Purchase this photo at photos.statenews.com

Rendering courtesy of Ralph Young Fund
The State News

Purchase this photo at photos.statenews.com

Jason Chiou
The State News

Old College Field is home to MSU’s baseball, softball and soccer teams and is the oldest athletics facility that is still in use at the university. The field was purchased for $1,137 in 1900 and is currently going through a more than $4 million overhaul.

Purchase this photo at photos.statenews.com

Rendering courtesy of Ralph Young Fund
The State News

Coaches Corner

What they’re saying about Old College Field

“It’s like a dream come true. Sometimes I pinch myself and wonder, ‘Is this really happening?’ Just to have a top-notch facility upgrades our program and our overall visibility.”

Joe Baum, men’s soccer head coach

“I’m losing recruits to some of those programs that I shouldn’t be. You’re always going to battle scholarship issues … but I don’t want to lose a kid that you give equal priority to as another school, but he’s going to go there because of their facility.”

David Grewe, baseball head coach

“We’re thrilled with the prospect that things can improve. The hitting/pitching building was a monstrous step in the right direction — that building has had an immediate impact on our ability to prepare to play.”

Jacquie Joseph, softball head coach

“We’re maintaining the great setting at Old College Field … and I think the design is a real classy design to go with the beautiful campus at Michigan State.”

Tom Saxton, women’s soccer head coach

History

Old College Field, MSU’s oldest athletics facility, was bought in 1900 for $1,137.

The New Life for Old College Field project was named as a priority during the 1999 Campaign for MSU.

The project calls for new baseball and softball fields, a hitting facility, soccer stadium, soccer practice field, central concession area, restrooms and plaza.

The hitting facility was completed in November 2007, and DeMartin Soccer Stadium will be ready for the 2008 season.

Source: MSU Sports Information, Ralph Young Fund

Field of dreams

MSU's oldest athletics facility to undergo extensive renovations in coming years

It took more than 100 years, but Old College Field is getting a face-lift. Since 1900, the home of MSU baseball, softball and men’s and women’s soccer has remained relatively untouched, causing it to fall behind the standards of NCAA facilities around the Big Ten and Midwest. But after being identified as one of the priorities in the 1999 Campaign for MSU, a project aimed at revamping areas around campus, the Ralph Young Fund has tried to raise about $8 million for New Life for Old College Field.

The project will consist of new baseball and softball fields — each with grandstands — a hitting facility, soccer stadium, soccer practice field, central concession area, restrooms, plaza and lights for the entire complex.

“If you look at the state of our facilities for the sports that compete there, they are behind,” said Chuck Sleeper, senior associate athletics director of development. “Within the Big Ten and even Division 1 overall in the Midwest, it’s pretty clear that we’re behind the other competitors.”

Despite being behind other facilities, Old College Field was low on the list of priorities when it came to facilities that needed enhancement. The 2005 Spartan Stadium expansion project, Duffy Daugherty Football Building, Alfred Berkowitz Basketball Complex, basketball locker rooms and the Paul R. Rearick Golf Complex all were being completed beforehand. With several of those projects completed, Sleeper said Old College Field has moved to the top of the totem pole.

“It’s our top priority,” Sleeper said. “We’ve turned our attention this year to really making it happen. It’s an historic site and it’s a site where people have a lot of memories at Michigan State and we’re really excited for the opportunities the new facilities will give us.”

After the completion of the $1.4 million hitting facility, the Ralph Young Fund has about $2.1 million remaining for the complex, which is significantly less than what is needed. Sleeper said the history of donations in nonrevenue sports such as those that compete at Old College Field are small, but he thinks once the project gets rolling the money should come.

“The prospect pool is not real large, let’s just put it that way,” Sleeper said. “There’s a very limited history of giving to these programs, but I do think we have the donor base out there to make it happen. The fact that we’re making progress — now folks will see that the soccer stadium will be coming together and see that we’re heading into the right direction.”

Thanks to a $750,000 donation from 1982 graduate Doug DeMartin — whose nephew, also named Doug DeMartin, is a junior forward on the men’s soccer team — the soccer stadium will be constructed this summer and be ready for use during the 2008 season.

“You can’t just update the baseball and softball fields and have a lousy soccer field,” said the 1982 graduate, who wanted to name the stadium DeMartin Stadium, in honor of his parents who are Lansing residents. “It’s important to update the whole area and I think that updating every part of the program is going to be able to attract better people, win more games and win more championships.”

Recruiting race

In order to win more championships, the baseball, softball and soccer teams need to attract better recruits, and the updated facilities at Old College Field might be able to do just that. Softball head coach Jacquie Joseph said facilities are “100 percent everything” when it comes to recruiting.

Baseball head coach David Grewe said he agrees.

“It’s all these kids care about — that’s the harsh reality to it,” Grewe said. “It’s not, ‘Oh they got this coach, they got that pitching coach, they got that hitting coach,’ — none of that matters.”

Grewe and women’s soccer head coach Tom Saxton said they have taken the renderings of the project on recruiting trips to show recruits what will be waiting for them in the coming years. It’s a necessary part of recruiting nationwide as schools try to one-up competitors to attract the best student-athletes to come to their school and don their colors.

Grewe calls the facility updates an “arms race across the country,” and said the most important thing is to show players facilities that match up with MSU’s direct competitors, such as fellow Big Ten schools and others around the Midwest.

Ohio State has long been viewed as the toast of the Big Ten and nation, in terms of facilities, and Michigan just completed a $9 million upgrade to its baseball and softball complex. Central Michigan, a member of the MAC, also opened a 2,000-seat baseball stadium in 2002 and renovated its softball complex in 1997.

So far, so good

Although there still is much work to be done before Old College Field is up to NCAA standards, the early construction has drawn excitement. The old soccer-playing surface has been dug out and dirt has been moved for DeMartin Stadium, and Saxton said it’s impossible for his players — and himself — not to get excited.

“We’re out on the field doing our spring practices and throughout practice the players see the work starting to be done and you can see the excitement in their eyes,” Saxton said. “From a coaching standpoint, we’re looking forward to it, too.”

The hitting facility has been operational since November 2007, and while the teams now have a place to work on their swings, both Grewe and Joseph said it has been key in the development of their pitching staff. Joseph said the chance to pitch on a dirt mound before the team started its season in Florida was important for her pitchers, and Grewe said the facility has allowed the teams to practice in bad weather.

With the hitting facility already done and DeMartin Stadium scheduled to be completed by the fall, the New Life for Old College Field project is finally starting to get moving after being delayed.

Greg Ianni, senior associate athletics director for facilities and sports management, said the first goal is for DeMartin Stadium to be completed. The timetable for the rest of the facilities depends on how donors react.

“It’s all dependent on when we have the money,” Ianni said. “As soon as we get the money we’ll move forward, but until we do we’re just treading water. If we would have a donor step up and give us the money next, then we’d have it done within a certain time frame.”

Published on Thursday, April 17, 2008