The Dynasty Campaign gives FSU security in successful recruiting

By Charlie Barnes, Executive Director - Seminole Boosters

After more than four years of heroic efforts, it appears that the Boosters’ $70-million Dynasty Campaign goal is within reach. The plan to build new facilities and renovate old ones has unfolded magnificently.

Florida State had never conducted a capital campaign for athletics, but we wanted to use the opportunity afforded us by Coach Bowden, then in his 20th year as the Seminoles’ head football coach.

Young recruits were coming to Florida State not because of our facilities, but in spite of them. They came for Bowden.

But one who didn’t come taught us a crucial lesson.

National Defensive Player of the Year Ahman Brooks said about FSU in public, “I thought the facilities were going to be better, more up to date…Virginia Tech has better facilities.”

Brooks signed with the Virginia Cavaliers.

How can that be possible? Does not the massive brick fortress of University Center compare to any stadium in the country? Is not our brand-new Manny Garcia Locker Room the envy of college football?

The answer is yes, but the things that struck Brooks as noncompetitive—and rightly so—include the FSU weight training room and sports medicine facilities. Those are the places where the student-athletes actually spend most of their time.

Here’s the way capital campaigns work. The leadership gifts, large enough to make an impact, are solicited first. Then, years are spent going after other large gifts. Finally, in the last year of the campaign—the period we’re in now—all those who love the institution are given the opportunity to contribute to the final victory. In just the few months since we’ve begun mailing out Dynasty Campaign Brochures to the general public of alumni and Boosters, the large number of gifts flooding in so far totals nearly $1 million.

Bulldozers have dismantled the old Moore Athletic Center. A splendid new Gothic building will rise in its place. There will be a modern and expanded Roger Holler Weight Training Facility and a spacious new home for sports medicine. The recruits will be impressed.

We are no longer lulled by the illusion that our rivals did not move ahead of us. They did, but the athletes came to FSU anyway to work with Bobby Bowden. This entire Dynasty Campaign is in a sense a race to finish our work before he finishes his.