Boilermakers displaced while locker room repaired
For the moment, a few dozen Boilermakers are displaced.
The 40 or so football players on campus for Maymester are using locker rooms in the basement of Mackey Arena — ones generally reserved for basketball opponents — as a temporary home following the water main break that damaged their room in the Brees Academic Center.
It’s an inconvenience, but not an overwhelming one, says Tom Schott, Purdue’s Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communication.
“The belief is that by the time the balance of the roster gets here for summer school on June 13 that the current locker room will be usable,” he said.
“Not too big an inconvenience for (players). Obviously for those 30 or so guys who are here, they’re displaced. But we expect everyone to be back home by the time summer school starts.”
In a way, the timing of the accident — if it was to happen —was ideal. The massive breakage, which dumped water into the first floor of the Brees Center and was related to the construction of the new football performance center, happened in the early morning hours Saturday, when the facility was unoccupied. No one was hurt. And it comes out of the sports seasons.
Purdue will need to replace the Holloway Gymnasium floor, home of the volleyball team, and the same at Mackey Arena, where the men’s and women’s basketball teams play. And the locker rooms of volleyball and football, on the first floor of the Brees Center, will need repaired.
Creative Services Manager Paul Sadler has already started on a redesign of Holloway — a first draft was done Wednesday — and is looking at Mackey, too.
“This is a designer’s dream, to come up with a new court,” Schott said. “If they go with what we saw (Wednesday), it’s gorgeous. Obviously, that’s priority No. 1 because volleyball starts its season before basketball does. If he had Holloway done (Wednesday), I’m sure Paul's working on Mackey (Thursday). He’s an unbelievable talent. The coaches and administrators will weigh in and we’ll be ready to go when they’re ready to paint.”
The biggest obstacle, of course, is volleyball and basketball camps, but Schott says basketball and volleyball coaches have already reached out to the Recreational Sports Center – the Co-Rec – and West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School. And those facilities may be used. Camps start next month.
All costs — no matter how big or small — will be covered by insurance, Schott says. Need a bus to transport players to an alternate facility? It’ll be paid for via insurance.
“This was a construction error,” he said. “That’s why contractors have insurance. And if there’s a silver-lining for Purdue and athletics, it’s that we’re not going to be out a dime, other than an inconvenience. And an inconvenience is a big deal, you hate to be displaced, things like that, but accidents, stuff happens. Have to roll with the punches. No one was hurt; it could have been worse, believe it or not. Fortunately, with the insurance, we won’t be out a dime and we’ll end up with two beautiful new floors in the long run.
“We’ll get the locker room back in a nice, usable condition. We’re only in it for one more season if all things go according to plan (with the construction of the football facility). Could be worse, hate to anything like this happen at any time, but it could have been a one from now or two months from now. Or whenever.”
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