Northwestern Leading the Nation in the Facilities Arm Race?
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
And 1 time every 2 years their stadium turns into Kinnick East! Small fan base for a small school. Notre Dame Junior.
It is for sure a crappy stadium and last time I was there the sound system sounded like something that was marked down at Best Buy. been there and is at bottom of any stadium I have been at. Even ISU better than Northwestern's.
I get your point, but do they really need to? Is that their objective? Chicagoland alone produces enough talent for them to be competitive every season. With smart talented players, they could potentially compete for a BigTen title every four to five years.
Also, it may be branding. "Come to Northwestern. Expect the best."
The school that should really be worried is Illinois. I know that they just remodeled their stadium, but unless I missed something, the training facilities pale in comparison.
Good for Northwestern. It still doesn't change the fact its new practice facility will have more "fans" in attendance than its football stadium. 
Nice room with a view. Nothing more. If you are in the weight room for the view you are in the weight room for the wrong reason.
ISU's stadium is MUCH better than Northwestern's. They really need to do something.
Your are correct, their football stadium is awful and seldom do try fill it with their own fans.
OK. Boystown, Chicago isn't very far from this glorious facility. It is a little south. Trivia question, name two of the nation's most notorious serial killers that are from this area. And what bar did they frequent? Free premium membership from Kakert (I'll pay him) if you get it correct. NW isn't ever going to be a factor. No fan base. Just another example of BT TV money excesses.
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Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy were known to frequent L&L Tavern near the Boystown area in Chicago.
Can facilities build a program? Ask Penn St. Ask L'l Deb. As a prerequisite to join the Big Ten, they both were required to build new basketball facilities. They both are two of the worst basketball programs in Division 1 history. So how have each of these great basketball programs done with new facilities? Yawn. NW with a new FB house is not something to worry about. Excess of the Big dollars. Fitz is a damn good coach. Seeing lake effect snow rolling in in October should be fun. Hope they all gather together in the middle of practice, then decide to go down to Boys Town.
HAHAHAHA YEAH SURE THING!
QUOTE="Franisdaman, post: 5429444, member: 64945"]Move over Clemson, Oregon and Alabama ... Northwestern's ridiculous new practice facility is on another level
Pete Thamel
Yahoo SportsMay 23, 2018, 5:08 PM
Some excerpts:
...The new $270 million athletic facility, Ryan Fieldhouse and Walter Athletics Center, ... opens next month. The facility looks as if a rendering from “The Jetsons” dropped on the shores of Lake Michigan, with 45-foot floor-to-ceiling windows that run the expanse of the entire practice field overlooking the water.
Fitzgerald is entering his 23rd season as a player, assistant or head coach at Northwestern, all of which have been housed in a facility that would be considered mediocre in the MAC.
The fact that Northwestern, which for decades alternated between being a Big Ten punch line and punching bag, now leads the college football facility race can be considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of college athletics. When the Wildcats move in next month, they’ll have the nicest athletic facility in all of college football. The comparisons are a bit askew, as five other varsity teams will also occupy the 425,000 square feet of the entire athletic center. It will serve as the hub for the department’s administration, medical care and academic services and also host intramurals and campus events.
But I’ve been in virtually every football building of note in America, witnessing all the Ferrari leather, barber chairs and nap rooms from Clemson to Eugene to Tuscaloosa. In terms of size, spectacle and spending, Northwestern has sprinted past the biggest names in the facilities arms race.
Phil Knight should stare with envy. Nick Saban should hop his private jet to take notes. Dabo Swinney should start another round of fundraising, as Clemson’s ode to extravagance – replete with a slide, mini-golf course and bowling lanes – cost more than $200 million less. Oregon’s football palace – considered the gold standard until Northwestern – cost just $86 million, or $186 million below Northwestern’s multi-sport palace. The only thing comparable in the football world is the billion-dollar facility that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones built in Frisco, Texas. And while they’re difficult to compare, Northwestern’s beach-front location trumps the aesthetics of Jones’ landlocked strip malls....
In the collegiate space, Northwestern’s facility makes the University of Texas look three decades behind, sends taunting echoes to the facilities at Notre Dame and out-Hollywoods both USC and UCLA.
The opening of Ryan Fieldhouse, though, comes at a particularly captivating time for Fitzgerald’s program. Northwestern football is coming off a 10-win season, and Northwestern’s 27 wins the past three years rank as the best stretch in school history. It also puts them No. 15 overall in college football in wins over that time, a sign of perhaps a new standard now that the setting is catching up with the results.
