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PURDUE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEDecember 18, 2015Morgan BurkeWest Lafayette, Indiana MORGAN BURKE: We actually initiated a design competition last year. Started homecoming. We had six of the best sports architecture firms in the country come in and whittled them down to what we think was a very good selection in a company called Populous. The charge was to help us understand where our deficiencies were. So they looked at both the training complex, which is really made up of the Mollenkopf as well as the Brees Academic Center and Bimel Outdoor Practice Complex. They also looked at the stadium. The good news is the things that our predecessors had done to build the Mollenkopf, things that we have done to make sure the field surface had been upgraded, the outdoor practice complex, the Bimel Complex that came in as part the Mackey Complex were state-of-the-art. The problem is the auxiliary space and the rest of the performance complex are really out of date and very difficult to renovate where they exist. The weight room, when it was built in 1989, so we're 26 years ago, it was 10,000 square feet. It was thought to be just great. We can't train the entire football team at one time. What does that mean? You're queueing people up. And, again, you're taking more time that can be used for classroom studies and the like. It's interesting. As we benchmarked other schools, Michigan State and others, that's a sequence that others have followed. It makes sense. As the product on the field gets better, the interest in what your venue and what your venue has to offer will be more varied and more robust. So right now the emphasis needs to be on the performance complex. The reality is first impressions can be very, very important. But it's not just the look as much as it is trying to make sure all that space is tied together in a first-class manner. The building is really a fairly simple but very elegant structure. It will be a beautiful way for people as they approach the campus from the north to the south coming down Northwestern Avenue, it will have a striking look to it. It will be built on the north end of the Mollenkopf. And on the lower level, which will be built down on the hillside that is between the Mollenkopf Athletic Center and the Bimel Practice Complex, to me that's where the kids begin their training. They go downstairs. There's a locker room where the coach can address in a circular manner everybody at the same time. The sports medicine facility, where they get taped, the hydrotherapy they'll use after practice, is right adjacent. They go across the hallway, the equipment room is right there. Leave the sports medicine center, you go into this 20,000 square foot weight, strength and conditioning space. Both from the strength and conditioning space as well as the locker room you can enter right into the Mollenkopf. You go up a small ramp from this lower level, take you to the outdoor practice complex. On ground level, if you will, we'll have a very welcoming atrium. There will also be a space for our players to meet as a group when they do have some downtime. Building the chemistry, building the relationships for kids might come from different states together is important. So when they have some downtime where they can interface, having a space large enough to accommodate all of them is important. The most important part of that floor will be instructional space. It will be laid out in a way that you can bring the entire group together or break them down into their various position groups. But it's all right there and it will be set up from a technology standpoint where we have everything we need and we can move very, very quickly. The upstairs is a simply well-laid-out office space, very efficient. Again, when the Mollenkopf was built in 1989, the video and some of the other things you do today just didn't exist. So we'll lay it out in a manner that makes sense. I think it will be very tasteful, it will be very functional. It will have a little 'wow' to it, as it should. But I think we did that in Mackey. I think most people realize we found the right balance. This project will kick off, get a shovel in the ground in about May of '16. It's about a 15-month cycle. Our hope is to get it done by August of '17. Then we'll begin looking over the horizon at the other projects. We need the technology piece, the huge video board on the north end, new sound system is desperately needed, lights are needed, a ribbon board around the perimeter of the stadium. Those things can be done and maybe thought of as something to follow once we get the performance complex done. But there are other phases, things you would do to pavilion, things you would do to the south end zone that are striking but will take a little bit of time. Again, we want to put them in the right possible sequence. There's six different facets that are necessary to move this football program forward: the right staff, effective recruiting, sports performance, state-of-the-art technology, great academic support, and facilities. The reality is we can put all of that stuff together, we can have a product that I think can really make a difference. Football done right, the way we want to do it with our students and our athletes are, is a way to bring thousands of people together on a given Saturday. It's one of the few things on a college campus where people from multiple generations can come together. It is kind of a leader, if you will, in terms of bringing our alums and fans back. You've got to make sure you recruit the right people, you develop them as quickly as they can, you do that, the things that you want to do in the stadium will begin to happen. People will see the product improving and that will generate the excitement and support necessary to carry the other pieces that are part of this multi-year plan into Ross-Ade Stadium. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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