were home, 3 of which were played indoors in February. Their 14th game was a first round loss in the MAC LAX Tournament April 30th.  There are 69 D-I MLAX teams.  The closest D-I LAX program is, again, UND with Marquette, Michigan, Ohio State, Detroit next closest. 

These are the D-I hockey schools in the midwest. Note that even the B1G has only 8 of its 14 schools playing hockey. The closest D-I opponent would be Notre Dame (Hockey East) the only other D-I hockey playing school in Indiana or Illinois, then Western Michigan (NCHC)
NCHC
Colorado College
Denver
Miami   
Minnesota-Duluth   
Nebraska-Omaha
North Dakota   
St. Cloud State   
Western Michigan

WCHA
Alabama-Huntsville   
Alaska   
Alaska-Anchorage   
Bemidji State   
Bowling Green   
Ferris State   
Lake Superior
Michigan Tech   
Minnesota State   
Northern Michigan

Big Ten
Michigan   
Michigan State   
Minnesota   
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin

[VU72too]

#62: Sorry I misstated the arena. I agree with a Fieldhouse approach. More benefits for an entire student body. I do disagree with the FB DNA...it's costly and likely hasn't carried the load budget wise for decades. Many progressive schools have figured this out. Lacrosse (not in Wisc.) is a great and growing sport that can add the male/female athletes as well cost effectively. I'm sure there are also other things to interest students for 5 Saturdays a year!
Lastly, adding football isn't going to increase enrollment in the sciences and engineering, quality facilities and faculty will. I don't recall many FB players in the science or engineering labs.  And oh, by the way, women are permitted to enroll in science and engineering programs and will if the programs are top notch, not just nursing... it is after all 2015, not 1950...Just sayin'

[covufan]

Which would spur increased applications? 

A couple of sweet sixteen's for the basketball team.  After increased applications come increased campus visits before decision - this is where the fieldhouse and campus vision will be important.