Update: 12:11p. Syracuse University unveiled its plans to renovate the existing football wing at Manley the day after this was posted. It will be a nice upgrade for the players, since $5M will be poured into the locker room, cafeteria, athlete lounge and auditorium. But it’s not the enormous splash we detailed below.
Gross’ ideas for the athletic program have always been big. So, don’t doubt for a minute his ultimate goals are to create a Melo Center-like facility for football just as he described to The Fizz. These drawings may not be imminent, but it’s most certainly what Gross envisions long term. The renovations announced are definitely more than a “fresh coat of paint,” but it’s still just the first step. No matter what the timeframe of an entire new practice field/complex would be, the announced improvements are great ammo to help recruiting.
* * *
The designs released for a shiny new Syracuse football practice facility aren’t as far down the road as some believe. While Darryl Gross shrugged off the drawings displayed by Bernheimer Architecture, don’t confuse that for the potential of when it might happen.
The Fizz believes Gross has begun the bidding by firms to win the rights to design the new digs. Bernheimer is one of those firms, and developed prototypes and graphics for SU. The university has seen these, and Bernheimer is displaying its layouts on its website. This is no 3-day project completed by a part-time staffer. These are highly developed concepts by a respected firm, looking to win the bid. Bernheimer recently completed two condominium projects in West Chelsea, in New York City. There’s a relationship as well,¬†Bernheimer was a Seinfeld Visiting Critic in Architecture at SU in 2008.
Last month, Gross spoke to The Fizz directly about plans for the new digs.
‚ÄúWe are very aggressive with football right now and fund raising for a football facility. We‚Äôve got some things that are going to be in motion very, very soon. We recognize the need to ‚Äì not so much an arms race ‚Äì but a ‘needs race’ of what we need right now.‚Äù
Gross told us he envisions a Carmelo Center-esque facility for football, and that SU is far beyond the initial planning stages of it. Syracuse is close to making an announcement on either finalizing fund raising, or a projected timeline for a shovel to hit the dirt. Gross went on to tell us, SU athletics is trying to replicate the impact of the Melo Center.
“If you have Carmelo on one side, we want that football complex to stand out on the other side as well. They’re two cornerstones for the program, as far as revenues and doing those types of things. We’ve got to put that same kind of energy, as you mentioned, we see the results we’ve gotten since Carmelo Center opened.”
Ultimately, the lifeblood to college athletics is recruiting. And the understanding by Gross is that better facilities means better athletes.
“We’ve been able to enhance the (basketball) program. We’re going to do the same thing with football. We have a lot of people committed to it, and a lot of people who have sponsored it. It’s exciting for us right now, to get this football thing going.¬†Because you can change coaches all you want. You got to have the resources, you have to have the creativity to change and do different things to try and make that recruiting get better.”¬†
The guess here is that Gross has been able to stir enough support within alumni donors to get a hefty chunk of the facility paid for. But there still needs to be a title endowment, something akin to what Carmelo gave for the hoops center. Gross has likely made calls to some of the bigger Orange names in the NFL right now, like Donovan McNabb and Dwight Freeney. But so far, none have bitten.
Which is why the timing of the hiring of Floyd Little makes so much sense. Bringing in an effervescent SU gridiron legend, who’s also a member of Canton, helps inject life and optimism to rebuilding the football brand – especially among former players.
The Fizz has harped on this for years, but it’s absolutely crucial for SU to land this practice facility now. In 2013, when moving to the ACC, Syracuse will be battling much deeper football wallets than the Big East. Instead of wooing players away from UConn and Cincinnati, now you’re in the same arena as Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson, and Florida State. The timing couldn’t be more important, since SU doesn’t want to spend the first decade in its new conference getting its helmets smashed in.
Give Gross credit. He’s not looking to merely rip out a few lockers and slap on a fresh coat of paint. That wouldn’t add anything in the larger picture. SU is looking to go all in with a gleaming new football facility to bookend the Melo Center. While Gross stopped short of saying its an “arms race,” that’s exactly what it is.
Posted: D.A.
127 responses to “Extreme Makeover: Syracuse Upgrades its Football Facilities, What’s the Future?”
Yeah. This has to happen. I like that he dropped a little hint about sticking with DM… “you can change coaches all you want. You got to have the resources, the creativity to change and do different things…”
I like Doc. The man’s making moves to put this program back on the map. All the naysayers over at syracuse.com can suck an egg.
Who ever gets that contract for the new facilities had better check and recheck their calculations for weight bearing snow on the top of this contraption they design for football. The very last thing this program needs is a nation al story of this thing collapsing and some one getting hurt or worse.
Dr. Gross is right on with all his comments about needing a marquee practice facility. This needs to happen, and Chris is right too. They better take into account the snow that might sit on the complex’s roof for weeks at a time. I’m pretty sick of some of the comments on syracuse.com. It seems like that it has devolved into where all the unhappy people go to spew hate towards Dr. Gross, P-S writers, SU coaches, etc. They need to have a daily chat with a therapist on that site. It might cause the frequency of those ridiculous comments to decrease. Keep up the great work guys. You’re right: it is an arms race and SU needs to get ahead of the game pronto. One subject not addressed in this article that will have to be addressed within the next 10 years is building a football only stadium to take the place of the Dome. Don’t be surprised if it’s an outdoor stadium too. The University of Minnesota plays outside, so SU can too.
