Fred Huff on Saluki Sports: Saluki Way levelling the playing field
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[For a guy who down through the years has served on three committees to study building a new football stadium at SIU -- and without a shovel ever having been placed in the ground -- it was quite an experience.
"It" was a two-hour tour this week of the new SIU football facility and an extensive renovation of the SIU Arena.
Whether intentionally, accidentally or coincidentally, the bar for SIU's two major sports -- the money programs -- is in the process of being raised. And, it's more than an inch or two.
No longer will anyone involved with either of the programs be able to complain of an "unlevel playing field" when it comes to recruiting top-level athletes.
SIU's new facilities, scheduled to be completed prior to the next playing seasons, are top-notch. Actually they're better than that. They're superb. They're stupendous. Get out the book. Find an even stronger adjective. It'll fit.
Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas' "Strip" at night may still have an edge over SIU's new sports layout, but anyone with an interest in the behind-the-scenes facilities of college athletics must schedule a tour at the first opportunity.
The Arena was the first area we visited. Yes, in some respects it was still the same facility that we first marveled at when Jack Hartman's 1964-65 club dedicated it with a win over Coach Hank Iba's Oklahoma State Cowboys. Yet there already were noticeable changes. Like mid-steps between what formerly were the awkward higher-than-normal steps in every aisle.
Several rows of chair seats have been eliminated and an extension to what was known as "the concourse level" has been added for the handicapped. New entrances on both the east and west side were basically in place. New rest rooms, concession stands -- even an elevator -- were already roughed in. We learned of the increased number of chair seats, all padded, the new traffic flow for fans which will eliminate all at the court level, new scoreboards, new visuals, both high-and-low level hospitality areas and more that we can't even remember.
We eventually got to the football stadium. It simply will be a showplace.
Our primary interest was in walking through the enclosed areas on the west side which will include luxury suites, 12 if our memory is correct, an elaborate press box, rooms--not booths--for radio, tv and areas for home and visiting coaches and an area for partying.
We've been through many football stadiums down through the years. Quite a few have been larger in size. None have been any better planned. Hey, there are even rest rooms at this level as well as at ground level.
The "student side" on the east side of the field is smaller than the present stands at McAndrew. Our guide told us it was just 20 rows high compared to the 40 at McAndrew, but an extension at the southeast end of the field would partially compensate for the capacity difference.
Three sections of seating on the west side will be equipped with chair seats. Take our word for it, SIU's new football facility will be first-class.
Now for the new structure betweens the two facilities. It's already been named after Don Boydston, the athletics director who is responsible for creating SIU's broad-based program in the 1960s.
As much as the renovated SIU Arena and new football facility impressed us, the Boydston addition is what will separate the Saluki program from most others.
It includes huge offices for football and basketball coaches, meeting rooms of all sizes, including a 100-plus auditorium for football team meetings, lockerrooms for all, equipment rooms, training rooms, tv screens galore, ala the popular eateries all over Carbondale.
The only thing possibly nicer than basketball head coach Chris Lowery's office with a campus view was football head coach Dale Lennon's office view on the southeast corner overlooking the new stadium and practice fields.
The offensive line coach's office is large enough for a seven-on-seven drill.
The point is . . . SIU athletics has now levelled the field and all involved should be proud of themselves from AD Mario Moccia on down.