Yeah, our campus sucks. I've said it many times before on here. I wish there were some way to re-route that GD railroad that cuts the campus in two, and move the damn sewage treatment plant that sits adjacent to three of our athletic facilities. It's ridiculous.
But has the OC stadium even gotten final approval yet? And even when it does, it will probably be at least 2-3 years before it's ready for play. I've seen the drawings, and that's no small project. I think we need to strike while the iron is hot. Baseball success at UT has always been fleeting, and we've failed to take advantage in the past. While we have this window, I think it's time to announce some capital improvements that will make it sustainable this time. I'm not opposed to playing a couple big series per year in the OC (when and if it's ready), but LNS (or a brand new facility) has to take priority.
Just in our division, UF and UK have brand new stadiums. Vandy just announced a half-billion dollar facilities campaign, so they'll probably get one soon. USC and UGA stadiums are far nicer than ours. And most of the West schools have facilities that rival the nicest AAA ballparks in both scale and amenities. I find it hard to believe that we have spent years building and maintaining gleaming, state of the art facilities in most every other sport, but have let baseball languish like this.
The plan has been presented and has the endorsement of those it needs to make happen. It will be a formality later in the spring, but some preliminary work has already begun on the site.
And, yeah, I don't disagree with you on doing what they can now, but until a baseball only booster comes forward and strokes a big check there just isn't money there to do much right now.
And Vitello likes it here. And he is not crying for a raise. In fact, he asked for more money for Frank Anderson and his other assistants last year and got it for them.