This afternoon Nathan Hart and I went over to Memorial Stadium to see the dedication ceremony for the North End Zone Student-Athlete Development Center. Among the speakers were: Karen Hanson (Provost and Executive Vice President), IU head coach Bill Lynch and Athletics Director Fred Glass.
Here are a few remarks from earlier:
HANSON: "You may already know that this much anticipated center houses administrative space for IU's football program along with a superb weight training room and the Hall of Champions. It also greatly enhances Memorial Stadium's seating capacity...but this facility is far more than a collection of offices. It represents what can be accomplished when a team of professionals works to achieve a vision for greater achievement for IU student athletes."
LYNCH: "I remember a long time ago, as a coach, our number one objective is to recruit the best student-athletes as possible. Then develop them to their full potential once they got there. That's exactly what this facility can do. The life of any program is recruiting. From a football standpoint, we have a facility second to none."
GLASS: "We have four priorities in the department of athletics, and I never miss an opportunity to go over those. Number one is compliance, meaning follow the rules. Number two is academic achievement. We want to be a place where kids come to excel and earn a degree from IU. Third, we want to excel athletically and win championships. Finally, we want to better integrate the athletic department with the university. We want to break down any preconceived walls there may be between the athletic department and the rest of the campus and university. This building furthers each and every one of those goals"
