Just For Comparison

[50's PONY]

Bears' hoops den practice perfection


Sunday, August 20, 2006

By John Werner

Tribune-Herald staff writer

If college basketball is an arms race, Baylor won’t take a back seat to anybody.

With the Lt. Jack Whetsel Jr. Basketball Practice Facility opening this fall, the Baylor men’s and women’s squads will have one of the finest training facilities in the country.


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Baylor broke ground last October on the 43,800 square-foot facility which is connected to the northwest side of the Ferrell Center. The basketball staffs are scheduled to begin moving into their new offices Thursday, and a formal dedication will be held Sept. 8 at 2 p.m.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey. “When a recruit sees the practice facility, they’ve got to be impressed. The great thing is that our players will have access to it all the time. They’ll never have to leave to find a place to work out.”

If an event was scheduled at the Ferrell Center in past seasons, the Baylor basketball teams had to scramble to find gyms on campus or at local high schools and churches to practice. But they’ll never have that problem again.

The $8 million facility features identical men’s and women’s basketball courts in separate rooms. In addition to the goals on each end of the court, three goals will be posted along each side of the court. The goals are special since they were used at last year’s men’s Final Four in Indianapolis and the women’s Final Four in Boston.

The floors of the practice courts are replicas of the Ferrell Center court to give the players a sense of familiarity. There is ample space and padded walls surrounding each court to help the players avoid injuries.

Though the main trainer’s room will remain in the Ferrell Center, satellite trainer’s rooms are located next to each court. The basketball courts will be flanked by a massive weight room.

“Our coaching staff and team are more excited to start this season than ever before,” said Baylor men’s basketball coach Scott Drew. “So many great ideas and technologies have been put into this practice facility. This place is going to be huge for the players. It’s definitely going to help with their development.”

While the bottom floor basketball courts and weight room are the centerpiece of the facility, there are many other features to woo recruits and impress Baylor supporters.

The main entrance features a long hall of champions with showcases on each side that highlight Baylor basketball history. A basketball-shaped chandelier will hang at the end of the hallway in front of an interlocking BU. The hallway separates the men’s and women’s basketball courts.

On the top floor, a large hospitality room will open up to the Ferrell Center concourse, giving Baylor basketball donors a place to congregate before the game. The old Ferrell Center hospitality room has been transformed into a media work room and interview room.

“This place is going to have all the bells and whistles,” said Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw. “The new facility has a lot of beautiful touches that will complement the Ferrell Center. It’s beyond my expectations.”

Everything about the place is designed for tall people. A stairway leading to the second floor has a minimum height of 7 feet and 11 inches.

“We call it our Yao Ming ceiling,” said Baylor men’s assistant coach Matt Driscoll.

While the coaches will move into second-floor offices overlooking the practice courts, the players will dress in recently renovated locker rooms inside the Ferrell Center. Track and volleyball coaches and compliance and media relations personnel will move into the basketball offices at the Ferrell Center.

Baylor has planned for the new practice facility since September 2003. The men’s and women’s coaches toured practice facilities throughout the Big 12 South and tried to draw the best ideas from each. Driscoll also toured practice facilities at Clemson, Florida, Florida State and the NBA’s Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks.

“The original plan was to build both courts side by side in one room,” Driscoll said. “But we thought about it and decided it would be best to have courts in separate rooms so we could practice at the same time if necessary. When we added the hall of champions between the two courts, it brought the facility to a whole new level.”

With the Baylor women winning the 2005 national championship and both teams bringing in nationally ranked recruiting classes, Baylor’s funding for the practice facility picked up steam. Jack Sr. and Martha Whetsel donated a seven-figure lead gift last year. The facility is named after their son, Jack Jr., who attended Baylor in the mid-1960s before he was killed by a land mine two months after he arrived in Vietnam in 1968.

McCaw said the practice facility is already fully funded. Names of donors are inscribed in brick walkways next to the practice facility.

“I’m just so amazed at the generosity of giving and that people want to help us and the men’s basketball program,” Mulkey said. “Without question, it’s a much-needed facility for both baskeball programs.”

Driscoll said Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. construction crews laid down 70,000 bricks and excavated enough dirt to fill four football fields three feet deep.

Mulkey said it’s too hard to choose her favorite part of the practice facility.

“All of it is so impressive that you can’t just choose one area,” Mulkey said. “I can’t wait to get into my new office and put some pictures on the wall.”

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