Background[]
- Building on Pitt's upper campus.
Opinion[]
Pitt Blew the Building of Its Last Indoor Football Practice Facility[]
The Cost Center's Loosing Legacy
Pitt needs a new indoor football practice facility because the Cost Center stinks. It is a terrible building. The Cost Center, an indoor football practice facility, was not planned and built properly. The Cost Center was erected by Pitt in the early 1990s. Many of the athletic department coaches "hate" the Cost Center. The planning for the construction of that building seemed to have happened in a vacume, much like is the case today at Pitt and at other places in the city. The coaches were not consulted. The coaches input was not listened to.
Off-Limits for This Football Team[]
The Pitt football team has chosen to not use the Cost Center as a football practice facility. The team won't step foot into the building to play football. Conditioning exercises are conducted there. The conditioning sessions are the practices that are held in the coldest time of the winter, such as in January at 6:00 am. Only under the conditions of snow, cold and darkness does the Cost Center become a decent alternative to Pitt Stadium. And, the team does not play football at those sessions.
A local newspaper did a rather long feature article, with a giant photo spread, on the progress of Pitt's morning practices held at the Cost Center. After Coach Harris' first year, he was not happy with the team's performance at these practices and spring football season was delayed. The massive newspaper photos of the team inside the cost center, running while pulling weighted sleds, seemed to be another instance of the local media getting played like a violin by Pitt's PR spin tactics. The photos were quite artistic and were well done too.
Tragic Occurrence at the Cost Center[]
About 20+ years ago, one of the student-athletes broke his neck at a football practice in the Cost Center. The sidelines for the field and the building's walls are too close together. Tell Me No More
Nobody wants to hear about these types of accidents happening ever again. But, the writing is on the wall. There is no accountability to what has happened at the Pitt athletic facilities, the money spent to modernize, the trend to repeat in another part of town. Should the Pittsburgh Steelers be put into a situation where side-line pass patterns are not to be practiced?
Cost Center Carpet Updated[]
The Cost Center had new indoor turf (carpet/astroturf) installed in 1998. The new field is ideal for football footwear. Football cleats are small, fat, stubby spikes. The Cost Center also serves as a facility for other teams beyond football. Track athletes, field athletes, baseballers, softball team, and the tennis team uses the Cost Center.
The turf in the Cost Center, ideal for football, is terrible for the other athletes. In one day of practice in a recent season three athletes (track jumpers) reportedly twisted their ankles. The same mistakes that were made at the Cost Center are being repeated in the plans for the South Side. The new plans calls for buildings to be squeezed on a site that is NOT large enough. The Cost Center squeezes a football field in a space that is too small.
Dr. Fu was at Pitt when the Cost Center was built. Many of the same people are in the athletic department as well.
Cost of the Cost Center: ??
More research needed.
The Cost Center Donor The Cost Center Donor was a Construction Company Owner who lives in Pittsubrgh's eastern burbs, Mr. Corkey Cost. Cost Construction is one of the largest construction firms in the region. Philosophy: Let's not allow Pitt to repeat the errors of its past. Pitt's errors are our errors too, as Pitt spends great sums of money that come from the state. The clear trend states, "Pitt can not build a decent athletic building."
The new, alarming trend states, "Pitt can not be trusted to make its own decisions about its sports facilities. Taking down Pitt Stadium, built in 1925, further proves the point that Pitt can't be trusted to survive with its own management."
There are enough mistakes to go around so that we don't need to repeat the same mistakes. Let's discover our own new original mistakes, and not re-create the same blunders from history.
Pitt recently upgraded, 1997, the guts of the football facility on campus, spending $5.8 million. This fundraising happened in Coach J. Major's second stint.
Within two years of the completion of the football facility renovation in the interior of Pitt Stadium, Pitt wants to squander a majority of that value/asset by swinging the wrecking ball. Do not allow for this miss-management. One should not destroy that renovation, expansion and major facility upgrade.
Pitt, if given its choice, would rather knock down Pitt Stadium, move off campus, and then need to re-build a new Pitt stadium on-campus again in a few years, knocking down other building in the process.
Pitt recently expanded the Fieldhouse. Work was scheduled for basketball season 1998-99. In the dead of the winter and in the middle of the basketball season, workers are building new wall, laying new bricks.
This was major construction.
Why were those decisions made by the current administration?
How much did that addition to the Fieldhouse cost?
Same Old Same Old[]
All the Pitt Athletic buildings are a pity.
The Fieldhouse's condition was the subject of a major complaint in December 1998 by the visiting coach of U. Conn. The team's locker-room did not have any heat and was in unsuitable condition by anyone's standard.
The track at Pitt Stadium is not suitable for hosting NCAA track meets as it is only 7 lanes. The swim pool at Trees Hall was built at 55 yards and should have been "olympic sized" -- 50 meters.
Pitt does not have any tennis courts. Some are being constructed.
Forbes Field.
The soccer teams crave a grass surface. The home venue for soccer is Pitt Stadium. The set-up of the PE classrooms in Trees Hall makes for major problems. The hallways and corridors are large, wide, and good places for students to hang, chat and even dribble a ball from time to time. The hallways are fine, but this is a classroom building. The classrooms are always being disrupted with the noise problems in the halls. Signs are posted -- NO Talking! A student lounge area is also part of the building, but that measure does not solve the problems of poor design.