Northern Iowa wrestling reveals plans for proposed wrestling facility

University of Northern Iowa's athletic director David Harris and wrestling coach Doug Schwab revealed renderings and updates of the proposed new practice facility for the wrestling team on Thursday.

On Tuesday when the Iowa Board of Regents released its agenda for its Nov. 15-16 meeting, the proposal for the facility revealed the proposed building would be about 11,000 square feet in size. In that space, it would include practice areas, wrestling mats, locker rooms, lounges, strength and conditioning spaces, coaching offices and more.

The proposed site for this facility is essentially kitty-corner to the McLeod Center on West 27th Street. A parking lot currently occupies the space. That spot is not set in stone and will be subject to approval.

The facility will be funded entirely through private donations in the "Our Tomorrow" fundraising campaign that UNI introduced in 2022. The initial price tag set is $5 million. However, that is the threshold for the Iowa Board of Regents to have to give its approval on a build, so it could exceed that number depending on how successful the program and University are in raising dollars.

Currently, there is no timetable for when the facility could be built. That'll mostly depend on how quickly the school and program can fundraise dollars.

The Panthers were forced to vacate West Gym earlier this year when cracks were found in the east wall and other structural issues were identified. According to the Iowa Board of Regents docket, they will be voting on the demolition of the building on Nov. 15-16.

The history being lost in West Gym cannot be understated. However, the cost to restore the building is an estimated $20 million before addressing the cracks in the east wall. This means that building an entirely new facility was a cheaper alternative to renovating the West Gym. Demolition and restoration costs of the site are estimated to hover around $1,300,000 and $1,500,000 for West Gym if approved by the Iowa Board of Regents.

UNI president Mark Nook said that the school will certainly be looking to preserve as much history as possible to potentially move over to the new facility or keep intact somewhere else going forward.

"At this point, it's a matter of making sure we've got people that can go in and evaluate what's there, what's salvageable and also asking some questions about what really is important to our wrestlers," Nook said. "What are the pieces that physical pieces that would really be meaningful? All of us have some ideas about that, but it's gonna take some conversation."

What does a new facility mean for UNI wrestling?

Make no mistake about it, a new facility is a great thing for Schwab and the Panthers. As much history as West Gym carries for the UNI program and others, something new and shiny is always going to be enticing to recruits.

However, there's something special going on with the program and its connection to the USA Mat Club, where it is currently practicing and will continue to work out from as long as the Club will allow.

It is a place that the Panthers banded together to quite literally build this offseason. Each athlete helped paint and haul mats or equipment over to make USA Mat Club the team's home for the time being. Even NCAA finalist Parker Keckeisen chose to come paint on a Sunday versus watching his beloved Green Bay Packers.

It's a place that Schwab is relishing too. Not only because it's actually more space than they had before, better setup of the mats and it has garage doors that open up to let some fresh air in, but it also resembles the offseason his program went through and the grit that he wants his program to be about.

"It put us in a tough situation and not a single guy complained about it," Schwab said. "We found a solution and they were part of the solution. They've got pride, they got sweat equity. To me, it's about moving forward."

From what was released in the renderings, the new practice facility may not be the grand venture of UNI's rivals in Iowa and Iowa State. That's not an issue for Schwab."We're not worried about getting in an arms race with them," Schwab said. "I think $31 million on facilities is ridiculous."

It's going to be a while until the facility opens, but for now, it'll have a future impact on recruiting while they relish the time they have at USA Mat Club.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: UNI wrestling and athletic department releases plans for facility