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Plush basketball offices and other facilities send clear signal to recruits

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By Doug Harris, Staff Writer Updated 9:50 PM Tuesday, February 7, 2012

University of Dayton coach Archie Miller moved into the basketball headquarters at the Cronin Athletics Center after Christmas. And while there are still boxes to be unpacked and walls to be decorated, he’s gone from working out of a cubbyhole in the corner of the Frericks Center to occupying an office the size of a spacious living room.

The 2,500-square-foot basketball center — named the Carmen Riazzi Family Suite — includes offices for each assistant coach, a large film room, a team meeting area and a technology center.

There’s also a lounge overlooking the campus practice facility. And the most important facet about the new digs for Miller is the message it sends to recruits.

“When a family walks in or a kid walks in, he understands he’s at a basketball school right away,” he said. “You can sit and talk and watch video and do all those great things. Within walking distance from the coach’s office, there’s a practice facility down below. And we do have a great arena we play in as well.

“We’ve combined a lot of things from a package standpoint for recruiting. This is definitely a boost.”

The Cronin Athletics Center is adjacent to the Frericks Center and was formerly known as the PAC building. The women’s basketball and volleyball teams also have plush offices on the second floor of the facility.

The entire project began with a new brick exterior and will soon include a large training area for the medical staff and locker rooms for other sports on the first floor. The total cost is $7.1 million, and the money has been raised through 22 private donors, according to UD.

About $2.4 million was spent on the office suites, including a refurbished lobby and reception area for men’s basketball that looks like an entrance to a Fortune 500 company.

“It rejuvenates you,” Miller said. “It makes you understand you’re at a great place. You look at the plaques on the wall (with names of donors), and you understand how many people really care about you.

“When you come to work and you’re at a place like this, you want to work even harder. You feel good about yourself. It’s a breath of fresh air.”

UD has devoted $35 million to athletic facilities in the past 10 years, about $29 million of it coming from donors or corporate sponsors.

The athletic department has spent $11.75 million in the past three years alone, putting it at the forefront of the Atlantic 10 in investments in its sports programs.

UD women’s basketball coach Jim Jabir may have seen the blueprints of his program’s new base of operations — called the Cobb Family Suite — but he’s been blown away by the finished product. Although he was the coach at a couple of Big East schools before coming to UD, he never had access to so many amenities.

Jabir admits to feeling a bit like the Clampetts moving to Beverly Hills.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “I don’t even know how to use half the equipment in my office right now. It’s so nice.

“We have space for coaches to sit down at a big table and not have to move furniture to get to the (grease) board. ... The ambience just screams, ‘We’re important.’ That’s a really big piece of recruiting, and everyone knows recruiting is a really big piece of success.”

Jabir said when he gives prospects a tour, they’ll feel as if they’re visiting a national power.

“When you walk into a Tennessee or someplace like that, it looks like this,” he said.

The goal for men’s basketball is to compete for NCAA tournament berths every year, and UD Athletics Director Tim Wabler believes the upgrades provide the “wow” factor needed to get there.

“I just think when you walk in, you get a sense of who we are real fast,” he said. “It’s very professional, and (it shows) that athletics mean something here at the University of Dayton. It makes a statement. When you walk up those stairs and walk into the men’s basketball suite, that just sets it off.”

Tom and Mike Cronin of Dayton Freight made the initial gift to launch the project. Among other donors for the basketball and volleyball suites are the families of Bill Uhl Sr. and Clay Mathile.

“What this does is put us on par with those programs we should be on par with,” Wabler said.

“We’ve never had a ‘yellow brick road’ on this side of the river for the other programs really to recruit. Now, they’re able to show off athletics here at the University of Dayton.”

Contact this reporter at  (937) 225-2125 or dharris@ DaytonDailyNews.com.

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