Ken and Peggy Briner have made it possible for Ball State to have the first fully digital athletic complex in the Mid-American Conference. With their financial assistance, the university installed a digital editing system in the new training facility at the football stadium.

Instead of videotapes and television monitors, the coaching staff and players will use laptop computers to view game and practice action as well as review plays. The cutting edge technology reduces the need for coaches to compile and edit 60 to 90 tapes for each opponent during the season.

"This is the same system created by Webb Electronics of Dallas, Texas, and used by many teams in the National Football League, including the Dallas Cowboys," said Shannon Griffith, an assistant football coach who coordinated the project. "It is a very practical teaching tool because with the laptops, we can cover material much faster than on video. And, because we save everything on our computers, we can retrieve and share information much more quickly.

"What is very impressive for the coaches is that we become the experts on how to manipulate the system instead of a person who edits a tape," he said. "I can edit my video on laptop from my office on campus or anywhere off campus, take it to the training facility and plug it into the system."
Ken Briner, a member of the Cardinal Varsity Club Board of  Directors and a 1969 Ball State graduate, said he and his wife made the commitment to help the athletic program keep pace with other members of the Mid-American Conference.

The Briners also made a financial commitment to the university for a new artificial surface facility. The turf field is used by the football team for practices and by the university's championship women's field hockey team.

"We have always supported Ball State athletics," he said. "Unless you have these types of tools, you are in a less competitive situation with the other schools in the conference."

The gift is part of the overall upgrade of Ball State's football stadium. The new training facility has an additional 3,092 seats on the front side of the building to increase the stadium capacity to 23,500. The facility is 28,000 square feet and will house a locker room for the Ball State football team, an athletic training facility, weight room, equipment room and meeting rooms.

This is the third phase of the football stadium improvements and renovations. In the last four years, east side seating has been added along with the artificial turf practice field and now the football training facility. The designs of the new press box, stadium facade, west side renovation and expansion to 30,000 seats are being finalized.

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager