By Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Rutgers Athletics Director Pat Hobbs and Deputy AD Sarah Baumgartner hosted the program's first Facebook Live press conference, and it features updates on a variety of topics surrounding the department.

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Meet the architect

While it’s been widely reported that Perkins Eastman is the firm designing the new Rutgers sports facilities — most notably the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center — Hobbs introduced Scott Schiamberg as the principal architects on the projects.

"We have the best architect,'' Hobbs said, "on the planet.''

According to his bio, Schiamberg has 19 years experience in the design of large-scale projects and sport architecture.

"We're excited about Rutgers,'' Schiamberg said. "What's very exciting here is the foundation that’s being put in now so what we’re doing is going to pay off immediately as soon as these facilities come online. It's going to allow (Rutgers) to improve recruiting, to give student-athletes the ability to recover and train and for (Rutgers) to take things to the next level.''

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Fundraising update

The R Big Ten Build, a campaign to raise $100 million for new or upgraded facilities launched in January 2016, surpassed the $71 million milestone, according to Baumgartner. That total includes $25 million in tax credits through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and $46 million in private donations.

Baumgarner said the campaign now includes 2,000 donors — the goal is to get that total to 10,000 -- and the 30-person Captains Program has raised $350,000.

Said Hobbs: "$29 million to go so someone out there who has a $29 million gift, we’ll take it.''

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Surrounded by amazing people who are committed to greatness!! Building Rutgers Together!! We WILL get this done (& get AD Hobbs on twitter)! pic.twitter.com/5v7lK8wxsH — Sarah Baumgartner (@baumsarah) February 25, 2017

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Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Timeframe on the Lacrosse/Soccer facility?

Ever since unveiling plans for a Lacrosse and Soccer Training Complex slated to be built adjacent to Yurcak Field on the Busch Campus, there was no definitive timeframe on the project.

Until now.

"The (lacrosse/soccer) facility and the Athletic Performance Center are going to open the summer of 2019,’’ Schiamberg said. “The groundbreaking of soccer/lacrosse is coming soon.’’

Hobbs was more precise, saying the date to open both facilities is July 18, 2019.

The lacrosse/soccer 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. In the map above, it's the three fields located near the center and the facility is red.

Currently, all four 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.

“We have a team of 30 people working around the clock to get this done,’’ Schiamberg said.

Added Hobbs: "This allows our athletes to be more efficient in their day. Our kids are going to walk into their facility, they do their strength and conditioning there, they get taped by their trainers there, they get their nutrition there, and then they walk right out of the locker room and onto their practice fields. And that’s best-in-class.''

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Meeting the coaches' needs

The RWJ Barnabas Health Athletic Performance Center will mainly accomodate the men's and women's basketball programs, as well as the wrestling and gymnastics teams. Schiamberg said he has met with the coaches of those respective programs to gauge their needs.

"This is really exciting because we can help Rutgers transform,'' he said. "This allows those sports to just continue to go to the next level.''

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Rutgers Athletics

Bells and whistles in the RWJ Barnabas Health Athletic Performance Center

According to Schiamberg, the RWJ Barnabas Health Athletic Performance Center will have a lobby that features a Hall of Fame on the ground floor "that opens up to a future plaza in front of the RAC.''

In the lobby, Schiamberg said, will be space for a Rutgers Athletics spirit store and space for a coffee shop.

Oh, and about this bold look into the future?

"This is something that when you have Selection Sunday in the near future, the teams are going to sit in there and that’s where they'll be on TV to see where their seed is,'' Schiamberg said. "It'll work for team meetings, it'll work for campus groups to meet there. It'll work on game day, on non-game day. So it's all part of this active space that you don’t see often in a training facility. A lot of times they’re off in the distance and it’s just student-athletes. This allows this to be part of the Livingston Campus and for students to be part of it as well.''

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Will the RAC get a facelift?

“Yes,'' Hobbs said, confirming that the RAC will receive an addition. "Ultimately we have to do something at the RAC. We're one of the smallest venues in the Big Ten. I don't want to make this 18,000 seats. The RAC is a tremendous advantage for us (because) it's loud. But then we have to make this a great game-day experience for our fans. So we're going to have to do both something inside to make it better. I'd love to get our students closer to the court.

"And then we need to build a concourse around the outside. When we open the Athletic Performance Center, there's this beautiful plaza area. One of the things we want to do is as a Phase 1 of the (RAC) exterior and we want to build a new facade across that and put a big LED screen in there. And then our students can come over and we'll put stuff on that screen a little bit like the Yard (in downtown New Brunswick).

"We want the same thing in front of the RAC so that when we (have) an away football game, let's have 5,000 people in front of the RAC looking at that (screen).''

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Photo by John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

"It's about the entire university''

Don't dare tell Hobbs that the facilities upgrades plan is only about athletics.

"I talk about building Rutgers together,'' the Rutgers AD said. "What (Rutgers President) Dr. (Robert) Barchi has done, with integrating the hospitals and the medical schools, we’re a $4 billion university now, one of the premier universities in the world. And athletics hasn’t always acted as a unifying force. Sometimes it’s been a divisive force, and that’s not when athletics is doing it right.

"We can be this tremendous unifying and enhancing effect where whatever sport you're working, you feel really good about being part of Rutgers. That’s our obligation as folks who are working here in athletics. We’re not saying ‘let’s build Rutgers Athletics.’ We’re saying ‘Building Rutgers together.’ Our campaign will eventually launch into a university campaign. But at a time when we’re having great success in our sports, we’re winning Big Ten championships.''

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What about The Alley?

During one segment, Hobbs fielded questions from fans and, not surprisingly, someone asked for the latest on The Alley, the student tailgate that was cancelled in controversial fashion last fall. "Continuing to work with our student leaders,'' Hobbs said. "We want to create another place, and closer to the stadium. So we'll get students into the stadium even more quickly. We have to work on the alcohol policies. It has to be an environment that's safe. We have obligations not only as administrators but as parents to create a safe environment for our students. But we want it to be a fun environment where we have food, there's availability of alcohol, we have some tailgating, and we get students to come into the stadium.''

Hobbs , who plans to test out a new spot for the Scarlet-White spring game on April 22, hinted that it could be moved to a location close to the where the new video board will be built on the soon-to-be-upgraded Rutgers football practice fields.

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Hobbs on Twitter?

In a light-hearted moment to close the Facebook Live press conference, Baumgartner pressed Hobbs on why he doesn't have a Twitter account. Turns out, the Rutgers AD actually does but he only uses it to stay in-tuned to the latest Rutgers athletics news.

"I’m not a Twitter guy,'' Hobbs said. "The problem with Twitter is you can go a little too quickly sometimes with a message. I love reading it. I do have my anonymous account so I do follow our teams and some of the commentary out there. … I’ll think about Twitter.''

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Closing message to the fans

Hobbs did his best to present a closing argument as the Facebook Live session came to a close, urging the Scarlet Knights' fan base to "go all-in.''

"This is really the critical time,'' Hobbs said. "We have 12 months to run here before we want to say we topped this. … Everybody has to come off the sideline. This is no longer the time to say, ‘You know what, I’ll wait. Let me see the buildings start to come up. And then maybe I'll make my commitment.’

"That’s not what’s happening at other Big Ten schools. At other Big Ten schools, they are all-in and that’s why I keep saying, ‘You gotta be all-in, and we’re going to build Rutgers together.''

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