Athletics Facilities Update

In the summer of 2018, Shane Lyons stood before a room full of reporters to map out his vision for the future. He was holding a wooden pointer and behind him was a visual display of the Climbing Higher Campaign, an ambitious, $100 million capital improvement initiative announced that afternoon.

He talked about refurbishing the WVU Coliseum and Milan Puskar Center complexes and improving facilities for some of West Virginia’s Olympic sports teams. He said if there isn’t a crane somewhere on campus or a construction project ongoing, then West Virginia University is falling behind or going backward.

“We need to continue moving our department forward,” he said at the time. “These are not wants … these are needs. We need these things for our department and our student-athletes as we continue to grow. You look at the success we’ve had in basketball, soccer and baseball and I think some of that correlates to the improvements made with their facilities from a recruiting and coach retention standpoint.”

The WVU Coliseum received a new video board and seats this past fall and some of the other projects Lyons discussed that day, such as the renovation of the Milan Puskar Center and the massive new Olympic Sports Performance Center have become realities.

That’s a credit to the great vision put forth by Lyons, WVU President Gordon Gee and the WVU Board of Governors, as well as the tremendous generosity of Mountaineer Nation because the financing for these projects has come through private donations and bonds along with WVU’s relationship with Learfield.