Gators’ wait is over

$85 million facility finally set to open

Florida veteran linebacker Ventrell Miller is 23, in his sixth year with the Gators and playing for his third head coach.

Through it all, Miller wondered if he’d be around long enough to enjoy the long-promised football facility.

Miller will get his wish Sunday when the Gators move into the 142,000-square foot, $85 million, James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Training Center.

“They’ve been telling me that it’s going to be here since I’m a freshman,” Miller said this week. “That was like six years ago. I’m glad to be able to have it and be a part of it this year.”

Fourth-year offensive tackle Michael Tarquin of Ocala recalled a new football facility at UF was part of his recruiting pitch years ago.

“We can’t wait,” he said Wednesday. “It’s going to be a game-changer.”

The Heavener Training Center is sure to be a winner for first-year coach Billy Napier as he pushes to rebuild the Gators.

The facility will streamline the program’s day-to-day operation, improve time management and provide a key recruiting tool to better compete with schools already with state-of-the-art facilities to impress prospects.

“Everyone wants to talk about recruiting when it comes to the facility, but I think it’s more important to our player experience,” Napier said in a statement Friday. “It screams commitment and certainly the efficiency of how we’re going to be able to improve as an organization. Time is of the essence and I think the new facility is going to create more efficiency for everyone involved.”

To reach the practice fields currently requires players walk from the locker room in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The distance is about 750 steps, nearly 1,900 feet or more than 600 yards each way.

The new football training center attaches to the Gators’ indoor practice facility and is adjacent to the practice fields.

“Perfect setup. We don’t have to worry about walking all the way over to practice anymore,” Tarquin said. “Everything is right there.”

Football players and fellow student-athletes will share the front quadrant of the massive facility, including the dining area and athlete lounges. Available to all UF athletes will be a resort-style swimming pool and large hot tub, along with a basketball court

A barber shop, virtual reality room, gaming and golf center, and a recording studio also are common area.

The rest of the Heavener Training Center is reserved for the football program.

Players and coaches alike will benefit from myriad upgrades. These include a 13,000-square foot weight room and training area, a locker room featuring lockers costing around $5,000 apiece, a training room with 20 tables and offices to house dozens of staff members.

Napier sits on the facility’s northwest corner with a balcony overlooking Sanders Outdoor Practice Fields.

“It’s a tangible demonstration that we are committed to investing in our student-athletes and enhancing their experience at UF,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in a statement.

The idea for a football facility predates Stricklin, who arrived Nov. 1, 2016. Just months before he retired, former AD Jeremy Foley proposed one to serve as the centerpiece of roughly $100 million in construction projects.

Changes, however, would follow.

The original $60 million standalone covering 135,920-square feet was to sit north of the track stadium and west of the football practice fields, without interfering with McKethan Stadium for baseball. The project was to be completed during the summer of 2019, prior to former coach Dan Mullen’s second season.

Stricklin scraped the plans after executive athletic director Chip Howard suggested razing McKethan and building a new stadium across campus to make room for the football facility. The resulting $65 million Florida Ballpark opened in the winter of 2021 on the southwest part of the UF campus.

The COVID-19 pandemic further pushed the completion of the football complex.

Along the way, Mullen shared plenty of valuable input and suggestions. One was to create 5,000-square feet of extra space, something Napier’s larger staff will need.

“Dan’s point was, we don’t know what’s next,” Stricklin told the Orlando Sentinel. “You never know what the next thing is going to be, but history tells us these operations continue to grow. We’re going to need a space to take care of that.

“We want this building to last for generations.”

Miller, who committed to the Gators in June 2016, is glad to be getting in on the ground floor as the program looks to the future.

“It’s just going to light a fire,” he said. “Anytime you get something new you’re always happy to check it out and see what it’s about.”

L.G. PATTERSON/AP Then-Florida coach Dan Mullen, who coached his last game in November at Missouri before his firing, provided valuable input for the Heavener Football Training Center.