Renovations will provide boost in recruiting

It's fairly easy for a Buffalo State student-athlete to get frustrated on game day when they're in the Houston Gym.

They pick up their gear from the first-floor laundry room to the right of the fitness center. Then, they search for their locker room, which could be on either the first or second floor of Houston Gym or in the Sports Arena. Their coach's office is inconveniently located, injured players don't know if they should be in the athletic training room or the rehab room, and trainers are running back and forth.

It's an erratic period that sums up just a portion of the typical game-day routine for a student-athlete.

The experience may change for the better once renovations, set to begin this fall, are completed.

"One of the big things that the architects wanted to do was to take a look at the day and life of the typical student-athlete and make it flow," said Buffalo State Athletic Director and head football coach Jerry Boyes.

That "flow" entails the consolidation of rooms and sections of the building that have similar functions. Upon completion, the plans call for group coaching offices and their related administration to be assigned their own core wing of the building.

"Right now, coaches' offices are scattered throughout the maze of this building, so when recruits or parents come down here we can't really guide them anywhere. We have to take them, because they can get lost," Boyes said with a laugh. "With offices in the same area, you won't have to hunt to find something."

Also on the agenda for change is combining the training room and the rehab room into one facility.

"I think it will be an internal convenience for our student-athletes and trainers that they'll be centrally located and have one large office," said Associate Athletic Director Tom Koller. "We see it as a need for it to be centrally located to where the locker rooms are and it will aid in the retention of student-athletes."

One improvement that Boyes foresees lies in game preparation for coaches and players. The renovations will give them even more meeting space for teams to meet and discuss game strategies and go over film.

"Today, the use of technology as a teaching tool is as good as it has ever been, and it continually gets better," Boyes said.  "Being able to go over practice and game film with our teams is crucial to the preparation side of athletics."

The only section of the Sports Arena that faces change is the Bengal room, which will decrease slightly in size as the academics center moves to that wing of the building. Student-athletes familiar with the Bengal room know that it's used by the athletic department for meetings, receptions and other events. All coaches use it for recruiting.

Facilities and the building's image to prospective student-athletes played a large role in the plans to renovate. The changes should assist coaches in their recruitment efforts.

"A large part of the recruiting pitch in Division III is facilities," said Assistant Athletic Director Jeff Ventura. "Division III recruiting is different from Division I. There's no scholarship money, so you're selling 100 percent the experience that the student is going to get."

Koller agreed that top-notch facilities are crucial in swaying student-athletes to join their program.

"Student-athletes come in with their parents, and they want to see progress and construction towards newer and better facilities. They want to see modern facilities," he said. "They're certainly going to see that when this Houston Gym renovation is complete."

The swimming and diving teams will be directly affected by the renovations. Neither team will have access to the pool while the building is under construction and will use a pool off-campus for practice and meets.

 "It will be living out of tents for a little while, but in the end the final product will be something the school is proud of," Ventura said.

Another major change from a recreational standpoint is the relocation of the fitness center from the first floor to the second floor. The center will also increase in size.

"From an intramural standpoint, the size increase is a major deal," Boyes said. "(The fitness center) gets an unbelievable amount of usage, and over 95 percent of that usage is our students. So our students and student-athletes are really benefiting."

Tom Gallagher can be reached by email at gallagher.record@live.com.