Column: IU keeping pace in facilities arms race

If you’ve missed the recent recruiting war IU Athletics has taken against the free world during the last couple of seasons, it’s fair to say you were living deep under The Rock. And if you aren’t aware of the millions upon millions of dollars the athletics department has put into world-class facilities — possibly the biggest contributor to the recent recruiting haul — then you have been buried deep under The Crimson Quarry, my friend.

The recent trend of facility face lifts is nothing new to the college sports world or the IU campus. Since the summer of 2009, IU has seen completion of three elite facilities: Cook Hall, the Weathers Golf Team Center and the North End Zone Facility.

One of the key, if not the main, purposes for the facility jump is recruiting, but also take into consideration this day and age in technology. Athletic departments, programs and coaches are constantly scratching, biting and clawing for an edge in how to put their athletes on the cusp of offseason performance.

Although less publicized, in no sport is this truer than in golf. The harsh winters in southern Indiana make the need for an indoor facility necessary. In October 2009, IU opened the doors of the Cecil W. Weathers Golf Team Center, a facility boasting some of the newest practice technology in golf, coaches’ offices and brand new locker rooms.

“This is another big step for the golf programs at Indiana University,” coach Mike Mayer said upon the building’s completion. “To have a ‘home’ where we can meet, study, socialize and recruit is a big asset for (the men’s and women’s) programs. It’s been a long time coming, but our time is finally here.”

If anything, the facility spark in Bloomington shows that college sports is a business, from recruiting, to wins and losses, to fundraising.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the building of Cook Hall, one of the premier collegiate basketball facilities in the country. While football is the biggest moneymaker at any major university due to high seating capacity and sales associated with it, a school like IU needs its basketball because of its rich history.

“Cook Hall honors the hard work and determination of those who have made IU great, and it represents a renewed commitment to elevating both our men’s and women’s basketball programs into a new era of excellence,” IU Athletics Director Fred Glass said.

While arguably the most state-of-the-art facility in college basketball, Cook Hall and IU followed in the steps first taken by Oklahoma, Kentucky and Louisville. Oklahoma set the trend for the recent facility spark in 2001 with their $17.1 million renovation of the Lloyd Noble Center.

“I definitely think it’s an arms race in basketball, (just like football),” Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer said. “If your facilities are lagging behind, it’s definitely going to hurt you in recruiting. There’s just no way around that.”

Although IU is turning the heads of sports fans in and around Bloomington, it is really following the norm of the power programs across the country. Purdue’s $100 million renovation to Mackey Arena, a pitch coach Matt Painter admits to obviously using as a major recruiting tool, is the latest to jump on the bandwagon.

It is no hard-kept secret that the majority of recruits in current times look for glitz and glamour rather than championships won 30, 20 or even five years ago. But with the $21.5 million North End Zone Facility hosting college football’s largest weight room, Cook Hall, Weathers Golf Center and a brand new baseball stadium in discussion, there is no question the IU Athletics Administration and donors have done their part to push the Hoosiers over the facility and recruiting hump.