Northwestern returns star quarterback and all-time win leader Clayton Thorson, who projects to be ready for the season coming off ACL rehab. They also host Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Wisconsin this season for what school officials are billing as the best home schedule in school history. “We’ve been a winner,” Fitzgerald says during the tour. “Now this is a commitment to becoming a championship contender.”
Fitzgerald had say in every phase of designing the building and boasts about the choreographed flow from locker room to meeting rooms to the practice field. “How can we squeeze every second out of the 20 hours [players are allowed to dedicate to football]?” he says of the building philosophy. “That was the whole process behind it.”
There are curtains to diminish glare by remote control, video cameras to tape practice run by joystick from inside the building and a massive room dedicated to virtual reality screens for the Wildcat quarterbacks. There are 188 seats in the team meeting room (up from 120), 31 coaching lockers (up from 14) and an extra set of lockers for the program’s NFL alumni who can train there. There’s a barber chair, a hot/cold tub that seats 40 and a nutrition hub that includes a kitchen to teach players to cook once they move off campus.
The full story: https://sports.yahoo.com/move-clems...-unparalleled-college-football-220858185.html
CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW
The soon to be completed Northwestern weight room in the new Walter Athletic Center on the shores of Lake Michigan
[/QUOTE]
QUOTE="Franisdaman, post: 5429444, member: 64945"]Move over Clemson, Oregon and Alabama ... Northwestern's ridiculous new practice facility is on another level
Pete Thamel
Yahoo SportsMay 23, 2018, 5:08 PM
Some excerpts:
...The new $270 million athletic facility, Ryan Fieldhouse and Walter Athletics Center, ... opens next month. The facility looks as if a rendering from “The Jetsons” dropped on the shores of Lake Michigan, with 45-foot floor-to-ceiling windows that run the expanse of the entire practice field overlooking the water.
Fitzgerald is entering his 23rd season as a player, assistant or head coach at Northwestern, all of which have been housed in a facility that would be considered mediocre in the MAC.
The fact that Northwestern, which for decades alternated between being a Big Ten punch line and punching bag, now leads the college football facility race can be considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of college athletics. When the Wildcats move in next month, they’ll have the nicest athletic facility in all of college football. The comparisons are a bit askew, as five other varsity teams will also occupy the 425,000 square feet of the entire athletic center. It will serve as the hub for the department’s administration, medical care and academic services and also host intramurals and campus events.
But I’ve been in virtually every football building of note in America, witnessing all the Ferrari leather, barber chairs and nap rooms from Clemson to Eugene to Tuscaloosa. In terms of size, spectacle and spending, Northwestern has sprinted past the biggest names in the facilities arms race.
Phil Knight should stare with envy. Nick Saban should hop his private jet to take notes. Dabo Swinney should start another round of fundraising, as Clemson’s ode to extravagance – replete with a slide, mini-golf course and bowling lanes – cost more than $200 million less. Oregon’s football palace – considered the gold standard until Northwestern – cost just $86 million, or $186 million below Northwestern’s multi-sport palace. The only thing comparable in the football world is the billion-dollar facility that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones built in Frisco, Texas. And while they’re difficult to compare, Northwestern’s beach-front location trumps the aesthetics of Jones’ landlocked strip malls....
In the collegiate space, Northwestern’s facility makes the University of Texas look three decades behind, sends taunting echoes to the facilities at Notre Dame and out-Hollywoods both USC and UCLA.
The opening of Ryan Fieldhouse, though, comes at a particularly captivating time for Fitzgerald’s program. Northwestern football is coming off a 10-win season, and Northwestern’s 27 wins the past three years rank as the best stretch in school history. It also puts them No. 15 overall in college football in wins over that time, a sign of perhaps a new standard now that the setting is catching up with the results.
Northwestern returns star quarterback and all-time win leader Clayton Thorson, who projects to be ready for the season coming off ACL rehab. They also host Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Wisconsin this season for what school officials are billing as the best home schedule in school history. “We’ve been a winner,” Fitzgerald says during the tour. “Now this is a commitment to becoming a championship contender.”
Fitzgerald had say in every phase of designing the building and boasts about the choreographed flow from locker room to meeting rooms to the practice field. “How can we squeeze every second out of the 20 hours [players are allowed to dedicate to football]?” he says of the building philosophy. “That was the whole process behind it.”
There are curtains to diminish glare by remote control, video cameras to tape practice run by joystick from inside the building and a massive room dedicated to virtual reality screens for the Wildcat quarterbacks. There are 188 seats in the team meeting room (up from 120), 31 coaching lockers (up from 14) and an extra set of lockers for the program’s NFL alumni who can train there. There’s a barber chair, a hot/cold tub that seats 40 and a nutrition hub that includes a kitchen to teach players to cook once they move off campus.
