Blue White Illustrated

Northwestern may not be the 8rst pro- gram that comes to mind when one thinks about Big Ten football. But the Wildcats have just opened a football training facil- ity that will be the envy of the league, if not the country. Ryan Fieldhouse, which played host to its 8rst practices this spring, features an elegant domed roof, high-de8nition video boards and im- mense glass walls with panoramic views of Lake Michigan. It's all part of a $260 million upgrade project that promises to transform Wildcat athletics. Penn State doesn't face Northwestern every year in football, as the two schools reside in opposite divisions. But the Wildcats' new facilities do give pause, as they are one of the clearest illustrations yet of a point that James Franklin has been emphasizing since he arrived in University Park in 2014: The Nittany Lions are no longer state-of-the-art when it comes to their football infra- structure. That may have been true in the 1980s and '90s when Holuba Hall was new and relatively few programs had indoor 8elds. But decades have passed since Holuba and the nearby Lasch Building were constructed, and in the interim, many programs have in- vested millions in their facilities. Since Franklin's arrival, the Lions have made some improvements to the locker room, meeting rooms and lobby of the Lasch Building. But much more work re- mains to be done, Franklin said at a Coaches Caravan stop May 9 in New York. "I think we've done some pretty signi8cant studies, and when it comes to football-speci8c spending on facilities and those types of things, we're way be- hind," he said. "We're probably 13th out of 14 in the Big Ten, which would proba- bly surprise you. We're probably ahead of Rutgers, and that's it when you talk about facilities over the last eight years." Franklin said that for about a decade, the program didn't keep pace with other schools. "We weren't really doing the things that we need to do year-in and year-out," he said, "so we're trying to play catch-up. We have parts of our fa- cility where the carpet hasn't been changed in 20 years. So the hard part is, we're trying to play catch-up for a 10- year period of time where we didn't re- ally do a whole lot." The need for change has become more urgent, he said, because of the invest- ments that other programs have been making in their facilities in recent years. Last year, for example, Clemson opened its $55 million, HOK-designed football headquarters, while Oklahoma moved into a 32,500-square-foot strength and F O O T B A L L Franklin emphasizes need to invest in facilities | The Penn State-Pitt rivalry appears headed for another lengthy hiatus when the current four-game series ends following the 2019 meeting at Beaver Stadium. Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke had said in April that the longtime in- trastate rivals had reached an agree- ment for a four-game series beginning in 2026. However, she added that Penn State hadn't signed the agreement and that Pitt wasn't able to wait much longer. "We want to play Penn State," she told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "but if they don't, we obviously will switch gears and bring in an opponent you guys will want to see." Looks like the Panthers will be switching gears. When asked during the Coaches Caravan in May about the status of the negotiations, Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said there was nothing in the works. "We've had conversations," Barbour said. "I think at this point, we've both agreed that based on Big Ten and ACC scheduling principles – and it's a complicated puzzle nowadays – that we're probably not going to do any- thing." –M.H. PSU, Pitt unable to agree on new series HOME, SWEET HOME Penn State showed off renderings of a remodeled Beaver Stadium when it unveiled its facilities master plan last March. Image courtesy of Penn State Athletics

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