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The Stars Lives Don't Matter crowd like to misuse Swinney as their guy to prove three star U is a great idea. Let's see what Dabo himself said about building a program and recruiting.
The latest extravagances in the college sports arms race? Laser tag and mini golf.
By Will Hobson and
Steven Rich
December 21, 2015
An artist's rendering of the locker room for Clemson University's $55 million football complex. (Courtesy of Clemson Athletics)
The people in charge of Clemson University’s athletic department have not settled on a design for the miniature golf course they are building for their football team, but they know it will have just nine holes, not 18.
That will leave room for the sand volleyball courts, laser tag, movie theater, bowling lanes, barber shop and other amenities planned in the $55 million complex that South Carolina’s second-largest public university is building exclusively for its football players.
“It’ll be their home on campus, when they’re not in class” said Clemson athletics spokesman Joe Galbraith of a building that represents the latest innovation in the athletic facilities arms race that is costing many of America’s largest public universities hundreds of millions of dollars and shows no signs of subsiding.
...
A decade of rampant athletics construction across the country has redefined what it takes to field a competitive top-tier college sports program. Football stadiums and basketball arenas now must be complemented by practice facilities, professional-quality locker rooms, players’ lounges with high-definition televisions and video game systems, and luxury suites to coax more money from boosters.
And now Clemson, whose undefeated Tigers are one of four teams in this year’s College Football Playoff, is building a football complex with an aspect school officials tout will be the first of its kind: a “players’ village” entertainment wing with attractions more commonly seen in arcades and theme parks than on college campuses.
“I am pumped,” Coach William “Dabo” Swinney said in a video the school released promoting the new building. “It is going to be the epitome of Clemson: fun, special, unique. It’s going to be the best in the country, without a doubt.”
...
As wealthy donors at Clemson rush to outdo peers at other financially flush athletic departments, those with fewer resources look elsewhere for the cash needed to keep up. At Maryland, a new indoor football facility will be financed, in part, with millions from state government. At the University of Virginia and Rutgers University — whose athletic departments, like Maryland’s, are dependent on mandatory student fees — officials are mulling similar projects.
....
Every dream starts with a dreamer
At a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 6, Swinney, the Clemson football coach, told the crowd the story behind his team’s new headquarters. A few years ago, Athletic Director Dan Radakovich asked Swinney what he needed to “take Clemson football to the next level.” Swinney jotted down a few ideas for a football headquarters.
“I really thought he would take that piece of paper and just laugh,” Swinney said. “But he didn’t. . . . Every dream starts with a dreamer.”
In a recent phone interview, Clemson deputy athletic director Graham Neff defended the miniature golf, laser tag and bowling lanes as relatively inexpensive additions that offer a recruiting edge.
“Our football program is the engine to our athletic train. The ability of that program to be successful, be able to recruit, is important for the whole department, and I’d argue, for the whole university,” Neff said. “For that incremental cost of pouring concrete [for mini golf holes], we feel there’s going to be a big ROI [return on investment] for it being new and unique to Clemson.”
A cost breakdown for the players’ village amenities was not available, Neff said. The $55 million building will be paid for by $35.5 million in donations and $19.5 million from the sale of athletic revenue bonds. Clemson athletics does not charge a student fee, but officials considered creating one last year before student government objected.
As Swinney spoke at the groundbreaking, he was standing in a $10 million indoor practice facility that opened in 2012. A couple hundred yards off in the distance stood Memorial Stadium, with gameday locker rooms and football offices built in 2007 (as part of a $60 million project) that were renovated last year as part of more than $100 million in ongoing Clemson athletics facilities projects.
Swinney knows donors get frustrated sometimes, he told the crowd, because they give money to facilities that are soon replaced. He had a message for those donors.
“Let me tell you, this will be the forever home of the Tigers,” Swinney said.
A few seconds later, Swinney added: “Not to say that we won’t ever tear a wall down . . . or add another wing.”
The latest extravagances in the college sports arms race? Laser tag and mini golf.
By Will Hobson and
Steven Rich
December 21, 2015
An artist's rendering of the locker room for Clemson University's $55 million football complex. (Courtesy of Clemson Athletics)
The people in charge of Clemson University’s athletic department have not settled on a design for the miniature golf course they are building for their football team, but they know it will have just nine holes, not 18.
That will leave room for the sand volleyball courts, laser tag, movie theater, bowling lanes, barber shop and other amenities planned in the $55 million complex that South Carolina’s second-largest public university is building exclusively for its football players.
“It’ll be their home on campus, when they’re not in class” said Clemson athletics spokesman Joe Galbraith of a building that represents the latest innovation in the athletic facilities arms race that is costing many of America’s largest public universities hundreds of millions of dollars and shows no signs of subsiding.
...
A decade of rampant athletics construction across the country has redefined what it takes to field a competitive top-tier college sports program. Football stadiums and basketball arenas now must be complemented by practice facilities, professional-quality locker rooms, players’ lounges with high-definition televisions and video game systems, and luxury suites to coax more money from boosters.
And now Clemson, whose undefeated Tigers are one of four teams in this year’s College Football Playoff, is building a football complex with an aspect school officials tout will be the first of its kind: a “players’ village” entertainment wing with attractions more commonly seen in arcades and theme parks than on college campuses.
“I am pumped,” Coach William “Dabo” Swinney said in a video the school released promoting the new building. “It is going to be the epitome of Clemson: fun, special, unique. It’s going to be the best in the country, without a doubt.”
...
As wealthy donors at Clemson rush to outdo peers at other financially flush athletic departments, those with fewer resources look elsewhere for the cash needed to keep up. At Maryland, a new indoor football facility will be financed, in part, with millions from state government. At the University of Virginia and Rutgers University — whose athletic departments, like Maryland’s, are dependent on mandatory student fees — officials are mulling similar projects.
....
Every dream starts with a dreamer
At a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 6, Swinney, the Clemson football coach, told the crowd the story behind his team’s new headquarters. A few years ago, Athletic Director Dan Radakovich asked Swinney what he needed to “take Clemson football to the next level.” Swinney jotted down a few ideas for a football headquarters.
“I really thought he would take that piece of paper and just laugh,” Swinney said. “But he didn’t. . . . Every dream starts with a dreamer.”
In a recent phone interview, Clemson deputy athletic director Graham Neff defended the miniature golf, laser tag and bowling lanes as relatively inexpensive additions that offer a recruiting edge.
“Our football program is the engine to our athletic train. The ability of that program to be successful, be able to recruit, is important for the whole department, and I’d argue, for the whole university,” Neff said. “For that incremental cost of pouring concrete [for mini golf holes], we feel there’s going to be a big ROI [return on investment] for it being new and unique to Clemson.”
A cost breakdown for the players’ village amenities was not available, Neff said. The $55 million building will be paid for by $35.5 million in donations and $19.5 million from the sale of athletic revenue bonds. Clemson athletics does not charge a student fee, but officials considered creating one last year before student government objected.
As Swinney spoke at the groundbreaking, he was standing in a $10 million indoor practice facility that opened in 2012. A couple hundred yards off in the distance stood Memorial Stadium, with gameday locker rooms and football offices built in 2007 (as part of a $60 million project) that were renovated last year as part of more than $100 million in ongoing Clemson athletics facilities projects.
Swinney knows donors get frustrated sometimes, he told the crowd, because they give money to facilities that are soon replaced. He had a message for those donors.
“Let me tell you, this will be the forever home of the Tigers,” Swinney said.
A few seconds later, Swinney added: “Not to say that we won’t ever tear a wall down . . . or add another wing.”
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