EDINBURG — UTRGV athletics announced a $30 million investment to upgrade existing athletics facilities such as the UTRGV Fieldhouse, UTRGV Soccer and Track and Field Complex, Orville Cox Tennis Center and more during a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
“Today’s transformational. As we look back at some point and time, we’re going to find these moments in history that truly helped elevate our athletics program,” UTRGV athletic director and vice president Chasse Conque said. “It is going to set us on a different trajectory and put us in a position we’ve never been before as we take this $30 million investment and spread this over our 16 sports. It’s going to impact all 260 of our student-athletes.”
The project will be funded by increased revenue streams, including fundraising and increased ticket sales, that the athletics department has generated in recent years, according to Conque. Renovations are already underway as a new weight room is being constructed in the same building as the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
“What’s happening in athletics helps to support the university’s goal of creating a more vibrant campus life for all our students,” UTRGV President Guy Bailey said in a news release. “We want our students to engage with athletics. We want them going to games. We want them here on campus. We want this to be a central part of their lives. We want them to graduate with very little debt. We want them to stay in the Rio Grande Valley. Think about what a great place we can create by working together. That’s what this is all about.”
With the UTRGV athletics department aiming to add football and swimming and diving programs by 2025, pending Texas System Board of Regents approval, Conque said it was critical to take care of the 16 current sports first.
“We knew the football conversation was going to happen at some point when the time was right, that certainly happened this past fall, but (Bailey) and I both knew we had to invest in our current sports,” Conque said. “When you add to a strong foundation, it only makes everything stronger, so today is about taking care of our foundation. Today is about taking care of these 16 sports, and so when we do add — pending board of regents approval, those two programs — everybody is going to have the best setup that they can.”
RECRUITING BOOST
UTRGV head coaches Mark Foster (women’s soccer), Bryheem Hancock (men’s soccer), Shareese Hicks (track and field/cross country), Lane Lord (women’s basketball), Todd Lowery (volleyball), Derek Matlock (baseball), West Nott (women’s tennis) and Bryan Novoa (women’s golf) were on hand for the announcement.
Each coach echoed the same sentiment during Wednesday’s news conference: improving the facilities will provide a boost in recruiting efforts.
“This is game-changing for us. Being able to recruit at an elite level is quite important, and when you have facilities like this, it’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of when,” Novoa said.
“We’re going to be able to renovate some of our facilities and give our student-athletes a first-class experience, putting us in a space to recruit some of the best and brightest, really in a fashion that we haven’t been able to do before,” Conque said.
SAME FIELDHOUSE, NEW FEEL
The UTRGV Fieldhouse will add a practice gym for the basketball and volleyball teams, as well as a 15,000-square-foot entrance plaza/atrium, a new lobby including the UTRGV Hall of Fame and Hall of Honor area, new seating, a team store and more.
“When you walk in, you’re going to have one of the best facilities in the WAC and it’s just going to add to the gameday experience and we’re pumped up about it,” Lord said.
Conque said details regarding the start of construction and renovations to the fieldhouse are to be ironed out, but the goal is to do what they can while in-season with the major moves being timed to begin once basketball is over in March and before volleyball begins in July and August.
FROM PORTABLES TO PENTHOUSE
UTRGV men’s and women’s soccer and track and field athletes spent the last several years at the UTRGV Soccer and Track and Field Complex using portables as makeshift locker rooms.
Now, UTRGV is building locker rooms and coaches’ offices, as well as a new sports medicine facility for soccer and track and field at the UTRGV Soccer and Track and Field Complex. The facility also plans to install a press box before the start of the 2022 soccer seasons in August. Construction is set to begin soon.
“Locker rooms, those are bare necessities. It’s not just the experience piece, it’s a welfare piece, so to be able to give our student-athletes a permanent home to call their own, that’s very important,” Conque said.
UTRGV athletics resurfaced the courts at the Orville Cox Tennis Center on the Edinburg Campus last year. Now, UTRGV plans to grow the facility with locker rooms, coaches’ offices and a new entrance to the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
UTRGV will also build a golf facility next to the driving range at Champion Lakes Golf Course in McAllen, pending UT System Board of Regents approval, that will include locker rooms, coaches’ offices and hitting bays.
“We’re going to have a home, which is probably the most important thing. As a golf geek that I am, the technology, the ability to train at an elite performance level is going to be huge for us,” Novoa said.
