On June 7, the Tech athletics department publicly released renderings and ideas of new buildings regarding their Athletics Initiative 2020, along with goals regarding funding and endowments within the department.
The goal of this initiative is to address the needs of the student-athletes while making events and buildings more friendly for spectator events, donor visitations and those coming to examine Tech as a possible future school.
Todd Stansbury, the current Director of Athletics at Tech, has made it his mission to build upon the excellence that the Jackets have worked hard to achieve both in and out of the classroom. He has adopted the term “Everyday Champions” when describing the student-athletes and how he sees the culture of the athletics department. His goals ever since he arrived at Tech in 2016 have involved establishing and refining the culture of Tech athletics in a way that will allow the student-athletes to succeed at the highest level. Stansbury has done this through the creation of new student-athlete-led clubs that allow for a focus on what the student-athletes show specific interest in, such as real estate or medicine, along with increased connections between faculty and the students on a day-to-day basis.
The initiative aims to raise $125 million for facilities, endowments and operations within athletics while addressing needs that have long existed, especially in terms of renovations. The majority of the funding is intended for facilities renovations, including that of the primary athletics Edge/Rice Center building, phase II of the Russ Chandler baseball stadium’s renovation, the completion of the football locker room renovation and an overhaul of both the men’s and women’s basketball locker rooms.
The three pillars of the initiative encompass these improvements along with an emphasis on endowments and gifts to the Athletic Scholarship Fund to support those to come. The athletics department relies not only on the alumni who have risen through the ranks, but also on the future generations of those who enter the athletics association to support a legacy.
The perks of these changes will be visible through the provision of new tools within the athletics department when it comes to building student-athletes and recruiting those that come next.
As of June 14, $28 million had been raised towards the initiative. There are multiple renderings of the various facilities as well as a video of the entire plan.
More details and specific funding numbers can be found at www.gtathl.com/2020/.