UH holds groundbreaking ceremony for its new $130M football center: 'Truly competitive'
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The University of Houston held a ceremonial groundbreaking to highlight its new, state-of-the-art football facility on Friday.
The facility, soon to be known as the Memorial Hermann Football Operations Center, will feature up-to-date amenities and instantly help Houston's recruiting efforts, with the competition for talent across the country at an all-time high, the university said.
University president Renu Khator was among the attendees at the event, telling student-athletes she hopes the facility will help them succeed. "This building really is not for any other purpose - the most important thing is really you," she said. "We are doing this for you."
The university became an official member of the Big 12 Conference on July 1. The planned $130 million facility will also have amenities, including sports performance centers, an academic support services suite, a leading-edge locker room facility, student-athlete flex space, and office space to house football coaching and support staff.
"One more time, we have assembled to do something big here and make sure that our athletics program is truly competitive," Khator said.
Cougars head football coach Dana Holgorsen said the impact on recruiting will be hard to describe. "We lose so many kids because they don't want to be in a facility where they share it with track and volleyball," Holgorsen said.
Holgorsen also explained that Olympic sports at UH will benefit with football's move. Those sports, including track and volleyball, will now have more room of their own in a revamped Carl Lewis Alumni Center.
It represents a leap forward for the football experience at UH, and it's necessary to compete against the best teams in the Big 12.
READ MORE: University of Houston receives $10 million for new football development center
It's also planned to provide additional seating to TDECU Stadium with 14 suites, a 450-seat club section with access to an 11,000-square-foot club, and a 300-seat roof terrace facing inward to John O'Quinn Field. The center is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
"To have an entity as prestigious as Memorial Hermann step up and put their name on a very visible and important component in our Football Operations Center is gratifying and humbling," Chris Pezman, UH vice president for athletics, said. "It comes at a great time as we join the Big 12 and break ground on our facility at the end of the 2023 season."
Pezman told ABC13 UH basketball invested in facilities and the payoff has been dramatic with success on a national scale. "Every time, we've made a major statement like this, the downstream effect of that is success competitively," Pezman said.
Tilman Fertitta, chairman of the board of regents of the University of Houston System, also addressed the student-athletes at the event.
"This is all about you guys. You're going to get to enjoy one of the best football facilities in the United States in college football," Fertitta said.
He said it was the last piece university officials have been trying to accomplish for the last 15 years.
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