[Stevev]

I see a good amount of progress taking shape here. As usual, thank you for a job well done concerning the pictures. By the way, how is the weight room look.

[PAmedic]

wow- really coming along now- looks great.

don't break those "pillars"

[Chris Lang]

I'm taking a tour tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

[Libertine]

I see a good amount of progress taking shade here. As usual, thank you for a job well done concerning the pictures. By the way, how is the weight room look.

It's got a nice white paint job on it. I couldn't see what they were doing but they must be doing something in there. I couldn't get in that room at all today because of a thick white cloud of concrete dust hanging in the air down there.

[Stevev]

I guess that it is too early to put the equipment down there. By the way how does it compare in size to what is over at the Hancock. Thank you very much for the report.

[Libertine]

I guess that it is too early to put the equipment down there. By the way how does it compare in size to what is over at the Hancock. Thank you very much for the report.

Eyeballing it, I'd say it's around 3-4x the floor space of the Hancock area.

[Stevev]

Must be one aweful huge weight room then. Unbelievable! I though that the Hancock weight room was more than adequate for our needs. I am very impressed.

[PAmedic]

assuming there is roadwork being done as well?
https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=5 ... e_ID=10248

Union Drive Closed
LU Police Department

Union Drive (near David's Place) will be closed until further notice due some construction issues from Ericsson Drive to Stadium Road.

From Campus North to access the rear exit/entrance of campus you will need to use University Blvd.

[LU'90KJ]

What is the OP Center? From reading some of the above posts it sounds like this building is replacing Hancock?

[PAmedic]

the Operations Center is replacing a big muddy hole in the ground behind the north endzone!

Hancock is still where you remember it.

browse the first several pages of this thread among others and you'll be amazed

[thepostman]

It looks like its going to be a nice building....bring on the 40,000 seat stadium! haha....kidding....its a step in the right direction, it sounds as if people on this board seem to be in the "know" about additions to the stadium...I would like to hear more about them and really would like to know where you are hearing all of this...thanks

[PAmedic]

It looks like its going to be a nice building....bring on the 40,000 seat stadium! haha....kidding....its a step in the right direction, it sounds as if people on this board seem to be in the "know" about additions to the stadium...I would like to hear more about them and really would like to know where you are hearing all of this...thanks

they'd tell you, but then they'd have to kill you. You'd be part of the endzone like Jimmy Hoffa in Giants Stadium.

Actually, many of the guys on here either work for the school or have "connections", some that we don't wanna know about. But either way their info is good.

[Libertine]

assuming there is roadwork being done as well?
https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=5 ... e_ID=10248

Union Drive Closed
LU Police Department

Union Drive (near David's Place) will be closed until further notice due some construction issues from Ericsson Drive to Stadium Road.

From Campus North to access the rear exit/entrance of campus you will need to use University Blvd.

That looks like just some drainage work for the track.

[A.G.]

Chris--how did the tour go? Inquiring minds want DETAILS, man. DETAILS.

Will you still be getting your preview article on it? When will it run?

[Chris Lang]

It was dusty, for sure. The place will open closer to Aug. 20 than Aug. 1, now. But I was able to get a general feel for just how big the place is. That donor room will be quite impressive, as are the meeting rooms, coaches offices, weight room, etc.

Article has been pushed back to Monday, July 31 so it doesn't get buried behind Nathan's motorsports stuff. He's running a series on local racetracks that is quite good.

[A.G.]

Great, Chris. Coming out on the 31st saves me a buck on buying the paper. Seriously, can't wait to the "scribe's" article.

[PAmedic]

hey LIB- is this electrical work part of the deal over at the Ops Ctr?

https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=5 ... e_ID=10261

Main campus electrical power shutdown 7/29
Field Operations

There will be a power shutdown on Saturday, July 29, 2006 from 6am - 4pm.

This will affect the following buildings - Hancock, Williams stadium, David's Place, Dorms 17 - 23, Mansion, & JFM call center.

The shutdown could extend into Sunday, July 30, 2006 from 6am - noon.

If there are any electrical problems after this time, please contact Field Operations at 592-3500 or submit a work order by clicking here: https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=7672.


Modified: Jul 26, 2006 3:40 PM

[Libertine]

hey LIB- is this electrical work part of the deal over at the Ops Ctr?

https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=5 ... e_ID=10261

Main campus electrical power shutdown 7/29
Field Operations

There will be a power shutdown on Saturday, July 29, 2006 from 6am - 4pm.

