By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
With Baylor basketball’s move to Foster Pavilion, Baylor’s acrobatics and tumbling and volleyball teams are calling the iconic Ferrell Center their own “fixer-upper.”
To accommodate the acrobatics and tumbling team, Ferrell Center renovations began this August.
David Bess, assistant vice president of planning and construction and university architect, said the construction includes two major parts — updated accommodations for the acrobatics and tumbling team and deferred maintenance for the entire building.
“We do maintenance work in that building year-round,” Bess said. “I think that’s what prompted this most recent project, where we decided to combine the acrobatics and tumbling and the volleyball project together, and we have this deferred maintenance project.”
The Board of Regents confirmed the renovation plans at its May 2025 meeting. These “much-needed renovations” will include an improved heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, expanded locker rooms for the acrobatics and tumbling team and added spaces for the Baylor athletic health department, according Board of Regents Chair William “Bill” Mearse.
The acrobatics and tumbling team recently moved from Marrs McLean Gym to the Ferrell Center, following the basketball team’s move from the Ferrell Center to Foster Pavilion. Since the switch, the acrobatics and tumbling team has been using the lockers previously occupied by the basketball team.
“There’s not as many players on a basketball team as there are on the acrobatics and tumbling team, so there really wasn’t enough space for them,” Bess said. “They have different equipment. They have different needs.”
This project will involve converting the former men’s and women’s basketball locker rooms into shared spaces to fit the acrobatics and tumbling team’s needs, Bess said.
Because the volleyball team locker room was previously updated in late 2020, Bess said this facility would remain the same. However, the construction would also create shared spaces for both teams.
“We’re also creating a shared athletics medicine space,” Bess said. “There was an existing one, [and] we relocated it. We’ve made that space a little bit more centrally located to where it’s easy [to] access.”
The other major part of construction, deferred maintenance, will include updates to mechanical systems, heating and cooling, the sanitary system, plumbing and the roof.
“We’re not replacing the roof, but we are going to be repairing. [We’re] basically systematically going through that entire dome, and resealing it to where we mitigate any leaks in the building,” Bess said.
For the volleyball team, head coach Ryan McGuyre said the space might be limited during construction, but they would make use of the space they have.
“Logistically, admin and myself [must be] organized about how this space gets utilized, because things are tighter during tournaments,” McGuyre said. “But I think [it’s] all benefits in the future … Maybe visiting teams are going to be a little bit more smushed when they come, but that’ll just be for this year.”
As for the rest of students on campus, Bess said the project would be “minimally invasive.” But for the acrobatics and tumbling team and volleyball team, repairs will make a world of difference.
“They’re going to be getting a new space that’s dedicated and tailored just for them,” Bess said. “So I think that’s going to be the greatest improvement for that team.”
