Blue White Illustrated

December 2015

Penn State Sports Magazine

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Changes are coming to Penn State ath- letics. But the nature of those changes, the way in which they take shape and when they occur all remain to be seen, athletic director Sandy Barbour said during a se- ries of recent town hall meetings with Intercollegiate Athletics sta5, Penn State students, faculty and the public. There were three meetings in October and November, during which Barbour discussed at length Penn State's facilities master plan, which is currently being formulated. The plan will help address the biggest needs for each of the depart- ment's 31 teams and guide its priorities for the next 4ve years and beyond. At the forefront of the conversation is the status of Beaver Stadium. Barbour has said that the Nittany Lion football team's 55-year-old home needs sub- stantial renovations in order to improve the fan experience. Because of the high cost of those improvements, which in- clude upgrades to the elevators, bath- rooms, concessions areas and concours- es, the university is also weighing whether an entirely new stadium would better serve the program's long-term needs. Speculation about Beaver Stadium's potential replacement has raised eye- brows and made headlines in recent months, but Barbour said university of- 4cials believe they can meet their goals without having to rebuild from scratch. "My desire because of the history and tradition of Beaver Stadium is to reno- vate," she said. "But we have to test both. We absolutely have to test both." Head football coach James Franklin wasn't part of the town hall meetings, but he was asked recently about Penn State's facilities, saying he was satis4ed with the work that is already under way at the Lasch Building. Penn State's foot- ball headquarters are receiving a $12 million faceli7 aimed at modernizing their appearance and upgrading the locker room and team meeting areas, among other improvements. Franklin added that there's been some talk of building another on-campus in- door facility to complement Holuba Hall. He said Holuba is used so heavily, particularly in the winter months, that Penn State has had di6culty keeping it in top condition. "Our indoor facility, once the weather breaks, is packed from 6 in the morning until 12 o'clock at night," he said. The continual use by a variety of varsity teams "creates wear-and-tear issues and also makes it di6cult for us to do the necessary upkeep and things that need to happen on it because it's used basically 20 hours a day. So those are some of the things that are in the discussion." Penn State is working with Populous, a Kansas City-based architecture 4rm, to formulate its facilities master plan. The plan is expected to be completed by July 2016. The overall master plan encompasses more than just facilities, and during a question-and-answer session, Barbour addressed a variety of other challenges facing the department. Chief among them is the question of how rising costs could a5ect the viabili- ty of a 31-team, self-sustaining athletic department. Barbour acknowledged that there's been an ongoing conversation about maintaining programs. Travel and tuition costs are steadily rising, and the athletic department has new 4scal re- sponsibilities, such as the $1.75 million cost-of-attendance mandate from the NCAA, as well as $750,000 allotted to operate the new nutritional "fueling sta- tions," which are located in the school's athletic facilities and provide athletes with meals and snacks. Given the range of expenses, both old and new, Barbour said self-supporting athletic depart- ments are continuing to feel the squeeze. "There's pressure to reduce costs within the department, and that's really di6cult to do and maintain your com- petitiveness," she said. Barbour said that when she was of- fered the Penn State job, she discussed the preservation of Olympic sports with university president Eric Barron. "Neither he nor I have any interest in reducing the opportunities for students and student-athletes to compete and have this world-class experience that we're talking about," she said. "So we're going to have to figure out how to re- source it." – NATE BAUER ADMINISTRATION Barbour on stadium options: 'We have to test both' OPEN MEETING Barbour discussed the athletics mas- ter plan at a series of town hall meet- ings in October and November. One of the main topics of conversation was the future of Beaver Stadium. Photo by Christie Clancy

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