On Thursday, East Central Community College officially opened Warrior Hall, a more than 12,000 square-foot facility on the Decatur campus that will house football’s offices, locker room, offices and meeting rooms.
The $2.6 million facility also houses a state-of-the art training room with a hydrotherapy pool that will be used by student athletes in all nine sports at East Central.
This beautiful facility was something that East Central has needed for a long time. Getting a football only facility has been on the master plan for both ECCC President Billy Stewart and head football coach Ken Karcher for several years.
“I think that if you look at any facility around the country, there are two purposes for it. First is to attract recruits, and in this day and time, kids are looking for the goods. So I think the building itself will be very attractive to them. Once they see those things, they want to know how they are going to make them better. That’s where I think we will be able to prepare them much better out of this building. Instead of running around campus looking for a meeting room, we have one location, and it’s state of the art. It will help prepare our players.”
Facilities are the name of the game in athletics, from city leagues all the way to professional teams. Over the last two decades, we have seen billions — possibly more than a trillion — of dollars flow through college and high school athletic facilities. This is not just for football, but it’s also for every sport from archery to weightlifting. If you look at Ole Miss and Mississippi State, they’ve poured millions into their facilities, and the teams have seen a return on that investment.
During the last decade, both teams were ranked in the top 5 of college football. They both recently hired top-notch coaches in Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach. The programs have also produced first-round NFL draft picks. If the facilities weren’t like they were, would it have been possible to attract those coaches and players that they have? Probably not.
While JUCO football isn’t on that same level of spending, there is still an arms race going on today. If you look across the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges, your most competitive schools have some of the finest facilities around. Many of them have artificial surfaces that stay in great condition no matter what the weather is. They also have football facilties as good or better than ECCC.
While ECCC isn’t likely going to have the finances to have the best facilities in JUCO football, the Warriors want to be competitive. The new facility is a step in the right direction.
Next on the list is a new weight room for football, along with the usual upkeep and upgrades of the football stadium and facilities.
By the way, when you see teams be competitive in sports, it generally has a positive impact on the academics side as well because you will see increased interest and donations to the school itself.
Congratulations ECCC on the facility. We hope it will help coach Karcher and the football program continue to move forward.
