South End Zone Project is Final Piece to "Circle of Excellence"
8/22/2017 5:21:00 PM | Football
By Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Fred Glass didn't wish to totally eclipse the media's ability to see and appreciate the South End Zone Project construction site Monday.
So the Indiana athletic director shifted the scheduled media tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. – perfect timing, it turned out, fitting nicely between Monday's solar eclipse and an evening rain shower.
Glass therefore got to shine a proper light on another disc of sorts, what he refers to as a "Circle of Excellence" dedicated to the development, well-being and success of IU student-athletes.
The $53 million, two-story, nearly 100,000-square-foot project that will close up the south end of Memorial Stadium completes the "Circle" and will house The Excellence Academy – itself comprising several components.
"For us, The Excellence Academy is the final piece," Glass told the assembled media Monday, "to focus on what we think (are) three things we should be doing for our student athletes – developing them academically, developing them athletically and developing them personally.
"You guys are often in the Jay and Nancy Wilkinson Performance Center (in the North End Zone Complex) which, until recently at least, was the largest strength and conditioning center in the country. That really epitomizes our commitment to athletic training.
"The D. Ames Shuel Academic Center (housed underneath Memorial Stadium's east stands), which is about 10 times as big as its predecessor in Assembly Hall, has all the bells and whistles and technology for academic development. Then the Excellence Academy is dedicated to the personal development of our student athletes."
Combine all that with the Hoosier Room, with serves as the training table dining hall for athletics currently underneath the west stands (for which there are also pending plans) and IU athletes can have virtually all their needs served within the soon-to-be-circular confines of Memorial Stadium.
"They can walk around and go from athletic needs to academic needs to personal needs here," Glass said. "All located here (and) proximate to each other."
Hard hats donned, Glass led the media on a tour to give them a closer look at the ongoing South End Zone Project construction, with much of the second-story superstructure already erected. It is on schedule for completion by next summer.
Some of the Excellence Academy elements enclosdd there will include:
The Hancock Hiltunen Caito Center for Leadership and Life Skills
"It'll be some of the only dedicated space in all of collegiate athletics to leadership and life skills," Glass said. "(Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services) Mattie White is really excited about the programming opportunities that creates.
"With that will be a career counseling center, full-time staffed, to complement the career counseling available on campus but really catered to employers who are increasingly seeing the value of hiring former student-athletes. I think it'll be a great amenity to help our kids transition from being student-athletes to being employed in the work force."
"Also within the Hancock Hiltunen Caito Center will be the Glass Family Student-Athlete Leadership Suite (home of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee). With the collective voice of the student-athlete being increasingly important during this reform era, it'll be the first time for SAAC to have a place to be where their leadership can have offices and should really help establish them as an important part of our governance structure."
The Dr. Lawrence D Rink Center for Medicine and Technology
It will house the rehabilitation center, giving athletes rehabilitating injuries their own space in which to do so, rather than having them doing so alongside healthy compatriots in the current North End Zone weight room.
"It'll have three key components, the largest of which will be the rehabilitation center," Glass said. "It will also include the Center for Elite Athlete Development, a bridge between the leadership and life skills area and the rehabilitation center. This is going to be like Star Wars, super-advanced technology – 3D imagery and other diagnostics, all kinds of stuff … biometrics, where they hook them up with sensors that can monitor their heart-rates and so forth.
"The Irsay Wellness Clinic (will also be in the Rink Clinic). For the first time, we'll be able to locate all of our health and wellness professionals -- doctors, athletic trainers, psychologists, nutritionists – a one-stop shop for our kids to have all their medical and health needs taken care of with all the necessary personnel and with state-of-the-art equipment. It's not research to make better athletes in 10 or 20 years. It's applying science right now to improve our kids' performance."
The Tobias Nutrition Center. This will take up much of the South End Zone Project's second floor and eventually will house the athletic training table facility by the summer of 2019. It also includes an outdoor terrace, facing the field, designed to essentially replace the "Knothole Park" that used to provide kids a place to play on game days beyond the south end zone.
"The second floor (will feature) the Tobias Nutrition Center," Glass said. "It'll be like if you've been in a club at Lucas Oil Stadium (in Indianapolis). It'll be very flexible. You can set it up for multiple events.
