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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2012 > February > 08
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
A look at what other A-10 schools are doing
The University of Dayton isn’t the only Atlantic 10 school funneling money into athletic facilities. Here’s a look at what other programs in the conference have done or have started in the last three years:
Charlotte
Football: Construction on 15,300-seat McColl-Richardson Field started last year and is scheduled to be completed in 2013. It includes a 37,000-square-foot fieldhouse and two practice fields. Cost: $45 million.
Tennis: A new complex with 12 hardcourts. Cost: N/A.
Duquesne
Basketball: Chair-back seats, a video board above midcourt, corner scoreboards and a redesigned concourse for the Palumbo Center. New locker rooms for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball. Cost: $3.1 million.
Fordham
Football: New locker rooms. Cost: $2 million.
Men’s basketball: New offices, locker room and video room. Cost N/A.
Other sports: Upgrades or new construction for tennis courts, softball complex, offices for women’s basketball, volleyball, baseball and men’s soccer. Cost: N/A.
George Washington
Basketball: New locker rooms, scoreboards, entrances and exterior for the Charles E. Smith Athletic Center. Cost: $43 million.
Baseball: New dugouts, press box, stadium seats, bullpens and turf for Barcroft Park Field. Cost: $4 million.
Other sports: Turf at the Mount Vernon soccer-lacrosse field. Cost: N/A.
La Salle
Basketball: Two new video boards for Gola Arena. Cost: N/A.
Softball: New field. Cost: N/A.
Other sports: Resurfacing tennis courts and track. Cost: N/A.
Rhode Island
Baseball: FieldTurf and a new scoreboard for Beck Field. Cost: $1.3 million.
Football: New scoreboard and bleacher repairs for Mead Stadium. Cost: $2 million.
Other sports: New tennis courts and enhancements to the rowing center, aquatics center and softball field. Cost: N/A.
Richmond
Football: Construction of 8,700-seat Claiborne Robins Stadium, a multi-purpose facility that also is home to the soccer, lacrosse and track and field teams. Cost: $25 million.
Basketball: Extensive makeover of the the Robins Center, including new coaches offices and renovations in the interior of the building. Cost $15 million.
Saint Joseph’s
Basketball: Refurbished Hagan Arena, which is the old Alumni Fieldhouse with 1,000 more seats and many amenities, and the Ramsay Basketball Center, a two-story, 20,000-square-foot addition to the arena that has locker rooms for the men’s and women’s teams, players’ lounges, a film room and coaches’ offices. Cost: $35 million.
Other sports: New fields for baseball, softball and field hockey on what’s called the Maguire Campus. Cost: $8 million.
St. Bonaventure
No projects in last three years. But new fields for non-revenue sports being prosposed, plus assessments underway for Bonaventure Square, an on-campus complex that would include 100-room hotel. Cost: N/A.
Temple
Basketball: A new 30,000-square-foot headquarters for the men’s and women’s teams adjacent to the Liacouras Center that includes practice facilities. Cost: N/A.
Football: Enlarged training area and new team meeting room for the football center. Cost: N/A.
Other projects: New turf for field hockey and lacrosse fields and boathouse for rowing team. Cost: N/A.
Xavier
Basketball: A new scoreboard and court at the Cintas Center along with numerous other design projects at the entrances and in the concourses. Cost: $1.7 million.
Note: Saint Louis and Massachusetts did not respond to requests for their investments in athletic facilities.
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TweetDayton ‘special’ to Riazzi and family
The Dayton men’s basketball suite in the Cronin Athletics Center has been named for the Carmen Riazzi family because of their help in supporting the project. For those who don’t know about Riazzi, here’s a brief look at his life story:
As a basketball star at the University of Dayton in the mid-1950s, Carmen Riazzi was known for his unassuming nature and preference to keep the focus off himself.
He’s still that way.
Riazzi was polite but fairly reticent while being interviewed for an article about his days with the Flyers. Asked to name the top player or two on his teams from 1954-57, Riazzi said, “I’ll pass on that one.”
Quizzed about some of the famous characters on UD teams during that era, he chuckled and said only, “You’re going to get me in trouble.”
At one point, he even offered an apology, though none was necessary, for sharing a bit about his background. “I hope I’m not rambling,” he said.
But while Riazzi, who was the team MVP as a senior in 1956-57 and played for two NIT runner-up squads, was reluctant to discuss his exploits, his former teammates didn’t mind singing his praises.
Bucky Bockhorn, who led the Flyers to a No.2 ranking nationally in 1955-56 (the highest ever for the program), said Riazzi’s skills were ahead of his time. A fan favorite and known as the Scooter for a wide array of moves and quick release, he didn’t always get to display his talents under domineering coach Tom Blackburn, according to Bockhorn.
But Riazzi never complained, earning the respect of his peers. And that admiration only grew during Riazzi’s post-college years.
He and his wife Ann, a Julienne High School graduate, raised 10 children, some of whom had outstanding athletic careers. And he was an astute businessman, holding a corporate position for SREPCO Electronics before retiring several years ago.
“I don’t know how you get to heaven,” Bockhorn said, “but if it’s being a good family man, a great teammate, a good businessman and an all-around great guy, then he’s got a good shot.”
A native of Erie, Pa., Riazzi was all set to attend the University of Cincinnati before playing in a postseason all-star game in Dunkirk, N.Y., and running into a friend of Father Charles Collins, who was UD’s dean of students and chair of the athletic council then.
“I came out the locker room, and this guy walked up to me and said, ‘Can I talk to you?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘I want you to take a visit to the University of Dayton.’ I said, ‘I pretty much decided where I wanted to go.’ He said, ‘I’ll talk to the principal and see if I can get you out school. Would you go?’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ “ Riazzi recalled.
“I came to Dayton and there’s a (Chris) Harris and (Bucky) Bockhorn and (Bill) Uhl and (John) Horan and the whole bit. They showed me the town and introduced me to a lot of people. I changed my mind when I got back, and said, ‘I’m coming to Dayton.’”
Riazzi has never regretted his decision. He lived in St. Joseph’s Hall, a dorm that housed the basketball and football players on the same floors. And the teams developed tight bonds.
“Everybody in that St. Joe’s Hall, football and basketball, were close,” Riazzi said. “We’ve maintained closeness. It was a great group.”
Although he had to tone down some of his basketball flair, he appreciates now having played for Blackburn and doesn’t second-guess his coach.
“He was a tough guy. He was a disciplinarian. Sometimes, as we all do with coaches, you may not agree, but you’d better do it,” he said.
“All the old-timers … we all got through it all. I think we respect that he made us solid citizens and demanded it. I think we took that with us.”
One thing Blackburn said still rings true for Riazzi: “You’re a Dayton Flyer, and you’ll always be a Dayton Flyer.”
Although he spends most of the winter in Fort Myers, Fla., Riazzi still attends a few games a year with son John’s season tickets. And the Riazzi family made a sizeable donation toward the men’s basketball office in the still-under-construction Cronin Athletics Center. UD honored him by naming it the Carmen Riazzi Basketball Suite.
“UD and the Dayton community have been a very special place for me and our family,” Riazzi said.
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