OSU team works around dust as renovations continue
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>MIKE MUNDEN DISPATCH </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Once the $19 million renovation project is completed, the Woody Hayes Atheltic Center will offer the players and staff many amenities, including a new weight room, locker room and lounge. </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>
</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>MIKE MUNDEN DISPATCH </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>The new locker room will have room for 130 players, as well as 10 flat-screen TVs. </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>
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The lobby has neither a floor, ceiling nor walls. The new weight room and players’ lounge are nothing but steel beams and sunlight. The sound of drills and hammers reverberates across Olentangy River Road.
But the most important parts of the renovated Woody Hayes Athletic Center are done, just in time for another football season.
When the Buckeyes report for camp Aug. 6, they will be working out of their new locker room and meeting in their expansive new conference rooms.
"That was huge, the locker room and the meeting rooms (being completed). We couldn’t do it without that," coach Jim Tressel said. "We can work around the rest."
Spring practice was a mess. The renovations forced the players to use the smaller Ohio Stadium locker room, then bus back to the athletic center for practice.
They also had to meet in small, makeshift rooms in the stadium’s southeast tower.
"We called (the stadium locker room) the YMCA because it’s so small over there," quarterback Troy Smith said. "I think that’s what will make this year even sweeter, knowing that we had to go through these different changes and still have a great team."
Tressel said the renovations caused a "75 percent distraction" in the spring and estimated that by fall the distraction factor will be down to 35 percent.
The $19 million project was begun in February. Almost the entire 33,000-square foot facility is being renovated, in addition to a 52,000-square foot expansion.
What won’t be finished in time for the season include the assistant coaches’ offices, which will remain across the street in the Fawcett Center, plus the weight room will continue to use a portion of the indoor practice field. With its chain-link fence, it has been dubbed, "The Yard."
The only major inconvenience: The training room has been moved inside The Yard, as well, creating cramped quarters and warmer temperatures.
Assistant athletic director for facilities Don Patko said Tressel agreed to do without an ideal training room this fall so that the project could remain on time and budget.
Tressel’s new office is ready, and on a recent weekday he sacrificed part of his vacation to begin unpacking boxes and move in. It features mahogany and oak furniture and a large-screen television directly in front of his desk.
The meeting rooms are significantly larger and more comfortable, with conference tables and chairs. Players used to pile into their coaches’ offices for meetings and sit at small, classroom-type desks.
The locker room has 10 flat-screen TVs and can fit 130 players.
Tressel likes the fact the team has gained a second large meeting room, big enough so that the offense and defense can meet simultaneously rather than rotating through one room.
The unfinished portion of the building features a new, two-story weight room that will more than double the size of the old. Players will park in a gated lot and have a private entrance for better security.
Once inside, they could ascend a spiral staircase to a lounge featuring gaming areas and a study room. They also can take advantage of a half-basketball court and racquetball court.
The new public entryway will move from the building’s north side to the northeast corner. Its glass design will give it "a road presence" to motorists on Olentangy River Road, Patko said.
The project is scheduled for completion in February or March.
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