The 91,000-square-foot facility, adjacent to Yager Stadium, at first glance seems to be only a full 100-yard football field, with an artificial, grass-like turf. However, the facility can be modified by netting and other means to accommodate additional sports.
“You can cut the field in half, so baseball can be on one and softball on the other,” said Sayler, who added he was very pleased with the final product. “We have netting at the ends as well and on the sides so baseball and softball can actually hit balls in here. Golf hits balls in here, there’s track lanes over on the other side of the facility. There’s a jump pit on the end. Soccer can use this, lacrosse, everybody.”
The project was funded through a combination of donors. David Dauch, for whom the facility is named, is a former Miami football player. Miami alumnus and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger donated $1 million to the project, and its football field is named for him.
”It’s been everything we thought it would be,” Sayler said. “We did a lot of research on the way we wanted to build it to make it most effective for all of our student athletes, and it’s delivered in every way.”
In addition to being an all-sport facility, it can also accommodate all types of weather.
“We can set a practice schedule for all of our sports and stick to it no matter what’s going on outside with the weather … it gives them access to something they can count on,” Sayler said. “Their time is so tight. When you start having to rearrange schedules, it makes things really tricky.”
Kaleb Patterson, a junior and place kicker on the football team, agreed that the facility will be in use year-round.
“You really get to train year round in rain, snow — it gives us something everybody else has,” he said.
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