NIU football coach Joe Novak said he’s seen big donations of late toward an indoor athletic facility.

“We’re still in the process,” Novak said. “It’s still the top priority for us.”

There are no current plans to build an indoor practice facility with a football field and track, Novak said.

The proposed athletic facility, which will be paid by private donations, would consist of an academic- and computer-access center, weight room facility, meeting rooms, training rooms, locker rooms and offices.

“Right now, our training facility is a joke,” Novak said. “Our meeting rooms are atrocious. Some of our players have to hold team meetings in racquet ball courts.”

The potential weight room would be twice as large as the current one at Huskie Stadium, Novak said. Many teams would have their own locker rooms and team meeting rooms, which isn’t the case as the football team shares its locker rooms with the men’s soccer team.

The vision

Indoor practice facilities comparable to Western Michigan’s $25 million one also run as low as Oregon State’s $10 million facility.

NIU men’s soccer coach Steve Simmons said the talk before his arrival in 2002 was to build an indoor soccer and track practice facility.

Simmons envisions an indoor facility that would accommodate not just football and soccer, but baseball, softball, track and golf.

Novak also said he could see seating put in front of the currently-planned facility to enclose the north end zone.

“It could be a possibility some day,” Novak said. “If our success continues for a while and the program stays solid, then maybe one day it could happen.”

NIU Athletics Director Jim Phillips, who took the job Aug. 30, is in the process of collecting views of coaches and student-athletes on NIU’s athletic facilities.

“Some of our facilities are terrific, and others need serious attention,” Phillips said. “But our strategy has to melt in with the university’s master plan.”

The payoff

Though Simmons and Novak said the new facility would help a great deal, an indoor practice facility is desperately needed.

Simmons, who came to NIU from Oregon State, has experienced first-hand the benefits an indoor practice facility can bring.

“At OSU, it changed the whole culture,” Simmons said. “It made athletes training time flexible with their class times.”

OSU had 15 boosters donate enough money to fund a $10 million indoor practice facility, according to the 2002 OSU President’s Report.

Dedicated in 2001, the facility lured former prized recruit Steven Jackson, a two-time All-American who became the first OSU football player to enter the NFL Draft after his junior year.

“Right now, our equipment storage is brutal,” Simmons said. “[Novak’s] plan is a step in the right direction, but an indoor facility would be used from 6 a.m. to midnight, 24-7.”