Story by Chris Cotillo
When N.C. State football coach Dave Doeren took over in 2013, it didn’t take long for him to prioritize the addition of an indoor practice facility for the Wolfpack.
The key for Doeren? Finding donors whose generosity would allow the $14 million complex to be built without using any public or university funds. So Doeren struck up a conversation with Derick Close, a 1982 N.C. State graduate and heir to the Springs Industries textile fortune.
“Dave mentioned that an indoor practice facility was critical for the practice, timing and conditioning of his team,” Close said. “Here situated in the Southeast, weather certainly could impact their preparation.”
Close, the CEO of Springs Creative, was serving on the Wolfpack Club Board of Directors when discussions began about the indoor facility. He partnered with fellow N.C. State alum Jim King to provide the lead gifts for the building, which sits next to PNC Arena and Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.
Though Close declined to reveal the amount of his donation, it was enough for him and King to secure naming rights once the building opened in June 2015.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to work alongside Jim King and provide the university the funding to make the Close-King center a reality,” Close said. “I’ll never be able to repay N.C. State for all the education and contacts they’ve supplied me with.”
Boosters such as Close are vital figures in today’s intercollegiate athletic landscape, as they allow schools to stay competitive in the ever-evolving arms race of facilities, equipment and recruiting. The logic behind it is simple: coaches want the best resources possible to attract 17- and 18-year-old prospects to the program, and donors want to help their schools reap the many rewards of successful athletics.
In August 2011, Duke became the first Triangle university to open an indoor football facility when a $6 million donation from alum Bob Pascal led to the creation of the Pascal Field House. N.C. State followed suit three years later, breaking ground on the Close-King center in August 2014. And with construction now underway on a $35 million practice facility in Chapel Hill, it’s clear that a region widely regarded as a college basketball mecca is facing a new reality: being fully immersed in the college football arms race.
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The main goal of indoor football facilities is simple: allowing the team to practice on a full field, regardless of weather conditions. In previous years, Carolina’s football team would have to practice inside the smaller Eddie Smith Field House if conditions were bad, not allowing productive, full-team practices.
UNC’s coaching staff made it clear that an indoor complex was a necessary next step for the program and the university’s Board of Governors approved the project in Nov. 2015. Two years later, a new indoor practice building and two adjacent practice fields is scheduled to open in early August, allowing head coach Larry Fedora to use the facility before the beginning of next season.
The practice center will include a full-sized, 120-yard football field, 25 feet of sideline runoff on all sides and a 75-foot roof that allows full kicking and punting drills. It’s one of four major athletic facility projects currently in progress on campus, along with a new soccer and lacrosse stadium, field hockey stadium and track and field complex.
While the indoor component is the main attraction of the football program’s new complex, it’s not the only addition. Next to the building will be two full-length practice fields; one with grass and one with synthetic turf so the team can simulate game situations on both surfaces.
UNC is actually one of the last major football programs to incorporate a full-length indoor complex, with ACC rivals Clemson (2012) and Florida State (2013) having renovated or built full-length indoor centers in previous years. For administrators like Bunting, the dream of a place where a football team can practice regardless of weather conditions quickly became a necessity.
“So many people have these buildings,” said Mike Bunting, the school’s associate athletic director for facility planning and management. “Almost literally, everyone does. There’s probably only eight schools [of the 65 Power 5 schools] that don’t.”
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At UNC, funding of the project is completely in the hands of The Rams Club, Carolina’s main athletic booster club. John Montgomery, the club’s executive director, said that donors have already contributed more than half of the $35 million required for the project and that he is confident in completing the campaign before August.
“We’ve done football projects before, and we have a really strong support group for football,” Montgomery said. “We have a need for football, we go to that group. We work with our total donor base because others are interested in football. We have major gift officers who work with our donor base one-on-one to secure the gifts. It’s like any other campaign we do. We certainly have a target market and know what our donors have done in the past. We know who to approach first.”
