An artist's rendering of the Player Development Center now under construction adjacent to Crisler Arena.
Courtesy of U-M athletics
When a group of regents toured the Big Ten looking at football stadiums in advance of Michigan Stadium's renovation several years ago, they peeked at other schools' basketball facilities.
As Michigan broke ground on its new Player Development Center on Monday, athletic director Dave Brandon, a part of that regent tour, recognized what a significant step the new facility will be for the Wolverines basketball team.
“I always look at these things from the perspective of being a recruit,” Brandon said. “You show up on campus and you know, where you spend your life is where you practice, that’s where you spend the majority of your time and so a recruit comes to our place and says ‘Well, where’s the practice gym?’ Well, we don’t have one. ‘Where are the practice facilities, where do I hang out before and after practice, where do I connect with the coach?’
“We just didn’t have the right answer to any of those questions. Now we do.”
The school will start digging into the grass hill east of Crisler Arena next week. The Wolverines hope to move into the $23.2 million building in October 2011, according to project manager Steve Donoghue.
By the end of June, Donoghue said, the grass hill will be gone and there will be “a lot of earth work going on. There will be a lot of noticeable construction.”
By fall, Donoghue said the hope is to have a steel structure up for the 57,000-foot Player Development Center. The Center itself will extend out, for a reference point, into the first seven parking spots of the current parking lot on the east side of Crisler.
Once it is built, Michigan views the facility as a boost in recruiting and for the program in general.
“Our team and the basketball tradition and basketball reputation of Michigan will never be the same,” Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein said. “We really feel, as big as it was for us to get to the NCAA tournament last year and selling what we’re trying to sell with the program, this will have the same type of impact on us.”
It was announced Monday the lead donors on the project were Joel Tauber and Lionel Margolick.
Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein
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