Rutgers soccer/lacrosse facility

A rendering of the proposed Rutgers soccer/lacrosse/tennis facility.

(Rutgers Athletics)

PISCATAWAY -- Like a coach who turns his focus to the next game rather than celebrating a victory, Pat Hobbs was already looking ahead to his next big goal minutes after breaking ground on the soon-to-be-built RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center.

"It's going to be a very, very big focus in the next six months,'' the Rutgers Athletics Director said, pointing to a proposed training facility to accommodate the soccer, lacrosse and women's tennis programs. "There are a lot of folks who are passionate about soccer and lacrosse, as I am, and they know the importance of that facility just as this facility is important to our basketball programs, wrestling and gymnastics.''

While the facility that serves the basketball/wrestling/gymnastics programs is slated to be constructed between spring 2017 and summer 2019, there is no timeframe for the Lacrosse, Soccer and Tennis Training Complex that's expected to be built adjacent to Yurcak Field on the Busch Campus.

The Lacrosse/Soccer/Tennis complex, which is part of Phase I in the athletics portion of the University Physical Master Plan, is expected to cost $21 million, top university officials told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday.

The facility will include training and equipment spaces for each program, new lounges and meeting rooms, coaching offices, and locker rooms that will not be shared with visiting teams.

"This new facility will allow us to take our training to the next level,'' Rutgers women's lacrosse coach Laura Brand said, via the Rutgers Big Ten Build website.

"With state of the art locker rooms and video capabiliities, as well as the close proximity to our training field, our program will be given the best opportunity to improve their craft on a daily basis.''

Currently, all five programs have locker-room and office space inside the Hale Center. Moving the programs out will allow Rutgers officials to begin the third part of Phase I of the facilities plan, which includes making the Hale Center a football-only facility.

It's why Hobbs on Tuesday made an appeal for Rutgers football fans to invest in the lacrosse/soccer/tennis facility.

"Building that facility,'' he said, "leaves some space in the Hale Center, where we can do things. So if you care about football, support soccer and lacrosse. That's where it really is about supporting all of our programs.''

Proposed improvements to the Hale Center include an enhanced football locker room and student lounge, an expanded sports medicine facility, a new training and hydrotherapy suite, additional coaches offices, meeting rooms, and an expanded academic center.

"Anything that we do in the athletic department right now, it's a positive,'' Rutgers coach Chris Ash said, when pressed on the groundbreaking earlier this week. "It's a big deal for football, for everybody here. I think it just shows that our commitment to being the best that we can be and being able to get on a playing field that we can compete in this league, and that's a selling point to recruits and fans and everybody that really cheers for Rutgers right now.''

To that end, Hobbs said it's incumbent on a fundraising team led by Rich Knupp "to continue to be out there to raise money.''

"There is an urgency around everything we do here in athletics,'' Hobbs said. "We're in, in my view, the best conference in the United States. We're in the toughest division in the best conference in the United States, and obviously you've seen some of the results. We need to change those results.

"The way we do that is by recruiting great coaches, supporting the coaches you have and provide them with facilities they can be successful with. So I treat every day with a sense of urgency.''

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.