New Jack Trice ‘better than imagined’

AMES - Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard often tells his staff the history of an entire athletics department can't be changed overnight.

But all it took for Pollard to see a step in the direction he's working for was an email he received 21 months ago.

Pollard was planning to pitch Roy and Bobbi Reiman in November 2013 about helping fund a south end zone project at Jack Trice Stadium that will fulfill the desires fans had expressed for decades. The Reimans beat Pollard to it on Nov. 15.

'(Roy) sent me an email on that Friday morning,” Pollard said. 'It said, ‘Jamie, are you sitting down? If not, please sit down. We're going to do it. I'll call you later with the details, but I wanted to give you an opportunity to hoot, holler and jump around first.'”

The Reimans donated an initial gift of $25 million - the largest lead gift ever received by any department within Iowa State University - and just less than two years later, the project is all but complete. The two-level club and 3,000 chairs are in place, as well as the scoreboard that mirrors the existing board in the north end zone and a ribbon board on either side of the field.

Ben Bunge, Project Manager for The Weitz Company, said the project didn't experience any major delays and was actually finished four days ahead of schedule.

'We've cooked out of here three days already and the kitchen has been up and running,” Bunge said. 'We're starting to test components of the project and really try to bring this thing home strong. It's been a smooth project.”

Jack Trice Stadium now boasts a capacity of 61,000, which is third largest in the Big 12 behind Texas and Oklahoma, and cost $60 million.

Pollard's office overlooks Jack Trice Stadium from the Jacobson Building and he said seeing the completed project after witnessing each phase of the construction has felt symbolic of the department as a whole.

'It made the winter a lot shorter because every day there was something to look at and see changes,” Pollard said. 'And then when we were able to get inside and start seeing the vision coming to life. From the grain bin bars to the view of the stadium and to the TVs downstairs, I really just think it's come together better than we could have ever imagined.”

Iowa State hosts UNI on Sept. 5 and Iowa on Sept. 12, and Pollard said he's particularly anxious to see fans file into the new-look stadium for the season-opener, which is a 7 p.m. kickoff.

'I'm biased to night football, and I think in a way it will really feel so much more electric because of that,” Pollard said. 'I've said tongue in cheek that when our friends from the east come over on Sept. 12, ‘Little brother is growing up.'”

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