ETSU Sports

[doozer]

What are they building?

[volfanbill]

Originally Posted by VolInsider

There are some awesome plans in the works for facilities up here. Its simply a matter of getting the funding in place, and working on increasing the fan support and broadening the demographics of the fan base. I think developing/improving our game day atmosphere will also have a big effect on that.

if ETSU can get a basketball arena built, it will be a big selling point to the area. Also, it baffles me that ETSU and the Cardinals can't work something out to share a new baseball stadium. How can Tusculum have someone like Niswonger to build everything they need and a whole lot more and ETSU can't find anyone?

Imagine if Niswonger was a UT booster?

[volfanbill]

Originally Posted by doozer

What are they building?

they've built a new soccer stadium, have just started a new softball complex and have long range plans for other facilities. I believe they also upgraded their tennis facilities. Not to mention that freaking awesome Golf Center. That place is top notch. I visited the one for University of Texas this summer (and listened to the coaches brag about it on end) and it has nothing on it.

[doozer]

I can't believe they haven't hit up Kenny Chesney for money. Or have they?

[volfanbill]

Originally Posted by doozer

I can't believe they haven't hit up Kenny Chesney for money. Or have they?

not to my knowledge. I'd seriously hit up Niswonger. He rebuilt just about every athletic facility Tusculum had plus some other buildings, built a performance arts center in Greenville. Greenville? are you serious? He's also paying most the money for the new chidlren's hospital at Johnson City Medical Center.

He's the founder of LandAir transportation. I don't know of any ties he has to Tusculum other than it's in Greenville. He went to Purdue. Why not see if he'll help ETSU out?

[volfanbill]

I stand corrected. According to Scott M. Niswonger Doctor Of Technology he has several ties to Tusculum:

Born and raised in Van Wert, Ohio, Niswonger came to Purdue out of high school and graduated in 1968 with a degree in aviation technology. He is a certified airline transport pilot and has flown everything from J-3 Cubs through Boeing 747 aircraft. He is a graduate of the United Airlines Training Academy in Denver, Colo., and added a degree in business administration from Tusculum College in 1987.

Niswonger co-founded Landair Transport in 1981 with an initial $2,000 investment. Today he is the majority shareholder of Landair Transport while also serving as chairman of Forward Air Corporation, which has been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the "Top 200 Small Companies" in America. The two companies have a combined annual revenue of $370 million, providing high service level truckload operations and contract services to the air cargo industry and time definite shippers.

Niswonger is very active in community affairs. He is past chairman of the Greene County Partnership, serves as a trustee at Tusculum College, is a member of the Dean’s Executive Council for the School of Technology at Purdue, and is a board member and honorary alumnus of East Tennessee State University. In addition, he is an ordained elder in the Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

However, he also has some ties to ETSU. I'd be making a phone call.

[VolInsider]

Originally Posted by doozer

What are they building?

The uber-sweet golf center ($2.4 mil) was finished in '04, and is among the top facilities in the country.

Soccer stadium ($8 mil) will be finished later this spring in time for the new men's soccer program that starts next year (we do have "futbol", lol). The field is already finished and is considered among the best playing fields in the country.

The ground breaking for the softball stadium ($5 mil) was just held last week.

Groundbreaking for the new baseball stadium will be this spring if the financial details are worked out. It will be a joint venture with Johnson City government and will house ETSU and the Johnson City Cardinals. The stadium will be first-class ($10 mil) with field turf, retail areas, etc. Picture if they had built Smokies Park in downtown Knoxville--thats what we're talking about.

New Facilties for Track and Field ($5 mil) and Tennis ($ 3.5 million) should also start sometime in '08. The tennis center will have 12 outdoor and 6 indoor courts, and honestly looks nicer than UT's.

The basketball arena is the last item on the list and will be completed whenever the funds are raised. The current plans are for a $33 million venue that willl seat between 5k-7k. Though details haven't been finalized...I would like some kind of mini-Conseco Fieldhouse that would help blend the downtown and campus architecture. Something like Gonzaga's new arena.

Details about the whole ETSU Capital Campaign can be found here.

[VolInsider]

Originally Posted by volfanbill

Imagine if Niswonger was a UT booster?

He is.

[doozer]

that stuff is awesome.

i wish it had been around when i was there. we had Brooks Gym and the mini-dome. that was it.

where are they putting all these new fields and complexes? there were the intramural fields on the west side of campus but it's not like there was a whole lot of room. i can't imagine them taking out parking lots since there is practically none to begin with.

[volfanbill]

I'll take your word on it Insider, but the info I've received is that getting a deal to work with the city and the Cardinals is at the same stalemate it's been for the past two years. Are they still planning on using that parking lot next to the old furniture factory for the said baseball stadium? It would have some incredible views of Buffalo Mtn if they did. And I thought the tennis facilities were already being built. My bad. ODU just built an uber nice tennis complex that is supposedly the nicest in the nation. I would look at their Ted Constant Center if I were planning to build a basketball arena under 10k. It's currently been named the niced arena of that size.

[volfanbill]

doozer, don't know if you know where the sort of new Kroger is in near JC, but the softball fields are behind it. The golf complex is up behind the university heading towards Cherokee Rd.

[doozer]

the Kroger next to the campus? that was just built when i was there.

i thought there was that apartment complex behind them. i wish i could think of the name of them. i know we drank there A LOT before going out to Rafters. is Rafters still around? it was in the huge warehouse parking lot.

i was there from 99-01, came home and worked for 3 years, went to Pellissippi and ended up graduating from Tusculum, in the Niswonger Commons coincidentally or whatever the new gym/cafeteria/bookstore building is. that thing is NICE!!

[volfanbill]

well. Kroger then the apartments, then in that wide open space that has been dirt for quite some time. I figured the apartments behind the Kroger would be a little obscure.

[Hawkeye]

Lets fan the football fire a little more.

Please read today's Bristol Hearld Courier editorial.

Bring back ETSU football program - Opinions - TriCities.com

[volfanbill]

hawkeye, i admire your efforts, but ETSU has tried to make football successful. They even made a playoff run or two in the final years of their existence. While the region is very much a football region, 90% of all the loyalty goes 100 miles west. Appy State doesn't have to compete with UT quite the same way ETSU does. Johnson City is not a college town like Knoxville, TN or Austin, TX or Ann Arbor, MI or even Boone, NC. The money that ETSU would have to spend on a football team, even if they played their games at (gasp) Spurrier Field, would never come close to matching they money they would have to spend. It's just not a good financial decision. ETSU is showing an effort to revitalize the good parts of ETSU and are even bringing in a pharmacy school. They are doing what they can to make ETSU a good, profitable school.