Tigers are about set to move in
By: will-vandervort July 29, 2015

The new additions to Doug Kingsmore Stadium are nearing completion. On Wednesday, The Clemson Insider walked around the new facilities and was able to get a few pictures of the outside structure.

Clemson’s new Baseball Operations Center is a $20,000-square foot structure that will house the entire Clemson baseball program from a new players’ clubhouse and lounge area, to a new locker room with spacious showers, a dining hall, coaches’ offices and a state-of-the-art team meeting room with a big-screen television with all the latest bells and whistles.

 

“From a team operations standpoint, from where the players are every day, where you bring recruits in, it will be on par with the best in the nation,” said Joe Simon, Clemson’s Assistant Athletic Director of Facilities Management, back in February. “There will be a few places that have a few more seats, but where the players spend their time, where they get better, where they come and have fellowship and hangout with each other, it will be on par with the best in the nation.”

The front of the new Baseball Operations Center will be a lobby and also part of a museum honoring the great history and tradition of Clemson baseball. Simon says as you walk through that area it will lead you to the team area – though that part will not be accessed by the fans.

A players’ lounge—which is two parts—will have a study area and then more of a comfortable couch area where players can watch television or play video games. As you walk through that part of the building, it will take you to the dining area. It will not be a place to cook food, but players and the team can bring in food and eat in a comfortable setting. From there you walk to the back of the facility where you get into the team operations pieces.

The backside of the building will be the showers, while the front side will be the locker room area. The area directly behind the dugout will be a mud-room where sports medicine and the athletic training areas will be. They can also use that space to store equipment.

The second level of the building will be primarily used as a team-meeting room. It will be a large room with 42 seats. It will also have a nice television where players can watch whatever they need to. It will also be used from a recruiting standpoint thanks to a large balcony that will extend off it, giving recruits a great view of Tiger Field.

The third floor of the Baseball Operations Center will house the coaches’ offices with a large conference room as well. There will also be balconies off each of the coaches’ offices so they can observe the field from there.

The $9 million facility has not been an easy one to erect. Simon says around 200 pylons have been placed in the ground to help give the structure more support. Some are more than 30 or 40 feet deep.

The baseball program is expected to begin moving into the facility on Aug. 1.