Vanguard University has unveiled a new, nearly $42 million gym facility that marks the second step in an extensive overhaul of the 40-acre campus next to the Orange County Fairgrounds.
The Costa Mesa-based Christian university held a ribbon cutting ceremony Oct. 4 for the Freed Center for Leadership and Service.
At the event, the building was dedicated to the Freeds, a local philanthropic family, in honor of a $10 million gift they donated for the facility in 2022. It is the largest gift in the school’s 104-year history. Vanguard raised a total of $16 million for the $41.5 million building.
“As a Christian family who believes in the mission of Vanguard University, we were proud to be able to gift the funds needed to help build this state-of-the-art facility,” Evelyn Freed said in a statement.
“The Freed Center will be a refuge for students; a space at the heart of the campus where they can gather, learn and compete. It’s just one of many ways the century-old learning institution is growing to meet changing times, while also still fostering intellectual development, moral maturity and spiritual vitality of its students for the public good.”
The three-story, 61,000-square-foot athletics and learning center features a gymnasium that can seat up to 1,910 people. Vanguard’s athletic teams will find a new home at the Freed Center after not having one for two years during construction.
It will also house the kinesiology program, Vanguard’s third highest enrolled major and one of its fastest growing academic programs, in the classrooms and lab spaces on the upper floors.
Transitions to NCAA Division II School
The Freed Center was formerly known as The Pit, which was demolished in 2022 to make way for the new athletics building.
A refresh was long overdue, according to Director of Athletics Jeff Bussell.
“Everybody loved The Pit, but it was 80 years old,” Bussell told the Business Journal during a tour of the facility.
The opening of the Freed Center coincides with Vanguard’s recent efforts to ramp up its athletics program serving more than 450 student athletes.
Last year, Vanguard said it is transitioning to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II school, a process that can take up to three years.
Starting this year, the school will compete as a member of the Pacific West (PacWest) Conference.
Besides the gym, there is a sports medicine clinic on the first floor with five full-time trainers dedicated to treating athletes for any injuries. Inside are treatment tables and hot and cold whirlpools that are used for recovery purposes.
Bussell said the biggest transformation with the opening of the Freed Center was the 2,300-square-foot weight room with brand new equipment, a step up from the used squat racks Vanguard purchased from the University of California, Irvine for its old weight room.
“I think the vision of the president was to have our facilities match the student experience,” Bussell said.
Located on the upper levels of the Freed Center are performance and motion analysis labs for the kinesiology department, which is led by Diana Avans.
Avans said they needed more space for the students enrolled in the program. For the past decade, the major has experienced 10% growth in enrollment each year, according to officials.
There are about 220 undergraduate majors within kinesiology at Vanguard, preparing students for a variety of careers in the health, fitness or sports industries ranging from personal trainers to physical therapy.
The program received a $500,000 grant from the Fletcher Jones Foundation to outfit the spaces with “state-of-the-art” equipment to perform physiological tests, including bicycle ergometers and an egg-shaped chamber measuring body fat.
“The goal is to teach students how to use all the equipment and how to do the tests on individuals, so when they leave here they have some practical skills,” Avans said.
With the added space, Avans said they’re planning to launch a graduate program and adult education program.
Legendary Women’s Basketball Coach
The lobby of the center is named after Russ Davis, who is approaching his 30th year as the head coach of women’s basketball at Vanguard.
A nationally recognized coach, Davis has been inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ (NAIA) Hall of Fame and was named Coach of the Year multiple times by the NAIA and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
Davis counts 35 wins at the NAIA National Championships, making him the highest of any active coach, according to Vanguard.
He initially joined the university in 1996 as an assistant coach before the head coach position opened.
In 2019, Davis was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer, taking him off the court temporarily to receive treatment. He made a special return to the sidelines a year later to honor his friend the late Kobe Bryant and his daughter GiGi, who both passed away in a helicopter crash in 2020.
Davis’ new office in the Freed Center now overlooks the court from the second floor.
Various memorabilia collected over the years proudly hangs on the walls of his office, including a net cut off from the hoop of the NAIA National Championships the team won in 2008.
“I mean, look, I come out of my office and look out there and see stuff…I’ve got all of this,” Davis told the Business Journal.
Previously, 14 head coaches shared one classroom. Now, they have their own space with additional cubicles for assistant coaches.
“I think it’s beautiful. I spent like 26 to 27 years in the old building, and I think this is three times bigger,” Davis said. “It’s great and we’re still adding a lot of stuff to it.”
Vanguard’s 30-Year Expansion Plans
The completion of the Freed Center follows the opening of the $24 million Waugh Student Center, which opened its doors in 2020.
Vanguard’s 30-year master plan was first approved by the city of Costa Mesa in 2019.
Upcoming new buildings in the master plan include a library/learning resource center, a building dedicated to STEM and a residence hall, as well as increased parking areas.
Michael Beals, who became Vanguard’s 10th president in 2013, has been overseeing the expansion of the 40-acre campus as part of the school’s efforts to increase enrollment.
“The campus master plan provides Vanguard a roadmap to prioritize our educational mission through facilities and environments on our campus,” Beals said in a statement.
“As we pursue our vision to be the source of Christian Higher education in California, we have been serious about providing spaces that enhance the quality of the student experience.”
Vanguard, one of the oldest four-year colleges in Orange County, has about 2,200 students and over 35,000 alumni.
