You know, when Greg McGarity gets off his my precioussss shtick, and talks about the nuts and bolts, the lack of a rush to fill Mark Richt’s Christmas stocking with an indoor practice facility is a rational call. I mean, when you get down to it, here’s the reality:
4. The football team wouldn’t use it that much for actual practice
The reason there hasn’t been much urgency is that the Bulldogs don’t actually have to cancel practice or bus to Flowery Branch that much. Every time it happens it looks bad to not have a facility, but it happens infrequently enough that the administration has to weigh that against the cost.
“You can count on your hands how many times we would have needed it this year. You can probably count it on one hand. Two days against Tech. Probably the first day of bowl practice,” McGarity said. “So that’s a significant investment for something that is used infrequently.”
Ten million bucks to relieve the head coach of less than five days of inconvenience is a luxury. That’s all. It hasn’t cost the program a title (and remember McGarity comes from another program that won two national titles without having an IPF); I’d have a hard time pointing to a specific loss and blaming that on adverse practice conditions, for that matter.
My only question is why didn’t he start with this explanation instead of “you want it, fans, you buy it”?
Get The Picture 
I get the cost vs. usage argument … just as I used to have to explain to the transplanted Yankees when I lived in Raleigh, NC as to why the city/county didn’t have an over-abundance of snow moving equipment. I think the true measure of the IPF would be answered by this question … Aren’t there other uses the facility be used for?
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Every additional use adds to the cost and still doesn’t answer the question whether it’s worth it. If we have to make a big investment in facility, I would suggest knocking down the Coliseum and start over. It’s a facility that costs us games because recruits clearly see we don’t invest in basketball when they see us on TV.
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That’s what we need the swiss army knife of a IPF. Gee. Now everyone can share. And the budget stays a $100 a square foot. Gotcha.
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It is not a matter of the 5 days of practice, it is a matter of perspective for recruiting and PR. Giving the team(s) every advantage and bells and whistles sets the tone for not just practice but stating to everyone in the AD from coaches on down that the school/athletic department is first class and expects the coaches and players to do the same.
And Merry Christmas to everyone.
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Agree
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Why not spend the $10 million on more staff or a better player lounge or over the top food or etc.?
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Right. Imagine what solid gold toilets in Butts Mehre would communicate?
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Not trying to derail, but this just occurred to me. If JHC is suspended for the bowl game for weed, then he would miss 3 more next year right? He already missed Clemson for such a violation.
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You are correct, but everything that has been rumored is that it is due to academics for both he and Dawson, not drugs. And they aren’t just random rumors, it’s coming from guys like Radi Nabulsi who cover the program.
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I’ve never understood the urgent need for the facility, either. It’s not like we have Big 10 winters in Athens. I get that it’s snazzy for recruits, but isn’t that part of why BM was upgraded? We’re never going to have facilities like Oregon unless I strike oil in my backyard, but the ones we have are pretty damn nice.
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An IPF doesn’t have to just be for the football team. Many schools use it year around for all sports. I don’t understand why it couldn’t be built and used this way to justify the need.
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It costs $10 Mil. To a university that makes $45 Mil profit per year and has $70 Mil in the bank that’s not a significant amount. I don’t care how you finance it. Build the damn thing, then find other uses for other teams/university functions so it will benefit more than just the football team. Quit being cheap–it’s embarrassing to the alumni and holds the school up to ridicule by other programs.It also demonstrates a lack of commitment institutionally to winning which, in reality, is the biggest problem we have at the University of Georgia.
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Mayor of Dawgtown is absolutely right. It’s all about recruiting and spending a few bucks. NC’s and BCS bowls don’t come cheap. You compete to the best of your ability or you get out of the game.
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Your post reminds me of a story about the Bear meeting with Alabama boosters before he took the HC job at Bama. I heard he arrived deliberately late, walked into the room and tossed his hat on the conference table. “Gentlemen”, he said,”if you want Me and you want Championships be prepared to get off your wallets!”
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Yep, either we have to keep up in the SEC arms race or sit on our academic / doing things the right way / disciplinarian attitude and join the Big Ten
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Or ACC…….Or AAC.
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I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think the lack of that facility might cost us one 4 to five star recruit per year that was on the fence between us and another program. That means at any one time the damn thing might be worth 4-6 additional quality players on the roster. If that’s worth one more win every two years they should build it.
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I don’t really see the correlation to winning a MNC and an IPF, but I do think if the HC wants it the AD should listen. Rather than pay 2 cupcakes $500,000 per year, improve the schedule and you can self-finance this thing in 10 years or so. I’m sure the RedCoat Band will appreciate it on a rainy day too!
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Or rearrange the schedule so that we play 7-8 home games every season like every other team in the SEC except Georgia.
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BTW, just as an example, look at Auburn’s schedules from 2014 going back 5 years. Usually 8 home games and never fewer than 7. http://www.fbshedules.com/ncaa-13sec/2013-auburn-tigers-football-schedule.php
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While looking over the Vols schedule earlier this season, I was amazed at the number of home games they have. This led me to review other SEC teams. I was floored to see 7,8,7,7,8 home games. As much as I love heading down to Jax, I would live 7 or 8 home games even more! As for the IPF, AusDawg hit the nail on the head. If the coach asks for an IPF it is up to McFrugal to make it happen. And Yesterday!