This will affect the following buildings - Hancock, Williams stadium, David's Place, Dorms 17 - 23, Mansion, & JFM call center.

The shutdown could extend into Sunday, July 30, 2006 from 6am - noon.

If there are any electrical problems after this time, please contact Field Operations at 592-3500 or submit a work order by clicking here: https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=7672.


Modified: Jul 26, 2006 3:40 PM

The building appears to be wired internally from what I can see but there's nothing operating off of it to this point. This may be hooking the new facility into the campus grid.

[PAmedic]

excellent- progress! hope my suite and rooftop dining area is done in time!

[A.G.]

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... th=!sports

Building a future at LU

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
July 30, 2006

Through the endless cacophony of jackhammers and power drills, through the haze of dust and unfinished drywall, Jeff Barber’s vision couldn’t be clearer.

Donors sit on barstools, peering out tall glass windows at players stretching and running on Williams Stadium’s new FieldTurf. Flames players going from a massive new locker room down a large tunnel toward the field.

Liberty’s football operations center is still weeks away from being finished, but Barber, the Flames’ athletics director, already has visions of the impact the building will have on the school’s football program.

“We’re trying to do things the right way, and the school has been very supportive in allowing us to do things in a way where this will be a tremendous recruiting tool,” Barber said. “It’s going to be an exciting day for Liberty football. It’ll take us to another level.”

Nearly two years have passed since Liberty broke ground on the Williams Football Operations Center, and halfway through last year, the project looked like it might never reach completion.

During a game against Chattanooga, press box workers joked before the game about the “swimming pool” behind the north end zone. Only a muddy pit of rainwater was visible on the construction site.

By early 2006, the foundation was set, steel beams were up and the building, which has three 16,000 square foot levels, began to take shape.

Barber and new football coach Danny Rocco had hoped the building would be ready by Tuesday. Instead, wet weather and construction delays have pushed the opening until the week of Aug. 21.

“We’ll be in by Aug. 23 at the latest,” Barber said.

When the team moves into the FOC next month, it will notice many of the subtle touches that Barber hopes will instill pride in the football program and the university.

“LU” is engraved on the tiling in the main bathroom. There will be a large Liberty Flames logo in the carpet of the locker room. The new custom-made weights will have Liberty’s logo built into the iron.

The furniture in five main areas of the building - the main lobby, the football office lobby, the donor room, Rocco’s office and the main conference room - will be upscale. Those areas will be some of the first a recruit sees on his visit to campus.

“It’s a big, first-class facility,” Rocco said. “It’s a facility that’s very user friendly. Everything we need is right there.”

The coaches remaining from last year’s staff got a first-hand view of the impact a new facility can have on a program when the Flames traveled to Gardner-Webb.

GWU made the transition from Division II to Division I-AA prior to the 2000 season, and Bulldogs coach Steve Patton knew the school would have to make a commitment in facilities if the move was going to be a success.

GWU spent between “$4-6 million,” Patton said, on a stadium expansion and new football center in 2004. The old facility was outdated, even by Division II standards, and the new facility features a weight room, athletic training facility, locker room, meeting rooms and coaches’ offices.

“It changed the morale of the kids who were already there,” Patton said. “It’s attractive and comfortable. Nowadays, you have to have things. Kids feel like if they’re going to spend four or five years working that hard, you’ve got to show them something.”

Patton and Rocco are in similar recruiting situations. Patton competes against established I-AA powers like Wofford, Furman, Appalachian State and Western Carolina for players; Rocco must battle accomplished in-state foes Richmond, William & Mary and James Madison for athletes.

Facility improvements have become an “arms race” in college football, Rocco said, and any advantage a school can gain by having an eye-catching operations center is a potentially huge one.

“It’s not the same old LU,” Rocco said. “That’s what people are seeing and what people are sensing. The facility is going to help them think the commitment is there.”

[bigsmooth]

nice job chris! what a great recruiting tool this will be.

[Stevev]

As stated in the article, hopefully this is the necessary step that will enable us to compete agains't the James Madison's, Richmond's, and the William and Mary's of the world.

[A.G.]

My favorite line in the entire article:

“It’s not the same old LU,” Rocco said. “That’s what people are seeing and what people are sensing.

[Rocketfan]

Does your hibernation also rule out any more pics of the inside of this building as it nears completion?

[SuperJon]

I drove by a few times this morning and things are looking pretty good.