The Vanderbilt athletic program is getting an eight-figure upgrade.

At a press conference on campus Tuesday morning, Vice-Chancellor David Williams detailed a five-year, $55 million project to renovate Vanderbilt's athletic facilities.

"We're officially announcing what we consider to be a major facility renovation and building project," Williams said. "We're very excited."

The project will be divided into five phases, Williams said.

Phase one, already in progress at costs estimated at $11-12 million, will involve improvements and expansion of Memorial Gym's locker rooms, extensive renovation of Vanderbilt Stadium and seating additions to Hawkins Field that will increase capacity to 3,700 people.

Phase two, also at costs of $11-12 million, will involve extensive improvements of McGugin Athletic Center, including the creation of a Vanderbilt Hall of Fame and new and renovated space for the training room and football meeting rooms. Vanderbilt Stadium will have renovated entrances and a new plaza for fans to spend time in before and after games.

The other three phases will have other improvements to Vanderbilt's athletic facilities, including the addition of new seats built in the north end zone of Vanderbilt Stadium, complete renovations to the training room at McGugin and new and improved football locker and equipment rooms.

"This is going to be a self-funded operation," Williams said, "While the university has been very generous as it relates to subsidizing our part of it and will continue to do that, this is a project that we actually have to raise the money for. We've already raised some portion of it. We need time to raise the money."

"The other part is, even if we had the money in hand, the extent of the renovations, if we tried to do it all at once, it would impede on our programs," Williams added. "So they'll bring the least amount of interference on ongoing operations."

Vanderbilt's "revenue teams", as Williams called them, enjoyed successful season this past year and the coaches of the teams all feel that these renovations will be instrumental in taking Commodore programs to the next level.

The men's and women's basketball teams both went to the NCAA Tournament this season with the women advancing to the Sweet 16, while the football team came just short of its first bowl-elibigility in 25 years.

On hand to talk about the new facilities were women's basketball coach Melanie Balcomb, men's basketball coach Kevin Stallings and football coach Bobby Johnson.

In this day and age, everything is about recruiting, Balcomb said.

"To be able to attract the student-athletes that we want to get here, we needed the next level in facilities," Balcomb said. "You want to always stay current with your program and stay in a place where you can attract the highest level of recruits, and that's what we're trying to do."

Stallings expressed similar sentiments, stating that he and the other coaches are fortunate to be at Vanderbilt at a time when decisions are being made to make the athletic program better.

"You can hire the best coaches anywhere, but if you don't have commitment on the part of people who control where the money is spent, then it's not going to make any difference," Stallings said.

Like Balcomb, Stallings also mentioned that new facilities are crucial for recruiting.

"All of (these improvements) have impacted recruiting," Stallings said. "What I'm grateful for, what my athletes are grateful for, is that our administration decided that we're not going to get left behind. We're excited as coaches because the people above us are giving us reasons to be excited and the reasons we get excited are our opportunities to be successful."

Johnson is pleased by the "vote of confidence" given to the athletic program with the renovations.

"They're going about it in the perfect way," Johnson said. "I think the design is fantastic. We're extremely excited, and I think it's going to help our program a great deal, and hopefully it's going to turn into some wins and things that'll make our fans proud of our program."

The extensive and expensive operation is made easier, Williams said, by the quality of the coaches at Vanderbilt.

"One part I can say about every one of the coaches is that none of them have ever come forth and asked anything for themselves," Williams said. "They basically say, 'I want to be in a place that affords me an opportunity to win a national championship or win an SEC championship.' This helps them get to that."