A massive overhaul at Coe

CEDAR RAPIDS - Basketball practice for Lane Halupnik and his Coe College teammates has begun at 5:30 a.m. this week. That's rough, man.

But the freshman from Linn-Mar hopes by the time he graduates, getting up with the chickens - or before them, in this case - will be a thing of the past.

'We're crossing our fingers,” Halupnik said Friday afternoon as Coe officially announced its 'Make Your Move” campaign, a fundraiser that will allow the school to make $23 million worth of improvements, most in the athletics/recreation area.

Those improvements include complete renovation of the near 90-year-old Eby Fieldhouse and construction of a new 2,000-seat arena for Coe's men's basketball, women's basketball and wrestling teams.

'It looks unreal,” Halupnik said. 'When I came here on my visit, they were talking about it. At that time, it was just talk. But now that it's officially going, you can kind of see with all the pictures that it's real. It's really cool to be a part of it.”

'I think this is a game changer,” said Coe men's basketball coach Bryan Martin. 'I really do. We've got a lot of positive things to sell here at Coe, with the school and the location, but obviously we're a little bit behind in the facilities. Those are important to kids today. A lot of kids' high schools are nicer or bigger than this. It's not everything, but it certainly makes a difference when a kid can see a new gym.” The 'Make Your Move” campaign actually began late summer with the construction of a new track and other enhancements to Clark Field. Eby Fieldhouse's gymnasium will be expanded (more classrooms and locker rooms) and converted into three multi-purpose courts that can be used for Kohawk practices or recreational purposes.

A Fitness Center and bridge that will connect Eby with the Clark Racquet Center (which also will be renovated) will be constructed, as will a new wrestling room and facade. A renovation and expansion of Hickok Hall, which houses several academic departments, also is part of the extensive makeover plan.

'You talk about athletics, but this is obviously something that is going to affect the whole college,” said Coe Athletics Director John Chandler. 'We've always talked about intercollegiate athletics being a big part of Coe College. We've been very competitive, it's a big part of who we are. But the other thing is it's going to affect the whole student body because about 90 percent of our students are in intercollegiate athletics, intramurals or simply workout.

'The bottom line is we just need more space.”

This is a long talked about project that really kicked into high gear when David McInally became Coe's president in 2013. The school said it has raised more than $10 million, including a $3-million 'challenge grant” from the Hall-Perrine Foundation.

Construction will be done in phases, the school said and will begin in the summer of 2016. It is expected to be completed by the fall of 2017.

'When I first visited campus, it was obvious that our facilities needed to be expanded and renovated,” McInally said. 'But I didn't have a sense for what the college's readiness was for that. It turned out they had been talking a long time about it. So from my very first meeting here, the opening conference my first year, I was able to announce that this was going to be our fundraising priority, our next major project. Most people were ready for that.”

'From the angle of athletics, it's going to help us with recruitment and retention, and provide us with the space that we need to be competitive,” Chandler said. 'This building was built in the late 1920s, and at that time, we had four athletics programs, all for males: baseball, basketball, football and track. That's probably about 100 student-athletes. Now we've got 450 student-athletes.”

Coe's enrollment is around 1,400.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com