"(There) will be an uncovered terrace, totally accessible through elevators and stairwells and that will be a really family-friendly, kid-zone feel. Families in the stands will be able to see their kids playing. I think it'll be a great amenity and keep the spirit of 'Knothole Park' alive. We think it'll be the most family-friendly stadium in the Big Ten, not only with that (terrace) but with the way we price youth tickets."
Miller Plaza
Facing southward, this outdoor space will serve as the outdoor entrance to the South End Zone Complex. It will feature twin towers, along the lines of those flanking the North End Zone entrance, and provide what Glass called "a proper gateway to the athletic campus" facing the main academic campus.
"This going to provide a real cool new front door to the football stadium and athletics campus," Glass said. "Very collegial. Lot of green space, crisscrossing sidewalks, probably some public art … a front door facing campus and really a terrific amenity."
The final interior alteration will be transferring the training table facility from the current Hoosier Room to the Tobias Center, along with the renovation and expansion of the IU football locker room facilities beneath the west stands.
That will occur by the summer of 2019.
Glass added, with a grin, "We won't be renovating the visitors' locker room."
Once the South End Zone Project is complete next summer, fans inside the stadium will be able to walk completely around it via connected concourses – just as the student-athletes will be able to walk through an entire "Circle of Excellence" inside the bowels of the stadium.
Glass sees plenty of benefits, both short-term and long-term. He already noted the North End Zone Complex's impact upon recruiting, and sees that sort of impact only enhanced and expanded once the South End Zone Project is completed.
"Even though we're also really doing all of this for our current student-athletes," Glass said, "there is no doubt that I think this will have a strong impact on recruiting.
"When you can take a family, a mom and dad and a high school coach and a kid's siblings and show them, all in one place, how we're going to take care of their son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter or nephew or niece … this will have an impact."
Glass helped establish the Excellence Academy Program shortly after his appointment as IU athletic director on Jan. 1, 2009. He feels the South End Zone Project's completion will further solidify what he feels is a star for IU amongst the intercollegiate athletics firmament.
"We believe the Excellence Academy Program, which has been in place since shortly after I got here, is one of the most innovative and comprehensive student-athlete development programs in the country," Glass said.
"You could expect me to say that. But entities such as Georgetown University and the Chronicle of Higher Education and the (Bloomington) Herald-Times … are saying the same thing. We're very excited about it."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Fred Glass didn't wish to totally eclipse the media's ability to see and appreciate the South End Zone Project construction site Monday.
So the Indiana athletic director shifted the scheduled media tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. – perfect timing, it turned out, fitting nicely between Monday's solar eclipse and an evening rain shower.
Glass therefore got to shine a proper light on another disc of sorts, what he refers to as a "Circle of Excellence" dedicated to the development, well-being and success of IU student-athletes.
The $53 million, two-story, nearly 100,000-square-foot project that will close up the south end of Memorial Stadium completes the "Circle" and will house The Excellence Academy – itself comprising several components.
"For us, The Excellence Academy is the final piece," Glass told the assembled media Monday, "to focus on what we think (are) three things we should be doing for our student athletes – developing them academically, developing them athletically and developing them personally.
"You guys are often in the Jay and Nancy Wilkinson Performance Center (in the North End Zone Complex) which, until recently at least, was the largest strength and conditioning center in the country. That really epitomizes our commitment to athletic training.
"The D. Ames Shuel Academic Center (housed underneath Memorial Stadium's east stands), which is about 10 times as big as its predecessor in Assembly Hall, has all the bells and whistles and technology for academic development. Then the Excellence Academy is dedicated to the personal development of our student athletes."
Combine all that with the Hoosier Room, with serves as the training table dining hall for athletics currently underneath the west stands (for which there are also pending plans) and IU athletes can have virtually all their needs served within the soon-to-be-circular confines of Memorial Stadium.
"They can walk around and go from athletic needs to academic needs to personal needs here," Glass said. "All located here (and) proximate to each other."
Hard hats donned, Glass led the media on a tour to give them a closer look at the ongoing South End Zone Project construction, with much of the second-story superstructure already erected. It is on schedule for completion by next summer.
Some of the Excellence Academy elements enclosdd there will include:
The Hancock Hiltunen Caito Center for Leadership and Life Skills
"It'll be some of the only dedicated space in all of collegiate athletics to leadership and life skills," Glass said. "(Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services) Mattie White is really excited about the programming opportunities that creates.
