Texas Tech announces $200 million athletic renovation

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Texas Tech announced the biggest investment in its athletic program’s history on Monday night. Once combined, TTU says its facilities will be the largest continuous football complex in the nation.

Football players say this shows where Texas Tech is headed.

“My mind is just blown at this point and I think, the first thought that popped in my head was, the rest of the country better be, is going to be scared when they see these pictures come out,” tight end Henry Teeter said. “Texas Tech is headed in a good direction.”

Texas Tech is using $200 million to build a new South End Zone and football training facility.

In a digital announcement Monday, Athletics Director Kirby Hocutt said this shows the commitment to strengthening the football program.

“Football is the element that we have got to continue to raise to the level of all of our other sports and this announcement tonight is a big piece of that,” Hocutt said.

It’s all connected, making it what the program calls the largest football facility in the United States.

“Have everything tied into four fields, easy access,” Head Coach Joey McGuire said. “From the indoor, to practice fields, to game field, and really that’s all one complex.”

Hocutt says the iconic Double T scoreboard will still be there and possibly larger. The South End Zone will have a premium suite, new entry points for fans, club seating opportunities, and will connect to the Football Training Center using a skywalk.

Players say this will bring the team together, and with how much time they spend there, the renovation is needed.

“In the summer, at least, we’re in there for hours and hours and in the season it’s even more,” linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said. “So, we’re kind of spending whenever we wake up in the morning working out to whenever we have to go eat dinner, we’re up there.”

The players can’t wait for it to be finished.

“It’s building, it’s almost there, it’s almost there. Just thinking in my head just saying like, it’s almost there, I’m almost in that new facility, so I can become a better teammate and have fun with the guys and stuff like that,” running back Tahj Brooks said.

Coach McGuire says he already knows the players will love it. The training facility will have the equipment room, player lounge, locker room, weight room, training room, and facilities for their health.

“It’s going to be a space they want to come into and they aren’t going to be ready to leave,” McGuire said.

The players don’t have to wait long because construction starts in November.

“It’s going to begin immediately following this football season,” Hocutt said. “We will begin with demolition of the South End Zone after our last football game this season.”

Coach McGuire says this facility will be unlike anything else.

“I’ve been a lot of places and seen a lot of different facilities and we have an opportunity to be as good or better than anybody in the nation,” McGuire said. “So, I’m really excited about that.”

The players agree with him, saying it’s only going to make Texas Tech more appealing.

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