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Yeah, but tradition says we have to play 5 of our 8 conference games away from home every other year because of Jacksonville and an out of conference “rivalry” game.
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UGA makes more from the WLOCP than it does from a home/away series.
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Or..bargin for a percent (75?) of the 10 million to be spent on upgrading other physical aspects of the football scene at UGA…For instance…college football’s greatest dining facility with the best food. An athletic dept. “motor pool” with vehicles that can be “checked out” by certain players for “team” or “institutional” purposes…and annual “training” trip for the football team to a fun place like Jeykll Is. or Atlantis….I believe there are things that would be more appealing to a recruit than an IPF…and besides..telling them that they get to use the Falcons facility isn’t exactly a downer…
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I agree. We need to be creative instead of keeping up with the Joneses. Especially when our players get to go to an NFL facility 5 times per year.
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When Todd Gurley made his announcement, he said the food at the dining halls was one of the reasons he chose UGA. I don’t think we need to worry about the cuisine.
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Outdoor practices are good for teams in the south. The heat and humidity gets our guys ready for the four quarters of ball each Saturday in September. But, not only are there a few rain/cold practices lost in Nov.Dec., there have to days lost in August due to the new heat restrictions. I know the heat restrictions in GHSA are really affecting our high schools in south Ga. Also, I agree with most of the above – what is the big deal about 10 million? Isn’t our program in the top 5 or so in the nation in revenue?
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A a swiss army knife style IPF for many types of sports is gonna cost a alot more than 10 million.
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From what I’ve heard, it might be closer to $20M.
Whatever, if we build one, it should be a well built one that will last, and such that we can improve it as need be and money allows. Which would likely raise the original cost, I would think.
~~~
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That’s the catch… depends on what “it” is. IPF are have pretty straight forward design criteria depending on what part of the country you are in. Large covered space with a high ceiling. $140 a square foot would do it. Add offices?, rehab stations?, storage?, meeting room?, Viewing seats? mobile camera? and make it some type of hybrid facility would drive prices up. Baseball is a total different type of IPF. That dog won’t hunt. Track wouldn’t be hard to work in. I don’t believe its practical to move the facility away from where we currently practice track and football. Use would go way up if it were close by. We are lucky to have our team sport area located where they are. It’s just like everything else that’s new that gets build on campus. Something else has got to be torn down. I use to play racquetball in the old gym and listen to concerts there. Are they keeping Legion pool?
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I too played racquet ball there. Cut throat…
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Still playing racquetball. Knee no longer tolerates tennis serves, 10Ks, basketball rebounds, or jumping out of the back of pickup trucks. However, racquetball is still acceptable to the squeaky joint.
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No longer do I engage in the activities of my youth. Yesterday, I did practice my putting on the living room floor most of the day. A lot of one putts.
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Using a similar strain of logic, we also use Sanford for football only a few times a year. And we certainly don’t need to continually upgrade the HD screens and advertising boards to play the game. Other sports could be played on the stadium surface if efficiency is our end goal. Not doing so doing so would make us appear cheap, but isn’t that where McFrugal is going anyway? An indoor practice field is about much more than utilizing it the 2-3 times a year the team goes to Suwanee. Wouldn’t it also benefit the players during other times of the year for their own practice needs outside the total team?
Might some recruits/players wonder how committed UGA is to compete with those judged to be “best in class”? Do 18 year olds have a less practical approach to facilities? Even Spurrier’s mind, which seems to be on vacation a lot these years, seems to get why an IPF is a big deal.
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But Sanford holds almost 100K seats that people pay a lot of money to sit in….and concessions….It’s a money maker…If you can open up an IPF and have it make money, it’ll get done.
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Weddings and receptions. Pay for itself within a year.
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The SEC Championship Game is played in a dome – every year.
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+1. On artificial turf, which the IPF would have.
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Maybe we can buy some scrap parts since Arthur and ATL are willing to throw a $billion + away by abandoning a perfectly good building. Hwy 316 is wide enough since we only need about 5% of it trucked over.
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Since the senator brought up stocking stuffers, I’m going to shamelessly brag about the fact that, thanks to having the coolest wife ever, I now have a full size replica helmet signed by Herschel Walker. So, there you go.
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Also, this is completely off topic, but has anyone ever tried to find a pair of our uniform pants? Thought that would be a cool addition to a man room, but I can’t find them anywhere.
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Football uniform pants? I’m curious. Do plan on putting them on the wall, building a model or wearing them on game day. I have a friend who sometimes puts a Georgia helmet on while in his mancave. 😉
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My thought was to maybe frame them along with a jersey. Or try to get them signed someday and frame them by themselves. It would just be for display. I just have never seen them before as memorabilia and thought it would be a unique piece.
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Owned a Sports bar And Grille in B ham. We had some framed pants along with a bunch of crazy sports memorabilia. You can imagine with all those local BAMA And Aubun folks.
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Roll some turf out in Stegman.
It’s not like we have a viable sports program using that space right now anyway. :-;
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Two observations …
1. GT has a freekin IPF
2. How many times / year is the oversized banquent hall attached to the BM building used?
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What’s it to you?
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