MATT CAPOWSKI/Arizona Summer Wildcat Senior defensive back Johnny Bailey does conditioning exercises for his knee Friday morning at the Bill Estes Conditioning Center. Bailey suffered an injury during spring drills and expects to be back on the field by mid-season.

UAâs new weight-training facility, considered one of the top 5 in the nation, may push the athletic departmentâs rectuiting efforts to the next level

Running around his office, Brad Arnett looks like he is on the football field dodging would-be tacklers.

Sneaking by a bench press on his right and maneuvering by a pull-up bar on his left, he shows one of the 60 football players in town this summer how to use an oblique machine. He gets on the machine and does a quick set of repetitions so the athlete can see how it is done.

Meanwhile, he is talking on his cell phone to one of the team doctors.

None of this is new to Arnett ÷ the director of CATS strength and conditioning for all 19 UA teams ÷ but his office is.

His office is the four-month-old Bill Estes Jr. Family Strength and Conditioning Center, which is part of the brand new $15 million addition to McKale Center. The entire 50,000 square foot project, known as the Eddie Lynch Pavilion, officially opens in September.

ãAs a strength coach I could not have asked for a bigger gift,ä said Arnett, 29, who helped design the weight room. ãItâs allowed us to really take care of the athletes.ä

And that is what is most important to Arnett.

Out with the old

Unlike past summers where many of the football players left town the day finals ended, more than 60 players have stayed in Tucson this year to work out, nearly double from last year.

ãI think the new weight room has definitely made people stick around this summer,ä said UA senior quarterback Jason Johnson, who works out as early as 6 a.m. three days a week. ãThe new facility has really made it nice because in the past we would have to lift in groups and only one-fourth of the team could lift at a time.

ãAlso, when the football team would be lifting nobody else could be in there.ä

The new weight room, which is 24,000 square feet including the offices, is more than three times the size of the old one, which was only 6,700 square feet. Many considered the old weight room to be one of the worst, if not the worst, in the Pacific 10 Conference.

ãWe definitely needed something new because before we had nothing,ä said UA head coach John Mackovic, who under NCAA guidelines is not allowed to supervise summer workouts.

UA, the use of privately donated funds, has used the money to make the pavilion one of the best in the nation.

ãI think the big thing is we have to keep up with the joneses,ä menâs basketball associate head coach Jim Rosborough said. ãThe old (weight room) was outdated and one of the worst in the Pac-10. Now, our new one is in the top 5 in the country.ä

The Eddie Lynch Athletic Pavilion has been the vision of Jim Livengood, UA director of athletics, since he arrived at the university in 1994.

Livengood was out of the office last week and did not return calls on Monday.

Even former Wildcat basketball star Miles Simon has taken a liking to the new weight room and said he is jealous that the facility wasnât here when he played for UA.

ãI think itâs unbelievable and would probably have spent more time in there than I did when I was here,ä Simon said.

A look inside

The switch from the old weight room to the new weight room is like the basketball teamâs switch from playing at Bear Down Gym to McKale Center.

There really is no comparison.

The artificial lighting was an eyesore and the machines and space were outdated.

The new weight room, on the other hand, is a $13.5 million facility that is entirely underground, but the lighting has a more natural feeling.

It includes all state-of-the-art equipment, including an underwater treadmill, a sandpit, an indoor Astroturf track, Bose speakers and hot and cold whirlpools in the rehabilitation center.

All the machines have the embroidered UA logo stitched on and the weights are all customized.

The sandpit is the favorite feature of many of the coaches. Running in sand can help strengthen ankles and prevent bad breaks or sprains.

ãIn the past we would have to lift and then go outside to run,ä Johnson said. ãNow, everything is right here.ä

After an athlete is done working out they are given recovery shakes from the juice bar located inside the weight room.

Another feature of the weight room is the underwater treadmill. The treadmill has cameras located all over it and can take pictures from all different angles. It is said to be the only one in college athletics.

Former UA walk-in and inside linebacker Donnie Salum, who played football for Arizona for two years (1988-89), donated all the workout equipment for the weight room, estimated at $600,000.

ãThe new pavilion gives student-athletes a chance to be the best in the nation,ä said Salum, who owns Fitness Gallery, which sells workout equipment, in a statement. ãThere isnât a school out there that has more potential than Arizona and this will take us to a new level. I am glad to be a part of the new pavilion and the progress it will bring.ä

Bringing in the best

For years, Arizona had to show recruits a weight room that could not even come close to comparing to the ones owned by Pac-10 rivals Washington and Oregon.

Now, that can all change.

Incoming freshman wide receiver Biren Ealy, who signed with UA in the spring, was a part of the first recruiting class to be able to be wooed by the new facility and he said it played a big part in his choosing Arizona over schools like Texas Tech and Texas A&M.

ãI saw both the training facilities at those schools and they couldnât even compare to the one here,ä Ealy said. ãI really wanted to go to a school that had a nice facility.ä

Even though when Ealy saw the facility when it wasnât totally completed, he knew by its size that it was going to be cutting edge.

ãMy thinking as a coach might be different than a kid,ä Rosborough said. ãA kid is more visual. They like to see things like a crowded arena and a top weight room and that is really important that we now have that.ä

UA football recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello said the Estes Strength and Conditioning Center has already made a difference in recruiting.

ãArizona desperately needed something and it has far exceeded my expectations,ä he said. ãIn the future it will play a major role in recruiting.ä

The Wildcats have already reaped the benefits. Some publications considered the UA 2002 football recruiting class to be among the Top 25 in the nation.

ãWhen I take a kid in there they can see that it is a really attractive place and itâs kept very clean,ä menâs basketball assistant coach Josh Pastner said.