Lucas Gebhart
Sports Editor
Renovating facilities is the name of the game in college athletics. Year after year, colleges from all over the country renovate older facilities or build new state-of-the-art facilities to attract new recruits, perspective students and build their reputation.
ISU is no exception.
This year, Idaho State has implemented a new video and scoreboard in Holt Arena, is in the process of building locker rooms at Miller Ranch Stadium and has plans to renovate Davis Field.
In total the softball renovations will cost just under $450,000 for the locker rooms, while Holt Arena’s new video board, scoreboard and play clocks cost about $400,000.
Also on the bucket list is a $25 million basketball arena, however the funding is well short of where it needs to be to turn Athletic Directors Jeff Tingey’s dream into a reality.
“It doesn’t matter where you go,” Tingey said. “Whether it is Idaho State, Boise State or Alabama. Everybody is trying to up the game a little bit.”
In the race for top-notch recruits, everything is critical. The town, the school, the coaches are all important. But the facilities that the athletes will be training and playing in cannot be overlooked. If it is, ISU would be left behind as recruits choose to go to other schools that can provide them with better facilities.
“We are always trying to do something,” Tingey said.
Miller Ranch Stadium, home of ISU softball, is adding locker rooms to the back of the dugouts, making ISU the first and only school in the Big Sky to have locker rooms attached to the dugout. There will be an entryway for the team to go directly from the dugout to the locker room and a small locker room for the umpires.
There will also be an athletic training room and a medical facility on the home side to take care of the medical needs of both the Bengals and the visiting team.
“It is an important piece for our team,” Tingey said. With three conference championships and a second place finish in the last four years, Tingey no longer wants the players to have to use porta potties and wants the team to have a shelter during rain delays, which came into play when the Bengals hosted the Big Sky Tournament.
“It was the worst thing,” Tingey remarked. “Three years in a row, we hosted the Big Sky Conference Tournament. Three years in a row, we had either a rain delay or a snow delay during one of our games.”
While the opposing team took shelter in the travel bus, the Bengals had no place to wait out the weather.
In addition, the team currently has its locker rooms in Reed Gym, requiring players to drive from the locker room to the field. The new renovations have solved both of those problems.
“We have had so much success,” Tingey said. “That made it easier to fundraise for this program and it will just help them in their general training.”
The use of the old locker rooms in Reed Gym has yet to be addressed by Tingey and his staff, although Tingey said that a possibility is that the tennis and golf teams would take over the vacated locker room – another upgrade for two ISU teams.
“The field itself is fantastic,” Tingey said. “Beyond that it is the facilities they get to use. It is something we can use in recruiting.”
The renovations on Miller Ranch are scheduled to be finished in October.
The projects have all been a progression. From the newly added football practice field that was built just a few years ago, to these renovations, it is all a part of the laundry list of projects the athletic department has planned.
“We are always trying to check them off the list,” Tingey said. “But when you check one off, two more go on.”
Most of the funding is donor driven, meaning the athletic department raises most of the money that it pours into its projects.
Davis Field is fully funded and the project is scheduled to begin in January or February.
The project is still in the planning stages, as Tingey is going through the state of Idaho’s purchasing process.
Engineering firms are in the bidding process. Once that is finished the same process will be applied to a contractor.
The Davis Field project will see a reconstruction of the east bleachers, which currently has weeds growing in the concrete, while the foundation of the back wall is cracked and needs to be replaced.
“It really is an eyesore,” Tingey said.
In addition, the track will be widened, meaning that instead of the 100 meter straightaways and curves that it currently has, the track will have 90 meter straightaways and 110 meter corners, an Olympic-style track that was featured in Rio this summer.
The soccer team is not being left out of the renovation process.
In addition to new bleachers, the soccer team will also enjoy a wider field.
NCAA soccer fields have certain regulations that require a field to be within the dimensions.
No field is the same size, but they all have to be similar in size. ISU currently has the minimum width and the maximum length, causing schools such as Utah and BYU to refuse to play in Pocatello.
“We have been very competitive with them,” Tingey said. “They won’t come and play us because of our shorter width.”
So, Tingey took matters into his own hands and planned to have the sideline widened by 12 feet on each side, leaving the Utes and Cougars no excuse not to make the trip north.
“They better come.” Tingey said. “They don’t have an excuse beside the fear of losing.”
The project on the top of the list is the new basketball arena, a facility that would house both men’s and women’s basketball as well as volleyball, but it may not break ground for several more years.
The problem? Funding.
“Donors give to the area they are interested in,” Tingey explained. “In softball, we had three donors that were really excited and wanted to give. It is driven by where the interest is.”
The donations towards the new arena may be going up in the near future as fan have become more invested in the recent success of the men’s basketball team, which finished above .500 for the first time in years while the women’s team fell in the conference championship game in Reno last March.
The volleyball team has been picked to finish fourth in the conference, and posted a 23-10 record last season.
“It is a long process,” Tingey said. “We have these boosters and donors and people who are really interested in the university and we just spend years building relationships and trust with them.”
The relationship with the donors is vital to the future of all the athletic programs.
Without them, there is no money and without money, there is no athletic program.
“They feel closer ties and a stronger affinity to a certain thing, where they know really well about it and they know that they want to make a difference,” Tingey said, adding that the key is finding the right donors.
“You build up those relationships, you build up those friendships, you let them get to know the coaches, have them interact with the teams so that they feel that affinity. When they are at the point where they’re ready to give, they’ll give.”
When dealing with donors, it is important not to hit them with a question that is out of the blue.
Instead of calling the donors and asking for x-amount of dollars for a new basketball arena, Tingey and his staff take a more manageable approach.
Build the relationships, introduce the idea, let the donor know that their money matters and most importantly, give the donor time to think.
“That kind of seems strange,” Tingey admitted. “You want to introduce the idea and give it time to settle in so you’re not kicking them in the gut when you ask them for money.”
The renovated facilities will make the campus better.
The beauty of new and renovated facilities is something that catches the attention of everybody who steps foot on campus.
“Whether it is the athletic facility or a pharmacy facility, the general student sees that,” Tingey said. “It is nice to have a brand new car. It runs the exact same as your four-year old car, but it is nice to have a brand new car and it is nice to ride with a friend in their brand new car.”
Newer is better and being better than the other universities is the ultimate goal with the funding of donors as the bloodline to that success.
