The University of New Hampshire does not have one of the country’s wealthiest athletic departments, and with low athletic alumni donations and facilities unequal to its academic counterparts on campus it shows. Yet Marty Scarano, UNH Athletic Director, believes that harnessing student energy and alumni donations to athletic facilities has the ability to change the face of the UNH campus and athletics.
“If I could convert student-athlete enthusiasm, commitment, and success to dollars, we would be one of the wealthiest athletics departments in the country,” Scarano said.
On average 7,800 fans pile into Cowell Stadium to watch the UNH Football Team. The total number is already 20 percent over facility capacity. Senior pedagogy major and football team running back Chad Kackert said he thought even more people would come if they were to play night games, especially students.
Getting lights would allow students to not have to wake up at 11 a.m. (a tall order on a Saturday) for kickoff at noon. Also, Kackert feels that a long-term goal should be to getting a dome. Kackert says that Northern Iowa is one of the greatest atmospheres to play and their dome only seats 15,000 people. Kackert and Scarano both feel that a dome or a larger stadium would be beneficial to the university.
“I truly believe Durham could get that many people (15,000) into a dome to watch one of the best teams in the country compete at 7 p.m. on a fall Saturday,” said Kackert. “Not to mention, that would help with recruiting immensely.”
Scarano said he would also like to see Cowell Stadium transformed into a premier outdoor venue that serves the whole state at a high school and middle school level. Besides enhancing the outdoor venue that holds the track and field and football team, Scarano said he hoped to create an advanced strength and conditioning center, a nicer athletic academic center, and a myriad of renovations to the field house.
One of the renovations that Scarano said needed to be made is with the locker rooms in the Field House. They are cleaned and maintained the best they can be, but they get an enormous amount of use, said Scarano.
Catie Perella is a junior economics major and a member on the women’s track and field team. Perella describes the locker room as disgusting and incredibly humid and feels that all of the teams and athletes should have bigger, better, and equal locker rooms.
“There just is not enough room for the 90 track girls to fit,” said Perella. “I am honored to be a student athlete at UNH and I love the renovations of making a bigger more up to date weight room and resurfacing our track, but our athletic locker rooms are not nearly what they should be.”
Brice Paey, a junior on the men’s track and field team, said the equation is simple: the more money Athletic Department has, the more money they can spend, which in turn will make their facilities a higher quality. According to him, the bigger and better the facilities, the more people will want to partake and the more alumni will want to give back.
Scarano said the percent of athletic alumni that give back are somewhere in the low single digits. The annual fund is up 16 percent so far this year, but Scarano said there is still a long way to go. He said the athletic department is embarrassed by the number of alumni athletes who donate to them.
“We wanted to be viewed and respected nationally, but people see our football programs as nationally recognized and when they see our facilities they are disappointed,” said Scarano. “The Cowell Stadium and the Field House do not do justice to UNH.”
Kackert said he thought the weight lifting facilities at UNH were excellent. The Jerry Azumah Performance Center has everything from elastic bands and foam rollers to kettle bells to what are some of the most efficient Olympic lifting all-purpose platforms, which allow for an extremely dynamic exercise, according to Kackert.
Though many of the athletes say their weight room is top-notch, many would also agree that it is too small.
“I think the weight room, if anything, needs to be even larger because every varsity sport uses that equipment and it’s just not enough room,” said Colbey Santos, sports studies major with a minor in education, and senior captain on the men’s basketball team. “Also I think there should be access to another gym because it is tough when volleyball and basketball is in season and it rains so then field hockey and soccer need the gym.”
Santos and many other athletes are happy with student support at their games, matches, or meets. Scarano said more and more people are starting to take notice of the teams UNH is producing, whether it is men’s soccer or women’s lacrosse.
“I think if students really understood that they do help us win games when everyone is there screaming and yelling they will show up more,” said Santos.
Annual fees of $800 per undergraduate students make up $9 million of the universities $24 million athletic budget. With $8.5 million worth of construction and renovation in the last ten years UNH has done its best to work with what it has.
“Fundraising and our sports teams are on the rise, but until the athletic department can stabilize strong consistent donations year after year our athletic facilities will not live up to the high standard that the remainder of the university has set,” said Perella.
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