Dayton -- As head coach of the University of Dayton football team, Rick Chamberlin had the biggest office on the coaching staff inside the football offices in the Frericks Center.
It just wasn't what you would call "spacious."
Now, Chamberlin has enough room in his office to teach Dayton's linebackers a master's course on tackling.
As part of a $70,000 renovation that was funded entirely by alumni donations, Dayton football tripled its office space from 750 sq. ft. to 1,500 sq. ft. The renovation, which was finished just before the start of the season, also added a second film study room as well as new projectors, projector screens and computers, Chamberlin said.
"In this day of multi-million dollar practice facilities grabbing the headlines in college football, our office renovation might seem like small potatoes. But for us, it was money well-spent and just what we needed to help us help our young men improve every day."
Most of the position coaches had small offices that only allowed them to talk to one or two players at a time. But, some coaches weren't even in the same part of the building as the rest of the staff and were only given desks.
The new renovation has fixed those problems and gives players and coaches a more efficient space to use for weekly game preparations.
According to Chamberlin, in the past, the team had to work with the health and sport science department to use empty classrooms as meeting spaces.
"Space is always limited," Chamberlin said. "Health and sport science have been very good to us by allowing us to use classrooms whenever they're not in there, but you hate to have to bother them and schedule around that. It's really nice that we can now meet in there."
Giving coaches bigger offices helps with how the team functions and prepares during the week, but a main part of the renovation was a new seating room that highlights Dayton football's most famous alumni, Chuck Noll and Jon Gruden.
The Chuck Noll-Jon Gruden Championship Room showcases the five Super Bowl championships won between the pair of former Flyers (Noll won four titles as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 1970s and Gruden won as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2002 season).
The inscriptions on the plaques below both men's names read:
"Chuck Noll was co-captain and a starter on the only University of Dayton Division I team to play in the post-season. As a senior, Noll's team went 7-3 and played in the 1952 Salad Bowl in Phoenix, the forerunner of today's Fiesta Bowl. Noll went on to play seven seasons in the NFL. After serving as an NFL assistant for nine years, Noll was named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969.
"Noll's 23-year record of 209 wins, 156 losses and one tie includes four Super Bowl wins. A charter member of the UD Athletic Hall of Fame, Noll was also inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995."
"When Jon Gruden guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win in 2003, the University of Dayton became the fifth school to have two graduates coach their teams to wins in the Super Bowl, and make UD the schools with the most Super Bowl wins (5) by its alumni. While Gruden, a backup quarterback in his playing days, did not have playing accolades that Noll, a UD Hall of Famer had, the duo share traits found in many Flyer football players.
"A passion for the game, a high football IQ, a tremendous will to win and a great love for the University are some of the qualities found in every successful Dayton player, and Gruden's were so special he was named the winner of the Lt. Andy Zulli Award as a senior."
The room also houses several of Dayton's Pioneer Football League championship trophies, National Championship trophies and an autographed football signed by Noll.
Chamberlin said the room is his favorite part of the renovation and will be utilized for recruiting purposes.
"I can tell you the (current) players were impressed when they walked in and saw it for the first time because, shoot, you want to publicize all the success you've had here and UD alums have the most Super Bowl wins out of any university in the country," he said. "So you want to publicize those things to let recruits know they're coming to a winning tradition and program.
"You want to let these guys know, 'Hey, this isn't something that's just happened over the last five, eight years. This is something that's been going on for a long time. And that it's going to continue and you want them to be a part of it."
