- With facilities: Contained in Friday's press release, at the very end, was the following statement: "In order to break ground in fall 2022, Vanderbilt is focused on several required preliminary steps, including the demolition of Parmer Field House in the north end zone and construction of a new utility plant that will supply power to the new buildings. These efforts will begin during the first quarter of 2022."
That is consistent with what I've been hearing privately for weeks, and now it's been confirmed publicly.
So what does that do to the timeline on everything else? Well, obviously that depends on when the power plant is finished, but what I have heard is that this means athletics facilities (which again, apparently won't start until fall 2022 if things go according to plan) probably won't be complete until late 2024 or early 2025.
The power plant will be going between football and basketball stadium and will be built where Parmer Fieldhouse is.
- On priority registration for athletes, here is how I understand what is happening/has happened:
Chancellor Daniel Diermeier asked Candice Lee to ask the coaches about a wish list for what they need in general. Several coaches had priority scheduling high on their list. She then passed this along to the chancellor.
The chancellor then brought this up for discussion at a vice chancellor's meeting, where, I was told, it "met strong resistance."
So why is that? Part (most?) of the issue is that Vanderbilt is such a small school that, unless you're going to force professors to offer classes at specific times of the day, it's hard to offer enough classes at the right times of the day when athletes need to take them. So I don't know how this part resolves but I think that's where that one's a little harder to work around.
That is consistent with what I've been hearing privately for weeks, and now it's been confirmed publicly.
So what does that do to the timeline on everything else? Well, obviously that depends on when the power plant is finished, but what I have heard is that this means athletics facilities (which again, apparently won't start until fall 2022 if things go according to plan) probably won't be complete until late 2024 or early 2025.
The power plant will be going between football and basketball stadium and will be built where Parmer Fieldhouse is.
- On priority registration for athletes, here is how I understand what is happening/has happened:
Chancellor Daniel Diermeier asked Candice Lee to ask the coaches about a wish list for what they need in general. Several coaches had priority scheduling high on their list. She then passed this along to the chancellor.
The chancellor then brought this up for discussion at a vice chancellor's meeting, where, I was told, it "met strong resistance."
So why is that? Part (most?) of the issue is that Vanderbilt is such a small school that, unless you're going to force professors to offer classes at specific times of the day, it's hard to offer enough classes at the right times of the day when athletes need to take them. So I don't know how this part resolves but I think that's where that one's a little harder to work around.
