Pearl: New football facility a ‘great thing’
AUBURN | Auburn’s football program is getting a $91.9 million facility and Bruce Pearl couldn’t be happier.
Auburn’s seventh-year head basketball coach even plans to financially support the new Football Performance Center, which is scheduled to be completed in July 2022.
“This, in my mind, if we’re going to compete for championships — and in football we do — we’ve got to provide them with the resources and the facilities. So, I’m a big proponent of it,” Pearl said. “I’ll be a supporter of it financially, my family and I. I’m excited for the student-athletes and the coaches.
“It’s a tremendous investment, but we invest in our students here at Auburn and we have high expectations for our students here at Auburn. And we’re the last in the league to really make this football, stand-alone facility. And then what’s going to happen is, everybody else’s facilities will benefit a little bit because of football moving out and there will be some good opportunities there for everyone to get better. It’s a great thing.”
It was just five years ago that Pearl had to use the rehab facilities in the current athletics complex, which was built in 1989. He underwent knee replacement surgery in March of 2016.
“Well, all I can tell you is, three years ago when I had to have a knee replacement I spent a lot of time over in the football complex working with our wonderful, incredible trainers and physical therapists,” Pearl said. “And it actually broke my heart to watch out athletes coming in, having to do some physical therapy, and every corner of the room there was no space, it was an inadequate treatment facility in one of the Top 10 football programs in the country.”
The 233,400 square foot project will be built at the location of the old Hutsell Track at the corner of West Samford and Biggio Drive. It will include a 138,100 square foot football operations building, a 95,300 square foot indoor practice facility and two natural turf practice fields.
The football ops building will include a weight room, locker room, sports medicine and nutrition, team meeting rooms, football administration, equipment, and laundry. It has a number of player amenities including a lounge, barbershop, two recording studios and a flight simulator.
The project will be financed by University bonds with the debt service to be paid by athletics department funds.