"With that will be a career counseling center, full-time staffed, to complement the career counseling available on campus but really catered to employers who are increasingly seeing the value of hiring former student-athletes. I think it'll be a great amenity to help our kids transition from being student-athletes to being employed in the work force."
"Also within the Hancock Hiltunen Caito Center will be the Glass Family Student-Athlete Leadership Suite (home of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee). With the collective voice of the student-athlete being increasingly important during this reform era, it'll be the first time for SAAC to have a place to be where their leadership can have offices and should really help establish them as an important part of our governance structure."
The Dr. Lawrence D Rink Center for Medicine and Technology
It will house the rehabilitation center, giving athletes rehabilitating injuries their own space in which to do so, rather than having them doing so alongside healthy compatriots in the current North End Zone weight room.
"It'll have three key components, the largest of which will be the rehabilitation center," Glass said. "It will also include the Center for Elite Athlete Development, a bridge between the leadership and life skills area and the rehabilitation center. This is going to be like Star Wars, super-advanced technology – 3D imagery and other diagnostics, all kinds of stuff … biometrics, where they hook them up with sensors that can monitor their heart-rates and so forth.
"The Irsay Wellness Clinic (will also be in the Rink Clinic). For the first time, we'll be able to locate all of our health and wellness professionals -- doctors, athletic trainers, psychologists, nutritionists – a one-stop shop for our kids to have all their medical and health needs taken care of with all the necessary personnel and with state-of-the-art equipment. It's not research to make better athletes in 10 or 20 years. It's applying science right now to improve our kids' performance."
The Tobias Nutrition Center. This will take up much of the South End Zone Project's second floor and eventually will house the athletic training table facility by the summer of 2019. It also includes an outdoor terrace, facing the field, designed to essentially replace the "Knothole Park" that used to provide kids a place to play on game days beyond the south end zone.
"The second floor (will feature) the Tobias Nutrition Center," Glass said. "It'll be like if you've been in a club at Lucas Oil Stadium (in Indianapolis). It'll be very flexible. You can set it up for multiple events.
"(There) will be an uncovered terrace, totally accessible through elevators and stairwells and that will be a really family-friendly, kid-zone feel. Families in the stands will be able to see their kids playing. I think it'll be a great amenity and keep the spirit of 'Knothole Park' alive. We think it'll be the most family-friendly stadium in the Big Ten, not only with that (terrace) but with the way we price youth tickets."
Miller Plaza
Facing southward, this outdoor space will serve as the outdoor entrance to the South End Zone Complex. It will feature twin towers, along the lines of those flanking the North End Zone entrance, and provide what Glass called "a proper gateway to the athletic campus" facing the main academic campus.
"This going to provide a real cool new front door to the football stadium and athletics campus," Glass said. "Very collegial. Lot of green space, crisscrossing sidewalks, probably some public art … a front door facing campus and really a terrific amenity."
The final interior alteration will be transferring the training table facility from the current Hoosier Room to the Tobias Center, along with the renovation and expansion of the IU football locker room facilities beneath the west stands.
That will occur by the summer of 2019.
Glass added, with a grin, "We won't be renovating the visitors' locker room."
Once the South End Zone Project is complete next summer, fans inside the stadium will be able to walk completely around it via connected concourses – just as the student-athletes will be able to walk through an entire "Circle of Excellence" inside the bowels of the stadium.
Glass sees plenty of benefits, both short-term and long-term. He already noted the North End Zone Complex's impact upon recruiting, and sees that sort of impact only enhanced and expanded once the South End Zone Project is completed.
"Even though we're also really doing all of this for our current student-athletes," Glass said, "there is no doubt that I think this will have a strong impact on recruiting.
"When you can take a family, a mom and dad and a high school coach and a kid's siblings and show them, all in one place, how we're going to take care of their son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter or nephew or niece … this will have an impact."
Glass helped establish the Excellence Academy Program shortly after his appointment as IU athletic director on Jan. 1, 2009. He feels the South End Zone Project's completion will further solidify what he feels is a star for IU amongst the intercollegiate athletics firmament.
"We believe the Excellence Academy Program, which has been in place since shortly after I got here, is one of the most innovative and comprehensive student-athlete development programs in the country," Glass said.
"You could expect me to say that. But entities such as Georgetown University and the Chronicle of Higher Education and the (Bloomington) Herald-Times … are saying the same thing. We're very excited about it."
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