Blueprint for success
Published: 5/31/2007 11:54 PM
Last Modified: 5/31/2007 11:54 PM
The drive and location was quite familiar to me. But the place sure has changed.
I'm over in Fayetteville, Ark., to cover Oklahoma State in the NCAA baseball regional. Between 1999 and 2002, I made more than 100 roundtrips between Tulsa and Fayetteville to cover Arkansas football and basketball for the paper. Every time I made these journeys to Northwest Arkansas, the incomparable athletic facilities on the Fayetteville campus made these jaws drop.
Driving down Razorback Road today, the jaw dropped again. Razorback Stadium, the Arkansas football stadium, still looks impressive. The addition of a health/training area on the north end of Arkansas' indoor practice facility is another notch in its facilities' arsenal. The John McDonnell Outdoor Track Stadium has bleachers and suites on both the east and west sides of the venue. Baum Stadium, home of the baseball team, has increased its capacity to over 11,000 and added additional suites this year.
Those facilities the Razorbacks programs have in all sports are the envy of many schools. It was no wonder then-OSU athletic director Terry Don Phillips made a few trips to his alma mater earlier this decade to map out ideas how OSU could renovate its football stadium.
When the Boone Pickens Stadium expansion and renovation project is complete in two years, OSU will have a jewel that can rival Razorback Stadium. When the OSU athletic village gets finally in place, the hope is that it will set the standard for similar projects.
Ultimately, the hope in Stillwater is that upgraded facilities will bring upgraded success across the board in all the programs. Arkansas had the blueprint on that.
--- Matt Doyle
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
