Strength in numbers
8-10-01
By CRAIG T. GREENLEE, Staff Writer
News & Record
GREENSBORO -- State-of-the-art training facilities do not win championships. But in NCAA sports, having a top-flight facility can go a long way in helping a program establish a national reputation.
As N.C. A&T begins preseason football practice today, there is an air of excitement around campus. The opening of the school's newly completed training center is expected to produce handsome dividends for Aggies football in particular, and for the school's athletics programs in general.
The Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Fitness and Wellness Center, located at the open end of the Aggie Stadium horseshoe, has been a long time coming. A&T spent $3.2 million to build and furnish the 25,000-square-feet facility, which features two spacious locker rooms, a modernized weight room and sports medicine area. Other amenities include a multi-purpose classroom, administrative offices, a laundry area and ample storage space for football equipment.
"Everything (in the center) is top-of-the-line," said senior safety Brice McLean, who works as a personal trainer at the Pyramids Fitness Centers during the offseason. "It's good that we now have access to the kind of facility that will help us become good enough to compete successfully at the national level. We see this as the start of building a new dynasty."
A&T coach Bill Hayes has waited 14 years for a new facility. He was told a training center would be built when he was hired in 1988. But it wasn't until two years ago at the ground-breaking ceremony that Hayes began to see some tangible evidence. Now that the center is operational, he says A&T will have a better chance of attracting a greater number of top-shelf athletes.
With the opening of the Bryan Center, the Aggies rank favorably with Florida A&M, Hampton and Howard, who are acknowledged around the MEAC for the quality of their training facilities.
"This will really jump-start our recruiting," Hayes said. "Now we have something to show impressionable high school players. They want a nice weight room, training room and all those things. And now we have that to offer."
In spite of its lack of top-grade facilities, A&T hasn't fared badly. During the Hayes era, the Aggies have a .639 winning percentage, which includes three MEAC championships and two Division I-AA playoff appearances. Last season, A&T finished 8-3 but failed to win back-to-back conference titles when they suffered a surprise 46-45 loss to Delaware State. In this year's preseason voting, the Aggies are the hands-down favorite to win the MEAC and an automatic playoff bid.
"In the past, we didn't have a whole lot, so we did the best with what we had," sophomore wide receiver Derek Becton said. "We've finally got what we've been needing, so all of us are expecting to be so much better. We'll put this (new facility) to good use."
The Bryan Center represents a stark contrast to A&T's previous training quarters, the Strickland Field House. The outdated field house, built in the early 1950s, could handle just 35 players, which was the standard number of players for a college football team 40 years ago. Today's A&T teams have 85 to 90 players. Aside from the cramped locker room, the field house had a small dressing/shower space for the coaching staff and not much space left over for team trainers and the equipment staff to work with.
"A&T is making all the right moves," said Delaware State coach Ben Blacknall, an A&T alumnus who was a longtime assistant at South Carolina State before taking over as the Hornets' head coach in 2000.
"I was teasing coach Hayes about (the new facility) at the MEAC football press conference. I told him I'd rather be in the tent. That way, I'd have an excellent way to keep my players motivated by reminding them how A&T gave us bad accommodations as a visiting team.
"But seriously, what they're doing says so much about their program. It's progress and I'm glad to see it."