Long term project.

[Deeringfish]

I wish that someone like a student news organization or it could be the athletic dept. or even just an ambitious student would do a video walk through of the current football facility. What does it look like where the guys practice now? have meetings now? lift weights now? etc. So that in 16 months or what ever it is going to be, we could have a comparison walkthrough.
I feel like the new facility is really going to be a game changer recruiting wise. The current facilities can't be too bad we are a competitive team and all but I bet the upgrade will be significant and I'd love to be able to experience that in some way.

 

[NJCat]

The current facilities can't be too bad we are a competitive team and all but I bet the upgrade will be significant and I'd love to be able to experience that in some way.

According to the talking heads on BTN, the current facilities are by far the worst in the Big 10. Said so during the bus tour when in Evanston last August.

 

[Deeringfish]

According to the talking heads on BTN, the current facilities are by far the worst in the Big 10. Said so during the bus tour when in Evanston last August.

Then all the more interesting if they do a comparison before and after.

I have always assumed that NU's facilities were comparable to the better MAC facilities. We have to be competitive at some level, No?

 

[NJCat]

Then all the more interesting if they do a comparison before and after.

I have always assumed that NU's facilities were comparable to the better MAC facilities. We have to be competitive at some level, No?

I agree, they must be like MAC standards. Amazing NU can compete in the Big 10 with crap facilities.

 

[Alvious]

I've seen one MAC team's football facility (NIU) and I have a hard time imagining that theirs is not significantly better than ours. We desperately needed this new building.

 

[chicagocatfan24]

I've been to Miami of OH and their basketball stadium is pretty awesome, it blew the old WRA out of the water

 

[pawildcat]

I agree, they must be like MAC standards. Amazing NU can compete in the Big 10 with crap facilities.

They might have facilities that don't compare with Ohio State or Michigan, but I imagine there are a lot of guys out there who would love to train at crap facilities like Northwestern's.

 

[NJCat]

They might have facilities that don't compare with Ohio State or Michigan, but I imagine there are a lot of guys out there who would love to train at crap facilities like Northwestern's.

I doubt NU would be spending >$400M to upgrade facilities if there wasn't a competitive issue at the Power 5 conference level.

 

[Catreporter]

NIU had terrible football facilities for years, but they built a new indoor complex a few years ago. I remember Minnesota building the first indoor practice facility in the Big Ten in 1984 (called the Taj MaHoltz) which didn't keep Lou from bolting to Notre Dame the next year. (Arnie Weber said at the time "We refuse to get in an arms race") The 1995 Rose Bowl team practiced outdoors in the snow for a couple days before going to Calfornia for TWO weeks prior to the game. Trienens was built right after that but it is very Spartan. New locker room at the north end of Ryan Field, a huge improvement over the quaint old one under the North tower, was also built with the renovation of Dyche after that year. Nothing much has been done since then while just about everyone else in the BIG has been upgrading. I think I read where Minny is now building a new facility so the whole "arms race" has come full circle!

 

[Hungry Jack]

Weber eventually got around to paying some attention to football, but he had much bigger fish to fry at Northwestern when he was hired to basically raise $$ to restore an aging campus and upgrade departments and research.

 

[Catreporter]

Weber eventually got around to paying some attention to football, but he had much bigger fish to fry at Northwestern when he was hired to basically raise $$ to restore an aging campus and upgrade departments and research.

Weber saved football at Northwestern by hiring Gary Barnett and the renovation of Dyche was announced early in the 1995 season before things really took off so credit is due.

 

[Gladeskat]

I think what facilities we have are more than good enough functionally to compete. I look at our facilities and can't believe how much nicer they are now then when I was at NU. They're just smaller than other schools and don't enable the entire team to work out, for example, in the weight room at once. The indoor practice field is not a full 120 yards long, either. Our facilities have been cobbled together piecemeal.

The new facilities will tie everything together in an attractive, convenient package right on main campus. That will be huge for recruiting and for the convenience of the players. Who needs waterfalls in the locker room when you have a Great Lake a stone's throw away.

 

[Deeringfish]

I think what facilities we have are more than good enough functionally to compete. I look at our facilities and can't believe how much nicer they are now then when I was at NU. They're just smaller than other schools and don't enable the entire team to work out, for example, in the weight room at once. The indoor practice field is not a full 120 yards long, either. Our facilities have been cobbled together piecemeal.

The new facilities will tie everything together in an attractive, convenient package right on main campus. That will be huge for recruiting and for the convenience of the players. Who needs waterfalls in the locker room when you have a Great Lake a stone's throw away.

This is the thing.
"Who needs waterfalls in the locker room when you have a Great Lake a stone's throw away."
I wonder if any indoor facility can compare.

 

[lunker35]

Having been to close to a ton of D1 schools I can tell you our facilities are not awful. We are competitive enough, but the new ones will really set us apart. I have seen countless schools with worse facilities.