East Central Community College players enjoy one of the new coaches, donated by La-Z-Boy, at the new Warrior Hall, which was opened on Thursday.

East Central Community College officially opened its new football facility in a Thursday afternoon ceremony at the Decatur campus.

The opening of the 12,300-square foot facility, which is located in the north end zone at Bailey Stadium, is the culmination of years of work and planning by East Central administration and football staff.

The new facility contains a new locker room for the East Central football team along with new offices for the coaches and a team meeting room. It also houses a state-of-the art training too with a hydrotherapy pooled that will be used by student athletes in all nine sports at East Central.

East Central president Dr. Billy Stewart welcomed a packed house of local dignitaries, former and current players along with financial supporters of the $2.6 million facility.

“This afternoon we celebrate the completion and official opening of the college’s newest facility, Warrior Hall,” Stewart said. “Today marks a special day in the history of our institution as we celebrate progress on our 2020 Vision strategic plan. Not only does this facility represent progress, it represents what the EC Way — Excellence with Class — is all about. This is a facility we can all be proud of. I pray it will catch the eye of many potential student-athletes whose lives will be eternally changed because of the time spent here at East Central.”

Since arriving in Decatur seven years ago, ECCC football coach Ken Karcher has moved the program in a positive direction. In 2014, the school installed an artificial turf surface at Bailey Stadium and renovated the stadium, including the front entrance. In 2015, the Warriors went 8-3 season and won the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl.

The completion of Warriors Hall is the next in a line of huge accomplishments for Karcher since arriving at Decatur.

“I think that if you look at any facility around the country and there are two purposes for it,” Karcher said. “First is to attract recruits, and in this day and time, kids are looking for the goods. So I think the building itself will be very attractive to them. Once they see those things, they want to know how they are going to make them better. That’s where I think we will be able to prepare them much better out of this building. Instead of running around campus looking for a meeting room, we have one location, and it’s state of the art. It will help prepare our players.”

With the state of Mississippi now open to recruiting for all of the state’s junior colleges and upgrades to facilities at other junior colleges in the state, a new facility became a priority for Karcher and Stewart.

“If you don’t have the facilities, it’s going to be tough to compete year in and year out on any level,” Karcher said. “This gives us a chance to take that next step. Our football program has become very competitive, and now this will help us become a perennial power in the league.”

Karcher said there were two things that stood out to him on Thursday.

“The best part for me is to see the smiles of the young men, that’s why you do this,” Karcher said. “From a practical standpoint, it’s the team meeting room and the meeting space that we have now for our players and coaches in a central location.”

Now with the new facility complete, Karcher said he will naturally look to the next step in the evolution of the football program at ECCC. 

“There is always a next step,” Karcher said. “I would think the weight room would be that next step for us. That’s a next step that would add to this facility and would continue to upgrade this facility. You aren’t in it to compete with what they have, but being selective in what we need to continue to improve our young men on and off the field.”