8A - Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Inside the new home of Michigan soccer
From STADIUM, page 5A
site. In years past, both teams have
fell victim to uncertain practice
fields and home games outside of
Ann Arbor.
The stadium will add another
venue to the unofficial second ath-
letic campus, which has popped up
at the end of State Street. The Var-
sity Tennis center, the future wres-
tling center and the gymnastics
team are also located in the area.
The stadium will be solely used
for the soccer teams. To prepare,
the Athletic Department consult-
ed both of the Michigan soccer
coaches.
"I think Steve and I both agreed
that we wanted to have a really
intimate setting," Ryan said. "We
didn't care how large the stadium
was, we wanted it to have great
atmosphere. And we wanted to
have it be consistent with all of the
other great Michigan facilities."
The stadium will have a large
grandstand on the west side of the
field, and the exterior will be red
brick, similar to the baseball and
softball fields.
It's the first stadium in the
short history of Michigan soccer,
and even though its 2,200-person
capacity isn't the largest in the
Big Ten, it should achieve Ryan's
desired effects.
Since the coaches want to
encourage attendance, they sug-
gested that a four-row stand be
placed on the east sideline and a
roof be placed over both the east
and west side seating structures.
Burns also proposed that install-
ing dense netting could enhance
the atmosphere even more. That
way, with the stands, the roof and
the darker netting, the stadium
would have a closed, caged-in feel,
and give it a European flavor.
"If ever you watch a European
game, it has that excitement and
that atmosphere and the players
really feed off of that," junior Cam
Cameron said.
But the students and fans need
come to gaines in order to create
the atmosphere that the stadium is
being built to support.
Currently, fans sometimes pack
the metal bleachers that are only
on the west side of the field. But
the average attendance of a men's
game is 880 fans, and just 609 for
cOURTESYOF THEMICHIGAN ATHLETIc DEPARTMENT
The Michigan men's and women's soccer teams will finally have a permanent home next year, The Athletic Department broke ground on the new complex earlier this week.
women's games.
"One of the big things that
we're really hoping for is to make
that connection with the student
body," Burns said. "So that they
know that this east sideline is
four rows, it's got a roof on it (and)
that's where we want that fan base
to be extremely rowdy."
FINALLY "LEGIT"
Cameron said he was excited to
play in the new stadium since it
would finally make soccer a "legit"
sport at Michigan.
The players are excited for the
stadium, but the coaches will be
reaping the rewards of the Athletic
Department's investment, too.
"When you look at how you
can recruit out of that top pool
of talent, they're looking at three
things," Burns said. "Do you have
a history of putting players in the
pros? ... Then, they look at facilities
... and the other thing they look at
is a track record of winning cham-
pionships.
"Now we're looking at two out
of three, and it's going to be a lot
easier to pull players out of that
top pool and make it three out of
three."
Ryan agreed that a state-of-the
art stadium would be a draw for
recruits, and Burns added that the
stadium will be a model that other
schools would follow.
"For me, it's what I wanted to
bringto Michigan," Ryan said ofthe
stadium. "When I came to Michi-
gan and saw the lack of facilities
for soccer, and some other lacks,
I thought this may be the greatest
challenge of my coaching career."
Ryan is in the middle of rebuild-
ing his team. Before he came to
Ann Arbor, he said that because
of a lack of facilities and a lack of
success, a potential recruit would
look around and say, "No, there's
no reason for me to come here."
"And now to play in that stadi-
um and have people in the stands
and the girls on the field and say
Michigan is a first-class place
that has full backing of the Ath-
letic Department," Ryan said. "To
me, that's going to be a personal
accomplishment just to see it done.
I know I'm just going to be one lit-
tle piece, or part of it, but I'm going
to be so proud of Michigan for get-
ting this done."
From 1997 to 2004, the women's
program made the NCAA Tourna-
ment every year. With the added
benefit of a new venue, Ryan could
soon have the team back on track.
The men's program also has had
its own success at times. In its first
nine seasons as a varsity sport, the
men's soccer team has made the
NCAA Tournament three times -
2003, 2004 and 2008. It has been
a long journey for Burns and the
men's soccer program, that will be
on display when the stadium opens
next year.
In the men's soccer locker room,
there is a Bob Marley lyric on the
wall from the song "No Woman No
Cry." It reads, "In this great future,
you can't forget your past." Burns
tries to make sure his players don't
forget where the soccer program
came from.
And it will likely be an emo-
tional day for everyone when the
stadium opens in 2010.
"At times, even without a sta-
dium, I'll be out here on my own
at the end of a practice and I'll
look around at the fact that we
have three full-time soccer fields,"
Burns said. "And it's a little over-
whelming. I get a little choked
up. I think that if there's a cam-
era on me when we first open the
stadium, you're certainly going to
be seeing a guy that's humble and
maybe shedding a tear."
- Daily Sports Editor Nicole
Auerbach contributed to this report.
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