Early Monday afternoon a number of donors, elected officials, and some of the top Rutgers University brass including president Robert Barchi were in attendance for the placing of the final piece of steel on the roof of the RWJBarabas Health Center - the future practice facilities for Rutgers basketball, wrestling, and gymnastics.
The Knight Report was live on the scene and caught up with Athletic Director Pat Hobbs to discuss the newest facility to be built under his tenure.
“Some of the spaces you walk in and say this wasn’t done right,” Hobbs told The Knight Report. “We are going to walk into this new building and feel really good about the design. Today is about momentum. You sign a piece of steel and it goes up into a building as I talked about earlier folks have said “is this really going to happen”.
"One of my goals for Rutgers is to make people stop saying that and start saying what’s next. These buildings are going to translate into championships. There was a time where I think Rutgers stopped at some of the obstacles, but we are going to get over them and secede them.”
Next up for Hobbs and the university is to focus on the new Gary and Barbara Rodkin Center for Academic Success. This center will be the host to all of the academic support services for athletics, as well as have training facilities for the soccer and lacrosse programs.
“We are in the design phase for the Rodkin Center right now and we are hoping to break ground on that this fall,” said Hobbs. “It will be a different building obviously with a separate soccer and lacrosse building. It will give us another series of naming opportunities, so we can go out to folks and continue to raise money all through next year.”
After the Rodkin Center is ready to go, next on the list of things to help better Rutgers athletics is to help better the gameday experiences for fans.
“I think next we have to start paying more attention to the fan experience inside the stadium and inside the arena,” Hobbs said. “Those are expensive, but many ways they will generate additional revenues. We are going to start talking about that soon. It may start with some small upgrades within the RAC itself just to better the fan experience, but we obviously need wifi in the football stadium. We need a field house as well, there is no end to our list. Our golf programs need a training complex, a lot to do and keep us busy in the years ahead.”
Hobbs went on to talk about some of the minor renovations going on throughout the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) this offseason. Some of those renovations include a new floor, new court logos, and much more.
“Right now we are putting down a new floor, that will have the imprint of New Jersey on the floor,” Hobbs stated. “It will be something very different, so our fans will be greeted by that when they arrive for our games next year. We are looking into a hospitality areas and see if we can do some things to upgrade that. Right now we are also working with a consultant to value our naming rights for the RAC. When we get those reports back we expect to go out in the fall and start working on that.”
Stay tuned right here on TheKnightReport for the latest happenings surrounding Rutgers Athletics!
