Florida Gators
Wolverine Inter-Regional
Indoor football facility on schedule for two-a-days
Tuesday, July 14, 2015 | Football, Cross Country, Chris Harry
HOOVER, Ala. -- Weather (and permit) permitting, the Florida Gators will be practicing indoors at some point this summer.
UF coach Jim McElwain got an all-encompassing facilities question during his podium appearance Monday at Southeastern Conference Media Days, with special attention focused on the state of the $15-17 million practice complex -- “a long-need and beautiful facility,” he called it -- going up on the site of the current practice fields, across from the O'Connell Center parking garage.
“It sounds like we'll at least be able to get permit to be able to go spend a couple hours there as we go through two-a-days,” said McElwain, whose team opens fall drills Aug. 6. “That's something that's really exciting and it's exciting for our guys.”
The indoor football facility is just a chunk of more than $100 million worth of University Athletic Assocation projects currently in the works. The football team not only will benefit from the new air-conditioned edifice this year, but also renovated dormitories and improved nutrition departments, both of which will be in place for fall 2015
And then there's the $25 million renovation of the academic center at the Office of Student Life, a gem that Athletic Directory Jeremy Foley has trumpeted as a "game-changer" for the Gators.
“It's about the players, it's about helping them,” McElwain said. “We're moving in the right direction -- and we got a long ways to go -- but it's good to see that those things are happening.”
