Boston College news is predictably light these days, but at this time of the year, that's probably a good thing. Though news is light, this tidbit of news out of College Park caught my attention yesterday. It looks like Randy Edsall and the Terrapins are in the planning stages for the construction of a new indoor practice facility:
"Edsall said he expects to have an indoor practice facility, perhaps as early as 2012. But he said no decisions have been made on location or specifics. The facility "will benefit all athletic teams and the student body," said Edsall, who added that intramurals could be played inside the facility during evenings."
Sounds like the facility won't be football-specific, but any kind of new indoor practice facility would certainly be a boost to recruiting. Testudo Times notes that while Florida State is currently the only program in the conference with a football-only practice facility, but that Clemson, Georgia Tech and Duke -- yes, that Duke -- all have a football-only facility in the works.
It gets cold in College Park in November, December and January. It gets even colder in Chestnut Hill.
Now I realize BC currently has the Alumni Stadium bubble, but I'm pretty sure indoor bubbles and domes are falling out of favor. Literally. Is it time for the school to look at building its own indoor practice facility?
A new permanent indoor practice facility would be another shiny new toy to show off to new recruits. This, combined with the Yawkey Athletic Center would be two real nice upgrades to the football program's facilities.
The only problem becomes where to put such a facility? With space limited on campus and with a long-term Institutional Master Plan that doesn't have much, if any, room for such a facility, it's hard to find spaces on campus to even fit such a facility. Newton Campus? The IMP has plans to replace the Q-Hut with a new recreation/athletics building, but there isn't much real estate on that part of Newton Campus for anything like this.
Part of the IMP does call for transforming Shea Field into 2 1/2 football fields and some undergraduate housing, but those practice fields will be outdoor. Shall we build a retractable roof coming off the Beacon Street Garage expansion?
What do you think? Does BC need an indoor practice facility to keep up with the rest of the ACC in the ever escalating college football arms race? If so, where in the world would we put this thing?