We can all agree Doc hasn’t been perfect. He can give too much influence to corporations like Nike. But ultimately he knows the modern NCAA landscape and what it takes to drag a program there. And a new football facility is absolutely a must. I think anyone who believes we arent close to seeing a new center is out of touch. SU has been working hard at this and when a respected firm draws up plans like this it’s not for kicks.
orangeskin – I love the idea of an outdoor stadium. Like having a Lambeau or Soldier Field in CNY! I hate watching games in Domes – Super Bowl, SEC Championship, anything. Imagine the home field advantage you have when those ACC schools from FL, GA, NC make the trek north for a December game. Only thing I would question is would it hurt the recruiting? Marrone seems to be targeting FL and GA kids (great move) who may shy away from that.
Minnesota would be a good model – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCF_Bank_Stadium
The outside stadium is out of the question… Practice facilities are fine but we cannot fill the dome as it is. And the weather is the worse among the ACC schools.
GO SU
Lou – we can’t fill the Dome for two reasons
1. The team has been abysmal in recent years – one of the worst in the country. I don’t blame people for not showing up and spending their hard earned money. Put a winning product on the field and people will be there in droves.
2. The Dome is an awful place to see a game. I’d rather watch on TV from my house or a bar.
New facilities, specifically a new outdoor stadium, could do a lot to change both those things. Better facilities attract better recruits which make the team better.
i’m glad there on the same page, now if some of the knuckleheaded fans could open there eyes we would be in good shape.
Mike P…
The dome is a great place to watch a game! Not a bad seat in that place. it just needs a facelift and new videoboards among other things. Most unique place to play in college football.
Stay home then and root for your team on the TV, that will be a huge help on 3rd downs.
Won’t see you there, good!
The dome is a unique venue and perfect for cny. I look forward to learning more about the training facilities. Hopefully they are just around the corner!
I understand the Dome is ‘unique’. It just doesn’t provide a great college football atmosphere in my opinion – others obviously disagree.
If you don’t think new facilities make a huge difference, just look at how valuable the YUM Center in Lousville has been
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577317681170452786.html?KEYWORDS=college+basketball+franchise
The weather is far to unpredictable to make an outdoor stadium. You honestly can say you’d rather watch a game in 20 degree weather and snow in November instead of the mild 60 degrees in the dome? I would much rather watch the game in the dome anyday. I can tell you a lot of our season tickets holders would not want to sit in the snow for half the year.
Mike P.
I understand the results that are created by a new stadium, clearly it would be awesome.
Think for a few minutes what you are asking for.
The dome cost 26.8 million dollars in 1980. Building the exact same structure in today’s dollars has been estimated at 300-350 million.
We are talking about a school that is struggling to raise $4 million to re-do the locker and training rooms. Not to mention the 20-30 million it would take to build an indoor practice facility.
Even $100 million to build an outdoor stadium that nobody would go to would take an act of god.
Be realistic and do some research on something besides the Yum center. The Yum center is owned by the city of Louisville where our city of syracuse is not going to spend a dime on a private institution like SU’s venue. And…no state dollars coming either, so don’t compare SU to a state school and their funding either.
RETRACT THAT ROOF!
It may take some engineering but I think the key to making the carrier dome a bigger draw is modifying the existing roof structure to a a partially retractable (think over the field like in dallas) and some interor renovations and updates of course.
New stadium?…the money would be better spent to get a real coach who know’s and has the personality too recruit!Charley Strong not the YUM center is bringing the recruits to the “Ville”…let’s face it CNY is not attractive to everyone..we need a coach with personality…hope im wrong..sorry but that’s how it looks to me.
Russell
Coach Marrone has done a great job with what he has had to work with. Facilities that are 20 years outdated, a 32 year old stadium that is never full on gameday, etc., etc.
Give him the tools he needs to just be on a level playing field before you pass judgement.
Furthermore, DM makes 1 mil a year. I would highly doubt that SU will pay much more for a high profile name to come here. How do you suppose we get a big name coach with the current facilities we have and pay them 3 mil a year when SU took 3 years to raise 4-5 mil for a football facilities upgrade.
YUM center is a basketball facility that Louisville doesn’t own and is irrelevant for Louisville football. Why bring it up in a football conversation. Read Mike B’s response earlier here before you spout
Well put CuseO I shot it off pretty quickly,..it get’s pretty depressing waiting to get back on track…new coach,ACC etc. etc.I’d like to see some dscent recruit’s and national respect in my lifetime…let’s hope we have a respectable year and some light at the end of the tunnel this year..
You and I are in agreement completely but I do think wholeheartedly that we have the right guy for the job.
Every year, recruiting has gotten better even though the facilities are still crap. After the facilities are upgraded this year, I guarantee we have a top 40 or better class of recruits.
But the rankings are crap anyhow. You don’t see Boise State in the top 25 every year but they have good to great teams every year.
Looking forward to the future, see you all there hopefully.
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