Want to see what Chip Kelly left behind in Oregon? The University of Oregon just unveiled its $68 million Football Performance Center.
Greg Bishop of The New York Times said, “It is as much country club as football facility, potentially mistaken for a day spa, or an art gallery, or a sports history museum, or a spaceship — and is luxurious enough to make N.F.L. teams jealous. It is, more than anything, a testament to college football’s arms race, to the billions of dollars at stake and to the lengths that universities will go to field elite football programs.”
It was paid for through a donation from Phil Knight, a founder of Nike, an Oregon alumnus and a longtime benefactor of the university. Seems like U of O is NOT shy about letting folks know.
“We are the University of Nike. We embrace it. We tell that to our recruits,” said Jeff Hawkins, the senior associate athletic director of football administration and operations.
Note: In case you were wondering, earlier this summer the NCAA Committee on Infractions announced sanctions on the Oregon Ducks football team for Oregon’s payment and use of improper scouting services and the use of an extra coach while recruiting do not include a bowl ban of any sort.
In what amounts as a hand slap, the Ducks will lose a single scholarship over two seasons, the first of which was imposed by the school last year, and be on probation for three seasons, the first of which was self-imposed last year. By the way, the Ducks have averaged only 83 scholarship players of the 85 maximum over the last four seasons.
Another notable is that there is no bowl ban. So full steam ahead!
The tour of the facility lasted more than three hours and covered the full 145,000 square feet of the complex (with 60,000 additional square feet of parking).
This links to a slide show of photos: It’s good to be the Oregon Ducks, says Glenn McGraw in his post.
And here’s a video that Sports Illustrated did.
Per senior associate athletic director of football administration Hawkins, “The space, flow and efficiency are not excessive. From what we had to what we have now, it fits what we need to teach.”
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Uniform Combos circa 2009
So football players will be rocking the ever-changing Nike uniforms (see this piece about the spring football edition) AND training / hanging in luxo-facilities. What’s not to like?
But will they leave their “country club” long enough to go to class?
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