The university has proposed a plan to transform Cole Field House into an indoor football practice facility.
Next week, this university’s Army ROTC branch will move from its location in Cole Field House to Reckord Armory following an almost $3 million facility renovation, university officials said.
The Navy and Air Force ROTC departments will move to the Armory as well sometime this spring, said Bill Olen, capital projects director. Renovations, much of which involved “behind the scenes” maintenance work and the addition of new mechanical equipment, improved the building’s air conditioning, Olen said.
READ MORE: Renovation on Tawes Hall, Physics Building should finish by semester’s end
To make room for the ROTC departments, several math labs currently housed within the Armory will relocate to the physics building after this semester ends, Olen said. In anticipation of the first phase of the Cole Field House, several of the facilities’ occupants is this referring to cole occupants or armonry occupants? Also can you give some examples of who else is moving? “have either moved or are in the process of moving,” he added.
Lt. Col. Larry Rentz, who joined the Army ROTC faculty this semester, said the switch from Cole to the Armory “is somewhat of an upgrade.” The move will allow the program’s office spaces to consolidate its spread over three floors in Cole Field House into mostly one floor in the Armory, therefore improving communication, he said.
“It puts our ROTC programs closer together to share resources and training areas,” Rentz said. The move “is more of a plus for us than a minus.”
Rentz said university officials have been “very helpful” in the moving out process, arranging meetings with the ROTC branches at least once a week to discuss logistics.
He said the move also has historical significance, as the university’s Army ROTC program originated in the Armory. Though ROTC will lose Cole’s indoor field and stairs for training, Rentz said the program will benefit from the added indoor classroom space, conference rooms and the Armory’s indoor basketball court. To compensate for the loss of the field, Rentz said they will conduct parts of their training outdoors on the open field next to the Armory.
“Most of us will have to travel a little further to get there,” Rentz added. “Cole was a central location next to the dorms where people live.”
But Cadet Robert Knieriem, a junior finance and marketing major, said some of his fellow battalion members may consider the Armory a better, more convenient headquarters for the program. He said the program’s attitude regarding the move demonstrates their efficiency at “rolling with the punches.”
READ MORE: Lt. Col. Larry Rentz makes history as UMD’s first black Army ROTC program director
“Some of us are somewhat excited about it because with all the construction going on right now it’s kind of hard to get to Cole,” Knieriem said. “They also told us there’s more and better parking at the Armory than at Cole, which is good.”
Knieriem said he and his fellow cadets will assist in the moving process.
“We’re not looking forward to it—it’s a lot of work for us. No one realizes how much equipment we have,” he said. “It’s not necessarily fair but that’s just the way it is. It comes with the territory.”
And though he and his fellow battalion members grew accustomed to running sprints up and down Cole’s indoor stairs, Knieriem said he looks forward to a change of scenery.
“It’ll be interesting to see what the dynamics will be like in there,” he said.
