Topic: H-D: Medicine, academics and athletics meet in new Marshall complex

[biggreenarms]

HUNTINGTON -- True to the spirit of athletics, Marshall University Athletic Director Mike Hamrick credits teamwork with making possible the $30.5 million athletic complex that can be used by all of the university's athletes in some form.

Officials say there has been a consistent passing of the torch through every level of the project, from the project's conception with Hamrick and Marshall President Stephen Kopp to the fundraising VISION Campaign led by Mike D'Antoni and Chad Pennington, and now the construction of the project that is closely monitored by Hamrick and Ron May, director of facilities and planning at Marshall.

The results of the effort are taking shape, and the complex has become a topic of discussion around the water cooler and on message boards.

The facility, located along 3rd Avenue next to the Joan C. Edwards Stadium, is designed to become a one-stop-shop for today's Marshall student-athlete. It will feature a 105,000-square-foot indoor practice facility, the Marshall University Sports Medicine Translational Research Center, Buck Harless Student-Athlete Academic Center and Marshall University Sports Hall of Fame.

The project is funded through the university's VISION Campaign, which also provided the money to construct the Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex that opened last August.

Each entity of the complex is at a different stage of construction, largely for logistical reasons, May said.

The first building to break ground was the indoor practice facility in April 2013.

The steel beams that built the facility up to its 70-foot-tall peak had to be framed before construction could begin on the sports medicine and academic center because access to it would be hindered when construction on the center began, May said.

That framework was completed in December 2013, and construction on the rest of the complex began post haste.

May described the practice facility as 80 percent complete and the sports medicine and academic building as almost half done last week.

All eyes seem to be on the $24 million indoor practice facility.

Even though the most recent roller-coaster winter cost construction crews a few days of work, May said the facility remains on track to open in August.

"It will be ready to go by the time the athletes need to use it," he said.

Approximately 306,000 square feet of netting is in place in the facility, and the facility includes bleachers to seat up to 1,000 people. Interior lighting, a sound system and other utility work on the building is completed, and the focus now has turned to the installation of the 120-foot practice field and six-lane running track.

The rubberized layer of the practice field is in place, and the lower asphalt level of track was almost finished last Thursday.

The rubberized layer will be the final step for the track, and the turf for the field is expected to arrive mid-June, May said.

The track and the netting are key components for the multi-purpose nature of the practice facility, Hamrick said. With the track and a field-event area in the facility, members of the university's track and field and cross country teams can use it. The netting opens up the opportunity for the baseball and softball teams and even the golf team to use the facility during inclement weather.

By simply walking through a doorway on the northern, 3rd Avenue side of the facility, student-athletes will be be able to access the two-story brick building which will house the Marshall University Sports Medicine Translational Research Center, Buck Harless Student-Athlete Academic Center and Marshall University Sports Hall of Fame.

The entire building will cost $6.5 million to complete.

The lower level of the building will facilitate the sports medicine center, which already is roughed out to include three hydrotherapy pools.

At 22,000 square feet, the sports medicine center will include MRI and X-ray machines, and it will be a place in which Marshall University-affiliated orthopedic surgeons, doctors, physical therapists, scientists, researchers and athletic trainers can work together to diagnose student-athletes' injuries and conditions. They also will have the resources to track trends among those injuries and illnesses, giving them the capability to alter athletes' techniques and routines to prevent injury in the future.

The sports medicine level will be the last in the complex to open in June 2015.

The hall of fame will be featured in an open atrium that uses both stories of a portion of the building. Sports memorabilia from Marshall University student-athletes' careers will be featured in the area, Hamrick said. The hall of fame will be visible from 3rd Avenue, and it is expected to be completed by mid-fall, hopefully in time for an opening ceremony during football season, Hamrick said.

"The point of the hall of fame is to have a place where we can recognize the tradition of excellence of Marshall's student-athletes," Hamrick said. "That place doesn't really exist in a prominent way on campus right now, and this will provide that."

Moving up the stairwell to the second story of the building is the roughly 12,000-square-foot academic center that already is framed for study rooms, a lecture room and multiple computer labs that will hold 120 computers. It is set to open in time for Marshall's spring 2015 semester.

All in all, the complex is a handful of projects that are starting to come together, May said.

"There are a lot of pieces to that puzzle," May said. "They are all coming together, and we've nearly got a finished product."

For Hamrick, the facility represents a strong upfront investment in Marshall's future that will pay off in a big way.

"This will be such a recruiting tool for us that we anticipate the quality of the athletic program going to a whole different level," Hamrick said. "This is all private money ... It was made very clear to me that if we were going to build this facility, it was going to come from external sources. We weren't going to take away from academics. That's not what we're interested in doing. We've been very successful in making that happen."

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x271214447/Medicine-academics-and-athletics-meet-in-new-Marshall-complex

PHOTO GALLERY

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/multimedia/galleries/news/x1674328805/Gallery-Marshalls-athletic-complex?photo=1

[Collis P]

WOW !!

[goherd73]

Over 30 million for the athletic complex, 50 million for the Engineering complex and over 18 million in the downtown College of Arts building.

That's $100 million in construction going on in Huntington and Marshall. I doubt the City or University has ever seen that much activity going on at the same time.

Add to that the complete renovation of the Army Corp of Engineering Building on Fifth Ave.