The full story: https://sports.yahoo.com/move-clems...-unparalleled-college-football-220858185.html
CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW
The soon to be completed Northwestern weight room in the new Walter Athletic Center on the shores of Lake Michigan
A
anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba
Guest
Northwestern's stadium is the worst major college facility I'm aware of. It has a horrible atmosphere on game day, the physical look of the place is, well, nonexistent, and most of the time it's half full....20,000 people. All of which has left me to marvel at how NW has been so competitive the last 15-20 years. I can't imagine recruits choosing to play football in that facility regardless of the value of the degree, the beauty of the other facilities, or anything else. But they do.
[/QUOTE]The soon to be completed Northwestern weight room in the new Walter Athletic Center on the shores of Lake Michigan
Cool building with a view for sure. Not sure I want the kind of recruits who prefer a vacation home kinda vibe in the weight room. Once November hits, those windows will be pretty frosty.
What a downer come game day.
1. it's ONE... 5 star QB not multiple
2. There's no apostrophe in a simple plural
3. Of course Northwestern is a good school. Based on 1 and 2 above I highly doubt you graduated from there.
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...back-hunter-johnson-transferring-northwestern
Looks like they picked up a really strong transfer with their recent addition of QB Hunter Johnson. Certainly a great addition for the "Arms Race".
Looks like they picked up a really strong transfer with their recent addition of QB Hunter Johnson. Certainly a great addition for the "Arms Race".
I didn't benefit from Iowa's Writer's Workshop, but you forgot a capital, a few commas, and two periods, grammarstud.
Not even close. I didn't capitalize the "I" (a simple typo). Other than that it's informal conversational style...quite common in this type of chat forum. But as a Northwestern grad I'm sure you know that. You'd also know the Writer's Workshop is a program for creativity, story-writing and poetic endeavors... grammar is hardly its focus.
On the other hand, the random adding of an apostrophe to any word ending in an "s" is Jr High stuff (much like your football stadium. OK, a Texas Jr High to be fair). It's certainly not worthy of a Northwestern man who's thumping his chest in someone else's house. You have a nice new facility, but it ain't gonna turn you into Alabama.
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Exactly. Lake Michigan isn’t beautiful to look at 7 months out of the year. Nor is it fun to be near. Funny how none of those pics show the view in Dec/Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr. Might as well be looking out a window in Duluth, MN with a view of Lake Superior.
Uh... we are 14-14 against Wisconsin in our last 28 meetings. We have won 3 in a row against Michigan State. Pat Fitzgerald also still has a winning record against Franklin. And of course, we love playing Ioa.
We are still dOSU's bitch, and have problems finishing against Michigan so sorry about that.
They also shared a conference title in 2000 with Purdue and Michigan. We helped keep them from going to the Rose Bowl.
Also 1996. 3 in 6 years isn't bad. Time to get another one.
No it's not and your try-hard douche of a coach doesn't deserve one either. Enjoy.
"Blah blah blah, we're gonna beat Iowa blah blah blah"
Cool story bro.
It won't be long before a hurricane forms over Lake Michigan and ruins their new facility. Oh darn!
Oh yeah, back when Darnell Autry could've been elected President, but he was too young. Dumbass should've known you gotta be at least 35 AND be born in America.
[QUOTE="HawkIDrummer, post: 5442844, You'd also know the Writer's Workshop is a program for creativity, story-writing and poetic endeavors... grammar is hardly its focus."
Iowa has THREE world-class programs for writers (One of the main reasons we are a UNESCO World City of Literature) - the Writers' Workshop, the Playwrights Workshop, and the International Writing Program. I apologize, but I did receive an MFA from one of them. And I'm sorry to tell you both that we make up our own and our own characters' grammar; ie. please notice that the Writers' Workshop has an apostrophe in the title (but it is a plural apostrophe), that the Playwrights Workshop has no apostrophe of any kind, and that the IWP simply uses the word program. Perhaps a little poetry or creativity there? Sorry. Go Hawks.
Iowa has THREE world-class programs for writers (One of the main reasons we are a UNESCO World City of Literature) - the Writers' Workshop, the Playwrights Workshop, and the International Writing Program. I apologize, but I did receive an MFA from one of them. And I'm sorry to tell you both that we make up our own and our own characters' grammar; ie. please notice that the Writers' Workshop has an apostrophe in the title (but it is a plural apostrophe), that the Playwrights Workshop has no apostrophe of any kind, and that the IWP simply uses the word program. Perhaps a little poetry or creativity there? Sorry. Go Hawks.
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Always. That's like a law of physics.
