SHSU Athletics, as part of renovations to the Mafrige Field
House, will move some of its operations to a new complex located on Ave I in
the space vacated by Potato Shack.
The Woodforest National Bank athletic complex, will house
athletic offices for select sports, as well as a learning enhancement center
for student athletes and storage.
SHSU Athletic Director Bobby Williams is excited to increase
the space used for athletes and the growing number of employees working for
SHSU athletics.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to expand our square
footage for a variety of different areas,” Williams said. “We are
very pleased and excited that Woodforest National Bank was able to basically
fund it with their donation. We look at it as a great opportunity to expand a
lot of different things and in this day in age with all of the facilities that
keep staying ahead of the game. We’ve expanded our staff and our student
athletes over the years and a lot of our buildings are 20-30 years old, built
for those type of sizes and now with 17 sports and 450 student athletes and 100
staff or more, we need more square footage. So, coming down the line that is
going to be a big game changer for us.”
Not only does the new facility have space for athletic
offices, but potentially centralized operations for the Bearkat Sports Network.
Associate Athletic Director of Media Relations Jason
Barfield elaborated on the possibility of adding studio space to the Bearkat
Sports Network to meet growing demands.
“In the plans we have right now, we are looking at
about a 500-550 square foot studio,” Barfield said. “So, we will be
able to do pre-produced programs, interviews. It will open up some
opportunities for us to do some other kind of programming that we haven’t had
the opportunity to do, whether it’s a weekly show, kind of expand those kinds
of things. Ultimately, the goal going forward is to create a centralized
control room with what we are doing with ESPN3 and all of our productions,
being able to tie all of that back to one central spot. That’s not in the
immediate plans, but that’s certainly in as we continue to build out and look
at some other opportunities.”
At this time, there is no published timetable for the
athletic department to begin use of the Woodforest National Bank athletic
complex.