Amazing and exciting time!

.

[Thunders]

Awesome project!  We have dreamed about this facility for many years now and it is finally happening. I can't wait to see it in person.  Will seem surreal.

[whf]

While all this is fine and good, the key to its success is change management.  Sometimes we look at success as being the end of things; to me, the success is in mapping and marching.  Kopp and Hamrick have been great partners in this mapping and marching.  

Now I wonder how we keep it going, getting the Huntington community more involved in investing and sharing in the reward.  

The university is growing, but the city isn't showing the same signs.  I know that with Steve Williams at the helm there is a lot more communications and less worry about how gains come versus who gets credit.

Go Herd.

[Johnnyherd]

While all this is fine and good, the key to its success is change management.  Sometimes we look at success as being the end of things; to me, the success is in mapping and marching.  Kopp and Hamrick have been great partners in this mapping and marching.

Very well put....Offering valuable degrees and training is a big part of the future competition for students ....Invest in that...

Marshall needs to keep abreast of job trends and build relationships with corporations...

[svherd]

While all this is fine and good, the key to its success is change management.  Sometimes we look at success as being the end of things; to me, the success is in mapping and marching.  Kopp and Hamrick have been great partners in this mapping and marching.  

Now I wonder how we keep it going, getting the Huntington community more involved in investing and sharing in the reward.  

The university is growing, but the city isn't showing the same signs.  I know that with Steve Williams at the helm there is a lot more communications and less worry about how gains come versus who gets credit.

I disagree. The city is getting better and population growing. We have a long way to go but Huntington is in much better shape than 10
Years ago.
Marshall needs to grow the enrollment and seek the best students. That is stagnant to a degree at this point.

[herdfan429]

While all this is fine and good, the key to its success is change management.  Sometimes we look at success as being the end of things; to me, the success is in mapping and marching.  Kopp and Hamrick have been great partners in this mapping and marching.  

Now I wonder how we keep it going, getting the Huntington community more involved in investing and sharing in the reward.  

The university is growing, but the city isn't showing the same signs.  I know that with Steve Williams at the helm there is a lot more communications and less worry about how gains come versus who gets credit.

I disagree. The city is getting better and population growing. We have a long way to go but Huntington is in much better shape than 10
Years ago.
Marshall needs to grow the enrollment and seek the best students. That is stagnant to a degree at this point.

Link to population growth?

[goherd73]

Link to population growth?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Huntington's population has grown from 49,138 to 49,177 between 2010 and 2013 and Morgantown has experienced a much larger growth, adding nearly 1,000 residents over the same three years, to 30,666 residents.

The census estimates released Wednesday show that Charleston's population has dropped from 51,400 to 50,821; Wheeling has dropped from 28,486 to 28,009; Parkersburg has dropped from 31,492 to 31,186; and Beckley has dropped a mere seven residents from 17,614 to 17,607.

West Virginia's population, as a whole, has grown from 1,852,994 to 1,854,304 residents from 2010 to 2013.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x1495951360/No-significant-increases-decreases-in-West-Virginia-city-populations

[svherd]

According to the WV Journal. Huntington is expected to continue to gain population and be the states largest city by 2020. Continue to bash away if it makes you feel better.

[herdfan429]

According to the WV Journal. Huntington is expected to continue to gain population and be the states largest city by 2020. Continue to bash away if it makes you feel better.

How is asking for a source in anyway bashing?  I hadn't seen the numbers so get off your high horse and unbunch your panties.

[goherd73]

According to the WV Journal. Huntington is expected to continue to gain population and be the states largest city by 2020.

I think Charleston will continue to see a population loss due in part to the water problems earlier this year. They got a ton of negative press nationally.

.

[svherd]

How is asking for a source in anyway bashing?  I hadn't seen the numbers so get off your high horse and unbunch your panties.

Wasn't directed at you junior. I get sick of this %^&*. Good gawd, we get these posts every time someone puts up a list. Geebus. We get it, people moved away to better themselves, bravo. We who stayed are doing fine.

[herdfan429]

Wasn't directed at you junior. I get sick of this %^&*. Good gawd, we get these posts every time someone puts up a list. Geebus. We get it, people moved away to better themselves, bravo. We who stayed are doing fine.

Then who was it directed towards?  You seriously need to chill or go rub one out and relieve some built up stress.

[FlyHawk98]

Then who was it directed towards?  You seriously need to chill or go rub one out and relieve some built up stress.

Works for me every time :)

[FlyHawk98]

Back to the OP though....

This is awesome. I hope to see Marshall and Huntington continue to grow.

Huntington might have only saw a small population growth over the last few years, but there have been a lot of changes to change the local attitude imo. Also the river boat cruises coming to town this summer is going to be a big help.

Things are finally looking up for the Huntington area.

[svherd]

Then who was it directed towards?  You seriously need to chill or go rub one out and relieve some built up stress.

Why do you need to comment on it if it matters not to you? What good does it do to continually trash Huntington? I don't know why its even posted.

[herdfan429]

Why do you need to comment on it if it matters not to you? What good does it do to continually trash Huntington? I don't know why its even posted.

Its posted because this is a message board.  The function of a message board is to be a place where people with similar interests can come and discuss various topics.  Sometimes those people will DIFFERENT opinions.