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Volume 5, No. 11
Texas A&M is now one step closer toward making the vision of a football complex and academic center in the south end zone of Kyle Field a reality. Maybe even a leap closer. The Texas A&M System Board of Regents recently approved the concept of the state-of-the-art facility, appropriating money for design and selecting Austin-based firm O’Connell Robertson & Associates Inc. to design the complex. "To have the architectural firm selected and the project approved is a giant step forward," Texas A&M athletic director Wally Groff said. "We’re absolutely delighted." The south end zone complex, the centerpiece of The Championship Vision Capital Campaign, will include state-of-the art facilities like coaches offices, a players lounge, locker rooms, meeting rooms, trophy rooms, training rooms, and an academic center that will include tutorial rooms, computer labs, classrooms for learning and more. A similar facility already exists at the University of Texas, which has give UT a major recruiting edge over A&M in recent years. O’Connell Robertson & Associates, along with Heery International, designed UT’s Moncrief-Neuhaus complex. The same combination will handle the A&M facility. "I think it’s important that O’Connell Robertson and Heery International understand what is in place at Texas and understand our competition," said Penny King, Texas A&M’s senior associate athletic director/business. "We’ve challenged them to build a facility on our campus that is even better and will give us a competitive edge." Gen. Wesley E. Peel, the A&M system’s vice chancellor for facilities planning and construction, said the $26.5 million project should be completed by the summer or fall of 2003 – if the gift money is available. The project will be temporarily shelved if the funding is not in place, Peel said. A&M cannot afford for that to happen. The Aggies are already painfully behind numerous schools across the country in terms of facilities for student-athletes. A&M’s football program is essentially using the same locker room facility that the Aggies used in the late 1970s. From first-hand visits to competing universities, A&M officials have seen how far the Aggies have slipped behind schools like Florida State, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, Penn State, Ohio State and others. "The (facilities) tour we went on before unveiling The Championship Vision campaign was absolutely an eye-opening experience for me," said campaign chairman Jack Little, who was one of several A&M officials to tour the facilities at Alabama, Florida State, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas in February. "It was mind-boggling to see how much money they had put into these facilities, and I think it’s a direct tie to the success of those programs. It just points out how far we need to go to be of equal stature or above. "I see it as a critical need for our athletic programs. To compete at the top level, it takes a commitment from not just the players and coaches and faculty; it also takes a commitment from the former students and fans. We cannot continually expect to win recruiting battles with those schools for top student-athletes unless we make a major commitment to upgrading our facilities." The competition among architectural firms was intense, Groff said. Four firms were seeking the A&M project, with O’Connell Robertson & Associates Inc. winning the award in a closed balloting process. "While we had a relationship with HKS in designing the masterplan for facilities, the selection of a firm went through the normal Texas A&M system process," Groff said. "We had four very qualified architectural firms competing for the job, and all four made outstanding presentations. It’s a shame we had to narrow it to just one, but we are very pleased with the selection of O’Connell Robertson." Interestingly, Chris J. Lammers will serve as the project director for O’Connell Robertson. Lammers, who earned his undergraduate degree from A&M in 1986 and received his Master’s in Architecture at A&M in 1990, also played football for the Aggies in the early ‘80s. "I think that gives Chris some real insight into what we are trying to accomplish," Groff said. "Because he is a former student and a former football player, he’ll lend a perspective to the project that others probably couldn’t." Heery International also lends perspective and experience in the realm of college athletics that few firms across the country could match. Heery has led athletic expansion/construction projects at universities such as Florida, Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and Texas. If the funding is in place, Groff said it is feasible that the initial construction of the project could begin within a year’s time, following an eight- or nine-month design phase and the construction bidding process. Models and drawings – for recruiting and fund-raising purposes – should be completed shortly after the design phase.
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