While the naming rights to some of UNC’s new facilities have already been claimed, Montgomery said that the process of naming the indoor complex is ongoing. A donation of $5 million would secure naming rights to the indoor center, while the name of the entire practice complex (including the outdoor fields) comes with a $10 million cost.
Though some may scoff at the $35 million price tag of an upgrade for a historically mediocre football program, the price of doing business is higher than ever in intercollegiate sports. According to a USA Today survey, Carolina’s entire athletic program brought in $95,175,985 in revenue in 2016, while N.C. State’s program brought in $80,225,029.
“College athletics have become a big business,” Close said. “When conducted in the right manner, they can lead a lot of constituents back to campus.”
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Though the ability to hold practices without having to factor in weather is the main calling card of indoor facilities, their utility is starting to stretch far past the convenience of dry practices. Recruits want to see glimmering, state-of-the-art practice centers. Student-athletes want to have access to the best equipment and turf. And now more than ever, athletic administrators are finding unique ways to create revenue even when athletic events aren’t going on.
Colleen Johnson, a former gymnast at the University of Florida, was hired by N.C. State in July as the athletic program’s director of special events. Her job, which is becoming more common in athletic departments across the country, is to schedule a variety of events such as business meetings, dinners, galas and conventions at various facilities in Raleigh.
“We have, in the past year, really started to make note of our athletic facilities and the bigger picture beyond just the use for athletic events,” Johnson said. “Not only does it draw revenue for when the buildings are not in use for football games or other events, but it definitely promotes our university and athletic department. It helps support the N.C. State community beyond just in an athletic way.”
The Close-King building, in particular, hosts football-related events like flag football tournaments and charity events for the Holt Brothers Foundation, led by former N.C. State standout Torry Holt. Because there is no food allowed inside the building, Johnson said, larger dinners and are usually held in places like Reynolds Coliseum or Vaughn Towers.
Carolina’s new indoor building is less likely to host events due to its lack of air conditioning. That decision, Bunting said, is partially due to cost concerns but also serves a design purpose for the football program.
“The way we want to operate the building… football wants to be able to have the big garage doors open and [let practice] flow in and out of the building onto the adjacent practice fields,” Bunting said. “It really doesn’t make a lot of sense to air-condition a building if you’re going to keep the doors open all the time.”
Non-athletic special events at Carolina are more likely to be held at Eddie Smith Field House (which will see less use once the indoor facility is built) and the Loudermilk Center for Excellence within Kenan Stadium. In addition, the impact of the new facilities will extend far past the usefulness for student-athletes.
“All the synthetic fields that are being built as part of this project and other ongoing projects… Campus Recreation will benefit from that too,” Bunting said. “They’ll have added field space at their disposal for their programming as well. We’ll share the use of all those things.”
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As college football evolves and the landscape gets increasingly competitive, rival programs like UNC and N.C. State will continue to look toward each other for ideas on how to raise revenue and increase the legitimacy of their programs. In a year in which the Wolfpack have been consistently ranked within the nation’s top 25 and the Tar Heels will struggle to beat an FBS opponent, there’s a growing feeling in Raleigh that Carolina’s construction efforts are simply an attempt to keep up.
“I think you can take a look at what the Joneses have done with the Dallas Cowboys, and the old phrase ‘keeping up with the Joneses,’” Close said. “That may be appropriate here.”
That’s par for the course in the heat of today’s arms race, in which recruits look at everything from facilities to equipment to social media accounts in making their college decision. And once they’re on campus, according to those raising the money to benefit them, they’ll reap the benefits of a program and university always trying to stay at least one step ahead.
“We call it the arms race, but we’re really dedicated to providing a great experience for those student-athletes,” Montgomery said. “I think it’s exciting. I think this football complex is going to be tremendous. I think it’s going to put our coaches in a better position to coach the football team week in and week out during the season, in the spring and in August. That’s just going to enhance the experience at North Carolina.”
