And it starts with facilities like the David and Anita Dauch Indoor Sports Center, colloquially known as the DISC. It opened in earnest in February, and the school’s sports teams have been practicing on the fields since then. Saturday — which happened 30 years to the day when David Dauch met his wife Anita outside a locker room at Yager Stadium — was the multi-million complex’s grand opening.
David and Anita Dauch, whose donation was kept confidential by the university, made a few donations, including one large enough for naming rights. David Dauch said the dedication of the facility, which was 20 years in the making, is a “game-changing moment” not only for Miami football, but for the Miami athletics and the university as a whole.
“It became very apparent to me that Miami University needed an indoor facility, an indoor center for our student athletes and our teams to compete on a national level,” Dauch said, adding education is the priority for all students. “The front porch for many universities is the athletic community, and right or wrong, it’s a fact of reality and we must adjust to the changing marketplace, or we’re going to get left behind.”
More than 1,500 people attended the ceremony at the facility that stands adjacent to Yager Stadium and featured Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — both Miami University alums.
The first reaction of Roethlisberger, who graduated from Miami in 2012 (he left college in 2004 for the NFL a few credits shy of graduating), as he walked into the building — which has Ben Roethlisberger Field adorned on the walls at each end zone — was: “Wow.”
“This is such an awesome facility,” Roethlisberger said, adding he was told by scouts and coaches that it’s “a lot better” than many used by NFL team and almost every college facility in the country. “To me it makes me proud to know that Miami has this.”
Roethlisberger said “think of the places we would have went” if he and his teammates would have had this facility when he was playing — as opposed to playing in the rain on the AstroTurf at the field hockey facility.
And to Miami University head football coach Chuck Martin, Roethlisberger said, “You have no excuse now with a facility like this.”
The ceremony officially launched the $80 million Miami Athletics’ Graduating Champions Campaign.
David Sayler, Miami’s athletic director, said more than 60 percent of the goal has been reached, with university families already giving roughly $49 million. The Graduating Champions Campaign is designed, with the help of alumni and friends of the university, to provide the facilities and resources needed to meet goals. The multi-million capital initiative will focus on improving the university’s intercollegiate athletics’ facilities and increasing private support for scholarships.
“Miami is nationally recognized for excellence in teaching, academics and a top-rated undergraduate experience,” Sayler said. “Likewise, our athletic programs can and should be nationally respected for their ability to win championships and graduate scholars and leaders.”
The 91,000-square-foot facility, equipped with sports turf and adaptable to accommodate practically every sports need possible, was put to use after the ceremony as the Miami University football team held its spring scrimmage.
Harbaugh, who played as a defense back at Miami and bragged he recruited David Dauch to play at the school, said it was amazing to see so many Miami supporters “who love Miami and who want to be a part of what’s been and what’s coming ahead of us.”
At the site of the new indoor complex stood the old practice field, which Harbaugh called a cow pasture. He said the facility “is just a tool.”
“It’s what you do with it. It’s no different when they lined up that cow pasture 100 yards long and 53-and-a-third yards wide. This cow pasture is a lot nicer, but it’s the same length, and it’s the same width. Come out here and have a practice, come out here and have a scrimmage and get after it, and do us all proud.”
But it’s not just a sports facility, said Sayler. While the student-athletes have been using the facility since it opened, he said he’s “excited” for the student body and is “anxious” for the community at-large to begin using the facility in the future.
The ceremonial ground breaking happened a year ago this month, but construction didn’t begin until July 2014.
“To get this building done in about eight months was certainly a priority that we had, and getting it done is certainly something to celebrate,” said Sayler.
Miami officials said while Roethlisberger’s $1 million contribution to the facility is publicly known, the donations by Harbaugh and Dauch have not been released, though Dauch said to his children at Saturday’s ceremony to “get a good education because we just spent your inheritance.”
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