Herald Journal Wrote:?Needed for decades?
By Megan M. Roe

Ground to be broken on USU?s new athletic facility Friday

Ground will be broken Friday for a 51,000-square-foot athletic facility that is expected to bring Utah State University ?up to speed? with its competitors in the Western Athletic Conference.

The two-level building is a much-needed improvement from the current 10,000-square-foot locker room facility last altered in 1969, and will boost recruiting and enhance athlete rehabilitation, according to Dale Mildenberger, associate athletic director and head athletic trainer at USU.

?These upgrades have been needed for decades. We?ve been behind the curb facility-wise in this area,? Mildenberger said. ?The quality of life of the athlete will be improved.?

The $10.5 million building will be constructed at the north end zone of USU?s Romney Stadium and is the second part in a four-phase project to improve the stadium. It will include home and visitor locker rooms, a sports medicine area with state-of-the-art rehabilitation equipment, a large equipment room, a game-viewing box and a public exhibit area.

Currently, Mildenberger is working in a space of just under 1,000 square feet in order to care for all of USU?s athletes. There is only one office for he and 13 other workers.

?We have a lot of laptops because I have more laps than desks,? Mildenberger said.

With no room to rehabilitate athletes on campus, Mildenberger said he has had to send them to various facilities in the valley to receive treatment.

?We take care of our athletes here on par with anywhere in America,? Mildenberger said, ?but we have to do it in creative ways ? in off-campus areas.?

The new sports medicine area on the first level of the building will be 11,000 square feet and will have offices or work spaces for all of Mildenberger?s employees and interns. In the Western Athletic Conference the average size of a sports medicine complex is 10,700 square feet, Mildenberger said.

?That fact that it?s so much larger than we have now only indicates how far behind we were,? Mildenberger said. ?I guess I would have to say part of my excitement is simply the space necessary to conduct a Division 1 program.?

All USU athletes will be treated at the complex. It will boast machines and weights for rehabilitation, as well as a hydrotherapy pool with a floor that moves like a treadmill and raises up and down to allow for wheelchair access, according to the project?s architect, Derek Payne.

Along with new football locker rooms on the first floor, there will also be a large room where all equipment will be issued, stored and repaired and uniforms will be laundered, Payne said. There will also be a lobby and reception area that may include a display on Aggie athletics for the public to view.

Coaches? offices and team meeting areas will be on the second floor, as well as a game-viewing area with large windows facing the football field.

?In essence it is kind of a luxury box,? Payne said. ?We?re designing some good seats.?

Head football coach Brent Guy said he believes the new facility has attracted and will help recruit athletes to the university.

?It impresses kids and their families when they see that you are going to make that type of financial commitment to a facility,? Guy said. ?It?s already helped tremendously.?

Payne said the sports medicine and equipment portion will be finished by spring practice and the locker room areas are expected to be done before the 2007 football season. The existing locker rooms will be torn down after the 2006 football season.

???

E-mail:

[email protected]

So there you go.

USU "I dressed in those selfsame locker rooms a looooooooong time ago" 78

USU78 Wrote:

Herald Journal Wrote:?Needed for decades?
By Megan M. Roe

Ground to be broken on USU?s new athletic facility Friday

Ground will be broken Friday for a 51,000-square-foot athletic facility that is expected to bring Utah State University ?up to speed? with its competitors in the Western Athletic Conference.

The two-level building is a much-needed improvement from the current 10,000-square-foot locker room facility last altered in 1969, and will boost recruiting and enhance athlete rehabilitation, according to Dale Mildenberger, associate athletic director and head athletic trainer at USU.

?These upgrades have been needed for decades. We?ve been behind the curb facility-wise in this area,? Mildenberger said. ?The quality of life of the athlete will be improved.?

The $10.5 million building will be constructed at the north end zone of USU?s Romney Stadium and is the second part in a four-phase project to improve the stadium. It will include home and visitor locker rooms, a sports medicine area with state-of-the-art rehabilitation equipment, a large equipment room, a game-viewing box and a public exhibit area.

Currently, Mildenberger is working in a space of just under 1,000 square feet in order to care for all of USU?s athletes. There is only one office for he and 13 other workers.

?We have a lot of laptops because I have more laps than desks,? Mildenberger said.

With no room to rehabilitate athletes on campus, Mildenberger said he has had to send them to various facilities in the valley to receive treatment.

?We take care of our athletes here on par with anywhere in America,? Mildenberger said, ?but we have to do it in creative ways ? in off-campus areas.?

The new sports medicine area on the first level of the building will be 11,000 square feet and will have offices or work spaces for all of Mildenberger?s employees and interns. In the Western Athletic Conference the average size of a sports medicine complex is 10,700 square feet, Mildenberger said.

?That fact that it?s so much larger than we have now only indicates how far behind we were,? Mildenberger said. ?I guess I would have to say part of my excitement is simply the space necessary to conduct a Division 1 program.?

All USU athletes will be treated at the complex. It will boast machines and weights for rehabilitation, as well as a hydrotherapy pool with a floor that moves like a treadmill and raises up and down to allow for wheelchair access, according to the project?s architect, Derek Payne.

Along with new football locker rooms on the first floor, there will also be a large room where all equipment will be issued, stored and repaired and uniforms will be laundered, Payne said. There will also be a lobby and reception area that may include a display on Aggie athletics for the public to view.

Coaches? offices and team meeting areas will be on the second floor, as well as a game-viewing area with large windows facing the football field.

?In essence it is kind of a luxury box,? Payne said. ?We?re designing some good seats.?

Head football coach Brent Guy said he believes the new facility has attracted and will help recruit athletes to the university.

?It impresses kids and their families when they see that you are going to make that type of financial commitment to a facility,? Guy said. ?It?s already helped tremendously.?

Payne said the sports medicine and equipment portion will be finished by spring practice and the locker room areas are expected to be done before the 2007 football season. The existing locker rooms will be torn down after the 2006 football season.

???

E-mail:

[email protected]

So there you go.

USU "I dressed in those selfsame locker rooms a looooooooong time ago" 78

When I read that article, it seems like the project still is full of Question marks. Is it just me, or does it read that way to everyone else also? ;-)

...I read this article a few times and came away with the same 40 questions each time.

After I posted the article and saw all the question marks, I considered going into "edit" mode and taking them all out.

But it was too funny as was, so I left it.

While the Webmonkey has some 'splainin to do on why the offending marks were generated in the copy when they weren't there in the original, I've got to doff my beaniecap to whoever created this on purpose, if it was created on purpose.

Here's a link to a .pdf brochure on the facility: http://www.trueaggies.com/Articles/2006-...0small.pdf

I glad to see the improvements that all three new WAC schools are embarking on.

Keep up the good work.

that article is good, but I wouldn't say it's ground-breaking. Let's just say it's good, if not quirky, and leave it at that.

If any Idaho dude is reading this, is there any drawings of the new
expanded Kibbie dome done yet, if so, please show us whats coming.