By Kelly Higginson, Senior Staff Writer
Miami University is planning to develop the north end of Yager Stadium into the Gunlock Family Performance Center, a student-athlete rehabilitation center set to open fall 2016.
Miami's athletic director David Sayler said that in December, Randy Gunlock, a 1977 Miami alumnus and former Miami football player, along with his wife, Vicki, donated $6 million to build the facility, which was the largest single donation the athletic department has ever received.
In addition to the rehab facility, the building will also serve as an indoor weight room, football locker room, office space for coaches, a players' lounge and team meeting rooms for student-athletes.
The plan to build a rehabilitation center for student-athletes has been in the works since Sayler took his position as athletic director in January 2013.
"I've always wanted to build an indoor rehabilitation facility attached to an athletic facility, so the football players and other athletes could all be in one building," Sayler said.
The two-story facility will connect Yager Stadium and the new $13 million Miami Indoor Sports Center, which was completed last month.
The total cost for the two facilities is around $20 million dollars, Sayler said. The $6 million donated from the Gunlock family will allow the football team to centralize operations and free up space for athletes from other Miami teams at the Gross Center. The Gross Center, which is located between Millett Hall and Yager Stadium, was built in 2001 and caters to both academic and physical needs of the Miami student athletes.
Kevin Morris, the project manager for sports building projects, said the building is currently in the schematic design phase of the construction process. This is the initial programming and sight design phases where they will work side by side with the architects and engineers for the building and compile a series of sketches.
The architectural firm designing the facility is HOK based out of Kansas City.
"It's very early in the process and we are just finalizing the design," Morris said.
After the schematic design phase, the architects and engineers will go
through a conceptual design phase that will ensure everything needed in the building has a place.
Along with the architectural plans for the building, Sayler has also been searching for private partners of health care companies that will help with rehabilitation space for the student athletes.
"We are still in negotiation with finding someone, but whoever the health care provider is will probably provide the biggest donation and satisfy the overall funding for the building," Sayler said.
A good portion of Gunlock's funding came from his real estate development company RG Properties, which has over 11 million square-feet of retail space throughout the Midwest, according to a Miami University press release.
In the press release, Gunlock explained how much it meant to him to donate the money for the athletic space.
"My time as a student-athlete was instrumental in preparing me for the challenges of entrepreneurship after graduation," he said. "The gift is given in the spirit of encouraging the next generation of Miami student-athletes to take full advantage of their time at the university."
Rick Costello is an engineering designer for Miami's building floor plans and was able to see the side-by-side floor plan renderings for the Gunlock building earlier this week.
"The building is going to really help the players," Costello said. "They can go straight from the practice field to the weight room to continue training and it should definitely help with recruiting."
For the entrance of the building, Sayler is planning to have the hallway pay homage to the history of Miami football.
"I want all the current players and future recruits to walk in and see all the great things we've accomplished," Sayler said.