Bernheimer Architecture

Was the news of new indoor football facilities premature? Possibly. The source of last week’s news, The Juice Online, now says an announcement is not imminent. The site originally said SU would unveil the plans last week, but now reports it’ll take a “little while.”

“The hope is for ground to be broken in early spring, but there may not be any sort of major public announcement for a little while.”

The website describes a number of meetings taking place right now. Should Orange Nation be worried it won’t happen? No, because that would require assuming that it was close to a done deal in the first place. Projects of this magnitude are never so close the announcement can float weeks on end. If it’s about to be announced, that means it’s been finalized. Clearly it’s not finalized.

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Anyone familiar with the SU athletic department knows a brand new sparkling football facility was never going to be an easy task. The Melo Center got built because of a remarkable donation from one of the NBA’s most popular (and richest) stars. We have wondered aloud on The Fizz whether a successful Pro Bowlers, like Donovan McNabb or Dwight Freeney, would be interested in filling Carmelo’s role on the football side.

But to this point no player has stepped up. The original report estimated the new digs at $15-$20M. That’s a ton of cash for Syracuse, a private institution without the famous deep-pocketed donors on the sports side of things. This is not Michigan, where the AD snaps his fingers and suddenly there’s $10M to play with. So without a huge donor like a professional athlete to cut a huge check, where will that much money come from?

Any SU fan should hope the story is true. A new football complex would be a game changer for the program. Doc Gross has been rightfully criticized for a number of questionable decisions since taking the helm. But he certainly understands the power of fund raising and financing for athletic projects. If he’s able to squeeze $15-$20M from alumni (or cobble it together from donations and other sources) for a football program that won a couple of Pinstripe Bowls, and now enters into the great unknown again with a new unproven head coach, he’s earned his salary.

The new report says administrators are “jumping through a lot of hoops” to get the deal done. That sounds about right. But until those hoops are jumped through, and the money has been raised, and the wheels set in motion, Orange Nation should take a wait-and-see approach.

The football program needs new facilities. The football program wants new facilities. But whether the football team will get new facilities has always been the question. It still is.

Posted: D.A.

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But now that it’s out several questions are raised, including whether SU can win without the upgrades? Where will the money come from? How long would it take to build? What’s the the impact short-term and long-term of a new practice facility?

The first thing that raced through most fan’s minds was “where the (bleep) is Syracuse going to get $4M?” Good question. The school just received a massive donation from David Falk, but that will be going towards the new Sport Management School, not the football team. The basketball program found a donor in one of it’s most accomplished athletes. Could the football program do the same? Both Donovan McNabb and Dwight Freeney have earned plenty of dough and D-Nabb has already made substantial donations on two occasions. Freeney has yet to make a large contribution, at least publicly.

The money could also be pieced together from several smaller donations. SU’s best hope is probably to attract one of the many wealthy alums to put up the entire amount, enticed by their name on a state-of-the-art building and immortality on campus.

After years of futility during the infamous Groobers Error, Syracuse has finally righted itself with a winning season and a bowl victory. But the Orange facilities simply don’t stack up to the elite in the Big East and it’s hurting in recruiting. The Dougie has addressed the issue before and discussed how badly an upgrade is needed.

Syracuse has made the leap from terrible to respectable, but the next step can prove to be difficult. In a soft Big East it wouldn’t take a miracle to reach a BCS bowl (just ask UConn which went from D-II to Fiesta Bowl in a decade). The Huskies were helped by a brand new facility in ’07, which boosted recruiting. Marrone’s already sold the program’s stability, growth and family atmosphere to high school kids for three years. But a new facility is needed just to keep up in the arms race. UConn, Rutgers and South Florida have all opened new facilities, Pittsburgh’s are state of the art, while Louisville and Cincinnati both recently expanded their stadiums.

Syracuse football is on the rise, but for the program to be a consistent power of the conference, it needs to land an even higher quality of recruits. While SU’s classes have improved under Marrone, the next step is to reel in the 4 and 5-star recruits. New facilities would help that cause. This program can be a consistent winner, but not until they get the new digs they need.

Posted: Alex Plavin