GTmorris1970
02-27-2006, 10:14 PM
Posted on Fri, Feb. 24, 2006
Spurrier urges new athletics facilities
‘If we want to play big-time, we have to act big-time,’ he said
By JOE PERSONStaff Writer
More than a year into his South Carolina tenure, Steve Spurrier is changing his call.
When Spurrier was hired in November 2004, the former Florida coach said USC had everything in place to be successful.
In addressing the school’s board of trustees on Thursday, Spurrier called an audible.
“I meant that,” Spurrier said. “But since then I’ve learned that we need to add to everything we have here.”
What does Spurrier want?
• A new academic center for athletes
• A new athletic training room
• Improved living quarters for players
• Upgrades to Williams-Brice Stadium
“We were talking the other day. If we had to rank our facilities in the SEC — and I say this after recruiting’s over now, so hopefully we can do something about it before the next recruiting (season) rolls around — we would be 11th out of 12 teams,” Spurrier said.
“We think ours are a little better than Vanderbilt and that’s it.”
Spurrier delivered his message about a month before first-year athletics director Eric Hyman is expected to announce his long-term facilities plan. Hyman said Spurrier called him and asked if he could join him Thursday in addressing the board, which includes some of the university’s biggest benefactors in businesswoman Darla Moore and Eddie Floyd.
Wearing a sport coat with a garnet shirt, Spurrier handed out copies of a December article from Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal that listed schools that have spent the most on athletic facilities over the past 10 years. Ohio State topped the list at $345 million.
“If we want to play big-time, we have to act big-time,” Spurrier said after the meeting. “We’re not around here complaining, but we need to get the message out that we’re behind.”
Spurrier said the Gamecocks’ weight room and meeting rooms in the year-old Crews Football Building are up to snuff. “After that,” he said, “we’re about 25 to 30 years behind.”
Shortly after USC’s board approved $750,000 in improvements to Williams-Brice Stadium — to install a third elevator and to paint the light stanchions — Spurrier told trustees the stadium did not compare with those of the Gamecocks’ SEC rivals.
“Our stadium is nice,” he said, “but it doesn’t look like Georgia’s and Florida’s and Auburn’s, and that’s who we play.”
Floyd, a Florence physician who gave $1 million for the Gamecocks’ football offices, said USC needs to upgrade the facilities for several of its teams.
“I think we’ve got a good stadium now,” Floyd said. “But there’s a lot of other facilities that are going to be necessary.”
During a seven-year stint at Texas Christian University, Hyman oversaw $30 million in facilities improvements. Reminding the board of its goal to field top-25 teams in every sport, Hyman said: “There is a price for excellence.”
How high that price tag will be depends on the extent of Hyman’s facilities plan. Hyman has said his preference is to build on the 40-acre site behind Rosewood Drive where many of the school’s Olympic sports are located.
But Hyman will wait to see what Sasaki, the design firm working on USC’s master plan, comes up with for the athletic facilities. The school will launch a capital campaign this spring in conjunction with the facilities plan.
USC President Andrew Sorensen said he is in favor of facilities upgrades so long as the athletic department remains below its $60 million bond cap.
“I’m fiscally conservative in that any additional facilities we construct we have to have the funding available,” Sorensen said.
“Whatever Eric proposes to me, he has to demonstrate that the revenues are capable of offsetting all the bonding, with interest and principal. I won’t permit going over that cap.”
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496 or jperson@thestate.com.
Spurrier urges new athletics facilities
‘If we want to play big-time, we have to act big-time,’ he said
By JOE PERSONStaff Writer
More than a year into his South Carolina tenure, Steve Spurrier is changing his call.
When Spurrier was hired in November 2004, the former Florida coach said USC had everything in place to be successful.
In addressing the school’s board of trustees on Thursday, Spurrier called an audible.
“I meant that,” Spurrier said. “But since then I’ve learned that we need to add to everything we have here.”
What does Spurrier want?
• A new academic center for athletes
• A new athletic training room
• Improved living quarters for players
• Upgrades to Williams-Brice Stadium
“We were talking the other day. If we had to rank our facilities in the SEC — and I say this after recruiting’s over now, so hopefully we can do something about it before the next recruiting (season) rolls around — we would be 11th out of 12 teams,” Spurrier said.
“We think ours are a little better than Vanderbilt and that’s it.”
Spurrier delivered his message about a month before first-year athletics director Eric Hyman is expected to announce his long-term facilities plan. Hyman said Spurrier called him and asked if he could join him Thursday in addressing the board, which includes some of the university’s biggest benefactors in businesswoman Darla Moore and Eddie Floyd.
Wearing a sport coat with a garnet shirt, Spurrier handed out copies of a December article from Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal that listed schools that have spent the most on athletic facilities over the past 10 years. Ohio State topped the list at $345 million.
“If we want to play big-time, we have to act big-time,” Spurrier said after the meeting. “We’re not around here complaining, but we need to get the message out that we’re behind.”
Spurrier said the Gamecocks’ weight room and meeting rooms in the year-old Crews Football Building are up to snuff. “After that,” he said, “we’re about 25 to 30 years behind.”
Shortly after USC’s board approved $750,000 in improvements to Williams-Brice Stadium — to install a third elevator and to paint the light stanchions — Spurrier told trustees the stadium did not compare with those of the Gamecocks’ SEC rivals.
“Our stadium is nice,” he said, “but it doesn’t look like Georgia’s and Florida’s and Auburn’s, and that’s who we play.”
Floyd, a Florence physician who gave $1 million for the Gamecocks’ football offices, said USC needs to upgrade the facilities for several of its teams.
“I think we’ve got a good stadium now,” Floyd said. “But there’s a lot of other facilities that are going to be necessary.”
During a seven-year stint at Texas Christian University, Hyman oversaw $30 million in facilities improvements. Reminding the board of its goal to field top-25 teams in every sport, Hyman said: “There is a price for excellence.”
How high that price tag will be depends on the extent of Hyman’s facilities plan. Hyman has said his preference is to build on the 40-acre site behind Rosewood Drive where many of the school’s Olympic sports are located.
But Hyman will wait to see what Sasaki, the design firm working on USC’s master plan, comes up with for the athletic facilities. The school will launch a capital campaign this spring in conjunction with the facilities plan.
USC President Andrew Sorensen said he is in favor of facilities upgrades so long as the athletic department remains below its $60 million bond cap.
“I’m fiscally conservative in that any additional facilities we construct we have to have the funding available,” Sorensen said.
“Whatever Eric proposes to me, he has to demonstrate that the revenues are capable of offsetting all the bonding, with interest and principal. I won’t permit going over that cap.”
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496 or jperson@thestate.com.