South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Facility will be worth the wait
DESTIN — The Florida Gators move-in day for the new indoor football facility has been pushed back a month or so to early August.
What’s another 30 or 45 days after so many years?
The $85 million, 140,000-square foot building will usher the Gators into a new era and put them on more even footing in the never-ending arms race.
“We’re getting ready to embark upon a really special time in Florida football history,” coach Billy Napier told the Orlando Sentinel at the SEC Spring Meetings. “We’re going to be equipped from a facility perspective, which in my opinion has been a while.”
The Gators’ indoor practice facility opened in August 2015. Otherwise, major investments in football date to Urban Meyer’s time in Gainesville (2005-10).
Meyer arrived on the heels of $50 million in stadium improvements and was around for the construction of the $28 million James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Training Center in 2009.
Even then, the Gators’ operation lacked cohesion.
“If you go back to pre-arms race, Urban Meyer era, what significant investment has been made in football facilities?” Napier asked. “That’s not being critical. That’s just reality. That was part of my evaluation of the program relative to taking the job.”
The new indoor facility was waiting for Napier to help streamline his program’s day-to-day performance.
“Our efficiency is going to increase greatly as a program,” athletic director Scott Stricklin told the Sentinel.
The practice fields are more than 600 yards each way from the current locker rooms, but they soon will be adjacent to the standalone facility. The new staff determined walking roughly 20 miles in cleats on concrete takes a toll even on the legs of an elite athlete.
The weight room is several flights of stairs from the coaches’ offices.
“Now you can just look down from your office and see the weight room,” Stricklin said.
Efficiency in the new facility was paramount to Napier upon his December arrival.
Similar to his predecessor Dan Mullen, Napier had ideas and input.
“We evaluated the entire place, top to bottom, and we continue to,” Napier said. “It’s all about efficiency. It’s all about player experience, staff experience, recruit experience. How can we use the facility to improve the experience of the other sports relative to the nutrition performance center, the inside player lounge, the outside lounge area?”
The first-year head coach eventually suggested changes to better organize the building’s floor plan and accommodate a staff of more than 60 people, an increase from Mullen’s regime.
“We’ve grown about 15 to 20% as an organization,” Napier told the Sentinel. “That’s the majority of these adjustments that we’re describing are about adapting relative having a few more people and then you get into overall flow and effectiveness relative to your process.”
Stricklin said office space was built out and some walls were moved.
“It was not insignificant but it wasn’t like we started over,” he said. “When you’re dealing with construction you have a plan and then you have to be prepared to adapt.”
The Gators aimed to begin moving into the building in late June, but they’ll now wait until early August.
Stricklin said the priority is to complete team areas, like the locker room, weight room and training room. The dining area should be fully operational no later than mid-August.
Some upstairs offices, graphics and other finishing touches might be ongoing for a couple of weeks.
Napier is being patient, knowing he has one chance to get it right.
“This is very unique relative to transitioning as a first-year coach right in the middle of a critical time,” he said. “All of this is a blessing, it’s a positive. They did a fantastic job with this place.”