In an exclusive conversation with LeMoyne College Athletics Director Bob Beretta, he told me that following the addition of a concessions and restrooms building at Ted Grant Field, new dugouts at the baseball field, and a press box at the softball field, the school is now looking to revitalize and reimagine the Event and Recreation Center that houses the coaches' offices, locker rooms, workout areas, swimming pool, and more, including being the home of men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, and men's and women's swimming and diving.
""We soft-launched our $40 million capital campaign which will completely transform this building, our Event and Recreation Center, for not only student-athletes, but our students here at LeMoyne, too," said Beretta.
As far as when LeMoyne would like to start on this project, "Our hope right now is to put a shovel in the ground in the summer of 2025," Beretta offered.
The leader of the Dolphins athletic department shared with me that this $40 million upgrade will include "establishing new cardio rooms and strength and conditioning areas" as well as "revitalizing our gym".
The project is fluid as to what is addressed first. "It might be on the recreation side more than the intercollegiate side. It all depends on how our fundraising goes and where our gifts come in," Beretta stated.
"Over on the recreation side, we're talking about, again, revitalizing that gym, creating this grand, it'll be a jewel when we build it, cardio room for fitness, strength and conditioning for our student body, and that'll be a building that faces up the hill and invites people down to come and be part of it," with Beretta emphasizing that this advancement of the Event and Recreation Center is intended for the entire LeMoyne College campus to enjoy.
"So much of it is going to be driven by fundraising. It's going to be outside donors, donor support, and as part of that we have plans drawn up here that'll include revitalization, reimagination of our locker room space, team rooms, video rooms, certainly new coaches' offices, a new strength and conditioning center all on the intercollegiate side."
On both the athletics and on the recreational side, Beretta has seen the need for improvements, improvements he wanted to make for students, student-athletes, and staff, a decision based on wellness for all, with or without their move from NCAA Division II to Division I. "It's not just to support athletics. It's not because of Division I athletics. This building was in need of this type of expansion and revitalization regardless. Matter-of-fact when we started talking about this we were still in the Division II ranks, so this is not a direct reflection of Division I. This is a direct reflection of need and investment and commitment on the side of leadership toward our students, their wellness, their recreation, their ability to be able to go into a quality place and spend time and grow as people, grow physically, and certainly our student-athletes now to be able to expand on our offerings down here."
Beretta believes that this reimagining of the Event and Recreation Center can "help us maybe grow our roster sizes because, right now, our locker room space is really, really tight, and I think if we have the opportunity to expand some locker rooms, we can maybe grow some rosters as well and that'll help the enrollment plan here on the college."
As part of this project, LeMoyne is also looking at creating an outdoor track and outdoor tennis courts, which are included in the $40 million capital campaign.
"When I interviewed on campus my first time that I walked through, I was looking for our track and our tennis courts and we don't have them here. It's a great need," said Beretta.
He noted that despite not having these amenities currently on campus, the men's and women's tennis and men's and women's track teams have navigated the waters well, as the Dolphins have had to practice and compete offsite. "A great tremendous tribute to our coaches, Coach [Jeff] Lonczak (Men's and Women's Tennis) and Coach [Robin] Wheeless (Men's and Women's Track) and their staffs for being able to field such unbelievably successful programs over the years without having those facilities on campus."
At one time in LeMoyne's history, "there were tennis courts outdoors here. I know that they were removed for parking. We have a great need for parking," Beretta shared.
He wants to bring outdoor tennis courts as well as an outdoor track to LeMoyne not just for athletics, but because he sees the bigger picture of the positives they can bring to the entire 'Phin 'Phamily. "We were never able to replace the tennis courts, so it's something that while the track and tennis courts will serve our student-athletes exceedingly-well, those are two areas that are going to serve the greater campus exceedingly-well. When you talk about health and wellness for our staff, our faculty, our student body that want to come down recreationally and play tennis, they'll be able to do that. If they want to take an hour at lunch to go for a walk on a track or work out on a track, and another turf in there, right on the infield, gives us additional opportunities for our teams to train on, our intramurals teams, our club sport teams to practice on."
"It's much more than just intercollegiate athletics," Beretta exclaimed. "It's something that will serve the greater community here at LeMoyne exceedingly-well."
Beretta shared with me that LeMoyne College has been working with Moody Nolan in developing this multi-faceted project. Moody Nolan is the largest African American-owned design firm in the country, founded in 1982.
"It'll be a phased project over five years and it has to be sequenced properly because our coaches' offices are entangled right now with our locker rooms and we know that Step A leads to Step B leads to Step C. There's a domino effect, so there'll be great thought into strategically sequencing this, but over the next five years once we begin construction in the Summer of 2025, if we can gain the funding needed to begin the project, it'll be a consistent amount of construction down here over the following five years," said Beretta.
There will be unique opportunities for donors to be an integral part of this plan.
"We have naming rights opportunities and many different elements to this plan," Beretta added.
LeMoyne College is in a place where they are not just welcoming change, they are creating it.
These Dolphins are not just testing the waters.
They are leaping out into unchartered waves and swimming to a new horizon.
Life "On the Heights" is evolving.
The heartbeat of this Jesuit institution is becoming louder and clearer with each passing day.
So, how will you involve yourself in history?
Are you ready to dive in?
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