Feb. 8, 2002

By Mike Sullivan
North County Times

SAN DIEGO - There was a recurring theme during the football recruiting season. Every time a player orally committed to attend San Diego State, the youngster would mention the university's new $20 million Aztec Athletic Center as one of the prime reasons.

Comments such as ``the new facility is awesome'' or ``they have the best weight room on the West Coast'' or ``the facilities just blew me away'' became commonplace.

What became apparent was this: In the eyes of talented athletes, facilities matter.

``We tell them we've got a new facility and they come in and actually see it and they're kind of blown away,'' recruiting coordinator Brian Stark said. ``In the past, a recruit would come in and they'd have a great time at San Diego State and they might like the coaches and the players and while the facilities were nice, they weren't quite up to par.

``It really made a difference for us. Everything's first class here now.''

The four-story, 130,000-square foot facility opened in late summer. On Saturday, athletic administrators are inviting the public to attend an open house from noon to 1 p.m. prior to the men's basketball game against Utah at 3.

After the open house, the public is invited to attend an ``Aztecs Insider.'' The event will run from 1 to 2 and is scheduled to feature athletic director Rick Bay, football coach Tom Craft, men's basketball coach Steve Fisher and women's basketball coach Barb Smith. Each person will speak and field questions.

What the public will see is the first semblance of SDSU having a complex similar to most major universities. Before the opening of the Aztec Athletic Center, the athletic department was housed in an old two-story complex just to the north that was built in 1953. The antiquated building had no heating or air conditioning.

``I don't think I can walk through that building again without having a nervous breakdown,'' Bay said.

The new facility, funded by Padres owner John Moores and wife Becky, includes a 14,000-foot weight room, an elaborate video system and a 220-seat auditorium.

Sure to impress most visitors is the Wise Foundation Hall of Fame, located on the first floor of the East entrance. Booster Dennis Wise contributed $400,000 towards the Hall of Fame and many of the items displayed were received on loan from the Hall of Champions. The 5,000-square foot Hall of Fame was designed by Ellen Meador.

There are eight gigantic murals on the wall honoring past stars, including Tony Gwynn and Marshall Faulk. And if you doubt that SDSU has ever knocked off a football power, all you have to do is head to one of the interactive kiosks and you can watch video highlights of the Aztecs' 41-16 thrashing of No. 15 Florida State in 1977.

Plaques honoring the 70 inductees of the school's athletic Hall of Fame were scheduled to arrive Thursday and will be on display Saturday.

Just to the west of the Hall of Fame is the state-of-the-art weight room that is nearly twice as large as SDSU's old weight room. It contains an Olympic surface indoor track straight-away in addition to a variety of different weight machines.

``Everybody's interested in weight training now,'' said director of strength and conditioning Dave Ohton. ``Even the teams that didn't take it seriously before. The facility alone has increased their efforts and attendance, which is important.''

The new video room is more than four times larger than the old quarters. The new high-tech equipment has made it a breeze for the video staff to provide tapes to coaches.

``We can copy up to 21 tapes at a time,'' said video coordinator Frank Musgrove, adding that the department has archived tapes of every Aztecs football game dating back to the start of the 1994 season.

Also on the ground floor are an athletic training center and locker rooms for every sport, including an expansive football locker room, and the auditorium in which press conferences were held to announce the hirings of Craft and future baseball coach Gwynn.

The football staff is housed on the second floor. One of the highlights is the recruiting lounge in which the NFL uniforms of 16 different former Aztecs ---- the number will soon increase ---- are displayed. In additions to the coaching offices, there are 11 different meeting rooms, including a large one that adjoins the office of Craft.

The men's and women's basketball offices are on the third floor, right down the hall from Bay and other top-level administrators. An academic center complete with a computer lab also is on the floor.

Coaches from the nonrevenue sports are housed on the fourth floor, as are other administrators.

Bay's office is much more spacious than his old quarters.

``I never saw that building until after I took the job,'' said Bay, hired in 1995. ``I tried to keep people away from my office when we were in that building.

``This facility feels more like a major college building, like you'd find at a major athletic program.''