(08-28-2019 08:18 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Friends,
I was lucky to attend the dedication, ribbon cutting, and opening of the new facility last evening. All I can say is WOW! It was very impressive. What was a nice touch, was the women's soccer team and the seniors on the football team were in every section to talk to you about that part of the building, or their team, or themselves.
The weight room is in the Northeast corner of the building with the garage looking doors. The size alone was incredible. The second floor is where the offices are located, plus a locker room with showers, for the coaches. Also located there is what was referred to as the recruiting lounge, which is a room with couches, Eastern memorabilia, photos on the wall of past teams and players, and a refreshment area.
The front of the building is actually on what you would call the backside facing the baseball stadium and the soccer fields. That is the location of an atrium
which has a twelve foot high trophy representing the fact that Eastern has won more sports championships than any other school in the MAC. Outside, in front of the entrance is where the bricks are located, and placed in the form of a block "E".
Lastly, the whole structure was built in just under a year, and received no money from the general fund. That alone is quite the accomplishment.

This building, alone, does so much for EMU athletics.

One thing we tend to neglect or forget is that the FB coaching staff moves from the Convo to the new building.

That frees up space in the Convo.

Then coaches from Bowen can move to the Convo freeing up space at Bowen.

Likewise, FB S&C moves to the new building freeing up space at the Convo.

The increased S&C space and office space are a big +.