aubiefifty 18,231 Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 247sports.com Auburn's new football complex project still on schedule ByMark Murphy 8-10 minutes Manage AUBURN, Alabama–Despite a change in coaching staffs everything remains on schedule for construction of a new home for the Auburn football Tigers. The university is calling the project its "football performance center." Site preparation work by the firm of Batson Cook that began in September is nearing completion at the location of the old Wilbur Hutsell track and field. The university’s board of trustees is expected to approve the project at its regularly scheduled meeting on Friday and the project is scheduled to be bid four days later. Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood of Montgomery is the primary architect on the project with design assistance from HOK of Kansas City, Mo. An aerial view is shown of the plans for the football facility. The site preparation, which includes relocation of utilities, is a $3.9 million project. In addition to removing the track and field, which was no longer in use, the campus recreational tennis courts were also removed. Construction has begun on new on-campus tennis courts that are being built next to the intersection of Hemlock Drive and West Thach. The AU varsity teams practice and have matches off campus at Yarbrough Tennis Center, where they also have locker rooms, meeting rooms along with 12 outdoor courts and six indoor courts along with 16 clay courts for their use. The new football facility, which will include two outdoor practice fields, one indoor practice field, locker rooms for players and coaches and everything else for football operations, is estimated to be around a $90 million project. Construction on the site began during fall semester at the university. (Photo: Mark Murphy, Inside the Auburn Tigers, 247Sports) If everything goes according to schedule, the complex could be ready for use by the summer of 2022 for the football program, which is now being led by Coach Bryan Harsin. He was hired in December to take over for Gus Malzahn, who was a strong supporter of the project. Malzahn was fired following Auburn’s final regular season game of the 2020 season. Former Auburn University football player Yann Cowart is the architect in charge of designing the football facility, which will relocate all of the football activities other than ones at Jordan-Hare Stadium from the current athletic complex, which is also headquarters for the athletic department’s administration as well as the academic center for athletes in all sports. A view from an outdoor field towards what will be the indoor facility is shown. The site for the new football complex has been targeted by Auburn coaches dating back to Tommy Tuberville’s time in charge of the program. Since abandoning the old track and field in 2006 the men’s and women’s track and field squads train and compete at the Hutsell-Rosen facility, which is named in honor of long-time former AU coaches Mel Rosen and Wilbur Hutsell. The track and field teams share a building with the women’s soccer squad, which has its home field on the opposite side of the building from the track. The plans for the new indoor facility, which are shown above, look almost identical to the current indoor facility, which gets plenty of use by the football Tigers and for other teams as well. The current football complex was built in 1989 and additions have included an academic center and an indoor practice facility that is expected to be used by multiple Auburn teams after the football Tigers move into their new home. When the current athletic complex was finished it also was built on the site of the university’s tennis courts. That facility enabled the football coaching staff and other administrators to move out of cramped spaces at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. One of the key features of the project will be upgraded amenities for players, something AU officials want to do to make sure the Tigers are not at a recruiting disadvantage with compared to their SEC rivals. The current football headquarters complex, which was originally 88,000 square feet, cost $7.3 million including the furnishings and three outdoor practice fields. Subscribe to Inside the Auburn Tigers Magazine and Football Newsletter Major additions since it was built include a large academic support area, an expanded locker room for the players, an expanded weight training area and an indoor football practice field that replaced a smaller indoor field built at the site of the small indoor facility known as “The Bubble” because it was covered by a roof supported by pressurized air. The Tigers currently use a much larger indoor practice facility that has a 100-yard field and 92,000 square feet of floor space. Keeping with the the Joneses in the college football recruiting wars includes having facilities such as an in-house barber shop for the players. Other major additions to the current complex include a parking deck and the popular Lovelace Museum, which was moved to Auburn Arena when that facility was completed in October of 2010 and underwent a major change in format. The interior of the building has been remodeled multiple times with upgrades to the head coach’s suite, assistant coaches offices, the athletic director’s office area, the business offices, the media relations and marketing suite, the team meeting rooms and the locker room for the coaches. A view is shown of what will be the entrance into the new facility for the coaching staff and other administrative personnel. When the new football complex is finished the athletic department is expected to have plenty of office space for use by all of the intercollegiate programs, even if the long-discussed plans to tear down Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum are implemented. Since the Auburn Arena project was completed for use by the men's and women's basketball teams, the gymnastics team and the volleyball Tigers, removing Beard-Eaves has been discussed, but currently no plan has been approved to make that happen. Auburn Arena is also used for a variety of non-athletic events including graduation ceremonies. A drawing of the front of the new planned facility is shown. The project is being built on land to the west of Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum and north of the current football practice fields. Auburn's new head coach, Bryan Harsin, has completed hiring his on the field coaching staff that will be able to take advantage of the new facility, which Auburn officials are counting on to be one of the best in country. Inside the Auburn Tigers has been told that Harsin has had input on amenities that will be included in the facility. The new complex is expected to include state of the art facilities for Jeff Pittman, the new head strength and conditioning coach, who Harsin brought to Auburn after handling the same assignment for the head coach at Boise State. The Tigers currently have a small lounge area for the football team, but the plan is for a much expanded area for the Tigers to hang out in the new facility. When the current football facility was completed in 1989 it included a small lounge area on the second floor for the football players that overlooked the practice fields, however, it was seldom used and was converted to office space for Tigers Unlimited. On the lower level of the complex another lounge area was added outside the locker room. Plans for the new facility call for a much larger area for the players to spend down time. A side view is shown of the drawings for the new football complex. If everything goes according to schedule, the 2022 Auburn football team will be able to use the facility for preseason practice. 27COMMENTS Auburn's football facilities have evolved in a major way over the decades. The first major expansion of football facilities at AU after World War II took place in the early 1970s when the football offices, weight room, locker room and training rooms moved from the fieldhouse behind the north end zone of the stadium into Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. That happened near the end of the Coach Shug Jordan Era, who led the program for a quarter of a century. With Pat Dye as head coach the Tigers moved into the current facility at the end of the 1980s. ">247Sports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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