Osborne talks about game plan
With talk of a downtown arena again heating up, Tom Osborne spent his lunchtime Wednesday speaking to local business leaders about his hopes for the Nebraska athletic department.
The arena topic came up, if only briefly, in the Nebraska athletic director’s hour-long talk set up by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.
Osborne said he’s been in on his share of meetings about a new arena and the amenities that could come with it — a project expected to be heavily publically financed and to cost as much as $236 million. Right now, he considers it “kind of a 50-50 deal” on whether such an undertaking would pass with the voters.
“I think a new arena would certainly serve our basketball team well and I think it could serve the community well,” Osborne said before a packed room at the Country Club of Lincoln.
Keeping in step with what he has said in the past, Osborne said his chief goals for the athletic department include:
* A new academic center.
* Creating a Husker Hall of Fame.
* The hope that the arena idea and an accompanying basketball practice facility might become a reality.
Osborne admitted a practice facility would be “tricky” to finance, but seemed keen on exploring ways to make it happen.
“This is something that produces no revenue and you’re not going to have any games in it,” Osborne said. “But from my understanding, we’re currently the only school in the Big 12 that doesn’t have a basketball practice facility either built or under construction. And, so, if you do have an arena, you probably do have a practice facility either in that arena or next to it.
“How you finance that may be a little bit tricky, but we’d like to have basketball as competitive as possible.”
Osborne estimated such a practice gym could cost anywhere between $12 million and $20 million.
Such practice arenas have become the rage in the facilities’ race.
Better resources do not guarantee better players, but it’s figured they sure can’t hurt in the effort to convince recruits that your school is better than all those others.
“One reason I extended (NU men’s basketball coach) Doc Sadler’s contract, I thought he did a really good job this year and I’d like to see him around long enough to reap the benefits of recruiting with a possible new arena and practice facility,” Osborne said.
Osborne has said in recent interviews that a practice facility is something that would come after other things on his list.
“If (Oklahoma State booster) Boone Pickens swings up this way and drops $15 million on us, we’d be happy to take it,” Osborne told the Journal Star last month when discussing a practice venue. “Hopefully, there might be some contributors.”
As important as anything to Osborne is a new academic center. He said the current one has seen few changes since 1983. “Right now it’s adequate.”
The academic center could also serve as the setting for life-skills programs Osborne wants to help the roughly 550 Husker student-athletes have the tools to succeed outside the lines.
The idea is that the programs would work with athletes on such skills as resume writing, how to do interviews, knowing about finances, landing internships and so on.
“The main thing is to try to take care of them,” Osborne told the crowd. “They’re not like used cars, not like groceries on a shelf. They’re people.”
As for a hall of fame building, Osborne said it would be welcome to have one place where people could go to get a look at things of the Husker past. As it is, memorabilia is scattered and not always easy to find.
“You really need a state-of-the-art hall of fame (building) if you’re going to be a top-flight athletic program,” Osborne said.
Reach Brian Christopherson at bchristopherson@journalstar.com or 473-7439,
The arena topic came up, if only briefly, in the Nebraska athletic director’s hour-long talk set up by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.
Osborne said he’s been in on his share of meetings about a new arena and the amenities that could come with it — a project expected to be heavily publically financed and to cost as much as $236 million. Right now, he considers it “kind of a 50-50 deal” on whether such an undertaking would pass with the voters.
“I think a new arena would certainly serve our basketball team well and I think it could serve the community well,” Osborne said before a packed room at the Country Club of Lincoln.
Keeping in step with what he has said in the past, Osborne said his chief goals for the athletic department include:
* A new academic center.
* Creating a Husker Hall of Fame.
* The hope that the arena idea and an accompanying basketball practice facility might become a reality.
Osborne admitted a practice facility would be “tricky” to finance, but seemed keen on exploring ways to make it happen.
“This is something that produces no revenue and you’re not going to have any games in it,” Osborne said. “But from my understanding, we’re currently the only school in the Big 12 that doesn’t have a basketball practice facility either built or under construction. And, so, if you do have an arena, you probably do have a practice facility either in that arena or next to it.
“How you finance that may be a little bit tricky, but we’d like to have basketball as competitive as possible.”
Osborne estimated such a practice gym could cost anywhere between $12 million and $20 million.
Such practice arenas have become the rage in the facilities’ race.
Better resources do not guarantee better players, but it’s figured they sure can’t hurt in the effort to convince recruits that your school is better than all those others.
“One reason I extended (NU men’s basketball coach) Doc Sadler’s contract, I thought he did a really good job this year and I’d like to see him around long enough to reap the benefits of recruiting with a possible new arena and practice facility,” Osborne said.
Osborne has said in recent interviews that a practice facility is something that would come after other things on his list.
“If (Oklahoma State booster) Boone Pickens swings up this way and drops $15 million on us, we’d be happy to take it,” Osborne told the Journal Star last month when discussing a practice venue. “Hopefully, there might be some contributors.”
As important as anything to Osborne is a new academic center. He said the current one has seen few changes since 1983. “Right now it’s adequate.”
The academic center could also serve as the setting for life-skills programs Osborne wants to help the roughly 550 Husker student-athletes have the tools to succeed outside the lines.
The idea is that the programs would work with athletes on such skills as resume writing, how to do interviews, knowing about finances, landing internships and so on.
“The main thing is to try to take care of them,” Osborne told the crowd. “They’re not like used cars, not like groceries on a shelf. They’re people.”
As for a hall of fame building, Osborne said it would be welcome to have one place where people could go to get a look at things of the Husker past. As it is, memorabilia is scattered and not always easy to find.
“You really need a state-of-the-art hall of fame (building) if you’re going to be a top-flight athletic program,” Osborne said.
Reach Brian Christopherson at bchristopherson@journalstar.com or 473-7439,
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