Iowa soccer coaches, players ready for game-changing facility
In the fall of 2021, the Iowa soccer program will have a new facility by its soccer field.
Fan watch during Iowa’s match against Illinois State on Sunday, September 1, 2019. The Hawkeyes defeated the Red Birds 4-3.
June 16, 2020
For years, the Iowa soccer program has had its operations scattered across campus.
Coaches have offices in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, locker rooms are in the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center, and its soccer field is in another location on campus. But that should change by the 2021 fall season.
As previously reported by The Daily Iowan, the state Board of Regents approved a new soccer complex June 4. It will be located by the current soccer field.
RELATED: State Board of Regents approves new UI women’s soccer complex
The complex, which is designed to be the “one-stop shop” for the program, will include a locker room, a team room, a multi-purpose room, an athletic training room, and coaches’ offices among other amenities. It has been a dream for the program for some time, but it should be a reality soon.
“Building this facility allows us to lessen the stress of being a student-athlete at Iowa,” head coach Dave DiIanni said.
Other key aspects in the program should improve as well.
“It’s a lot because we have to go all over for different things we use every day,” sophomore defender Sam Cary said. “And so, having it in the same area will [make] everything quicker, we’ll be able to be more efficient as student-athletes.”
DiIanni said this change will benefit the coaches, since he said they feel very disconnected from the student-athletes. This is because of where their current office location is compared to where their practice facilities are — about 1.5 miles apart.
The new facility will allow the coaches and players to spend more time together, watch video, and have individual meetings more easily than before, DiIanni said.
“[It will] build a rapport that will be more natural and more holistic because we’ll be around each other for longer hours without having to go out of our way and drive across campus just to have a meeting,” DiIanni said.
Though the graphic design for the facility has not been released yet, it’s expected to make a difference to the game day atmosphere as well as the program’s recruiting.
“I really think having a big thing added to our field like this is going to make our field a little more intimidating,” Cary said. “A little more like when you walk into our stadium, you’re going to be at the University of Iowa.”
DiIanni said the graphic design of the building will be out in about a month. He said he expects excitement to be enhanced once that is released, and that in the next year the program will put on a campaign to fundraise for a videoboard and a grand entrance into the facility.
For now, the anticipation will build until the dream becomes a reality.
“This is something Dave has been talking since I committed to Iowa in 2016,” Cary said. “And so just the fact that it’s like coming and it’s really just showing the seriousness of our program and how much our school wants us to do well. The donors I’m so thankful for, but I’m so excited to have this new facility added into our stadium and our program.”
