Eastern Michigan University President Susan Martin, Athletic Director Derrick Gragg and the Board of Regents are expected to partake in a groundbreaking for a multi-purpose indoor practice facility at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The ceremony is planned to be at the corner of Huron River Drive and Westview Drive – near Oestrike and Rynearson Stadiums where there are currently grass football fields.
“[The facility] is something that I feel is one of the last steps that we can make here to basically level the playing field so to speak,” Gragg said June 24, the day after the regents meeting in which the original announcement was made to build the “bubble” facility.
“When we’re competing against Central and Western Michigan [University], in particular, they have very elaborate indoor facilities. I think this is a very cost-effective way to basically eliminate what we call a recruiting disadvantage [and] a competitive disadvantage.
“You can ask a lot of coaches, you feel like you win and lose games during the off-season,” Gragg said. “Obviously, it’s going to be we feel a great advantage for us going forward.”
