The Bearcats continue to show why they are day one ready as they make the transition to the Big 12 starting on July 1st. This morning, the University of Cincinnati announced the commencement of the groundbreaking on the new 134-million-dollar indoor practice facility and health center. The indoor practice facility will be ready in 2024, while the health center will be finished in 2025, but both facilities will be masterpieces on the beautiful campus that stands here in Clifton Heights.
“Today is another milestone marking a new era in Cincinnati Athletics,” said John Cunningham. “This facility which will soon begin to arise from the ground behind us, will be best in class. It will enhance every aspect of our athletics program.”
The project was led by University of Cincinnati President Neville Pinto, athletic director John Cunningham, lead donors, Larry and Rhonda Sheakley. The new practice facility will feature a 120-yard football field, and a 96,000 square foot health center that will be one of the largest facilities in all of college football.
The health center is a massive addition for the University of Cincinnati heading into the Big 12, as it allows all the student athletes from 18 programs to be housed in one area where they can get all the resources they need while on campus. “This state-of-the-art indoor practice facility and performance center represents a striking new front door to our campus,” University of Cincinnati President Neville Pinto said. “The design is truly stunning. This facility is a gamechanger for us in many ways, performance training, nutrition stations, mental health resources, a world class indoor practice facility, everything Big 12 athletics requires.”
The Bearcats will officially enter the Big 12 starting on July 1st of 2023. “It is the facilities that would be for the Big 12 that I would say, it’s a power five facility. Isn’t it great to be in the Power 5. I feel it is great, because I remember what it was like to be in the Power 6, we had no leverage then,” joked President Pinto.
The University of Cincinnati has set an all-time high in enrollment at the start of the fiscal year, along with a nation’s top Co-Op program, and one of the best architectural programs in the country. That is what makes this project so special is due to the nature of architectural history within the Cincinnati area. “I think what makes it special is the architectural history here at UC, we were going to make it our own, it was about the look when you hit that corner of campus, it’s going to really pop and stand out, That’s just how we do things around UC, it’s going to be really special,” Bearcats Athletic Director John Cunningham said. “That was the dream when the bubble went up back in 2009 was to become a predominant football program, winning multiple conference championship’s, developing multiple All-American’s, producing NFL Star’s, hosting College GameDay, making the CFP, receiving the invite to the Big 12.” said Cunningham.
Bearcats head football coach Scott Satterfield has only been at the University of Cincinnati for just over five months and according to Athletic Director John Cunningham he has the new renderings as his lock screen on his phone. “To give you a sense of how important this indoor facility is to our football program specifically, I know Coach Satterfield loves his family, but his phone screen saver is a picture of this new indoor facility,” John Cunningham said.
Many coaches from the University of Cincinnati were in attendance for this morning’s press conference, included was Woman’s Volleyball head coach Molly Alvey, Men’s basketball coach Wes Miller, Woman’s basketball coach Katrina Merriweather, along with Scott Satterfield. “Going back to when I first talked to John Cunningham and President Pinto, the fact they said they are doing this project was a huge recruiting sale for me,” said Scott Satterfield. “I want to be a part of a university that is investing in football. When I saw the renderings of the practice facility and health center, I was blown away, literally blown away at what this building is going to look like. It is incredible. I have been able to see some of the plans, it’s incredible. They have done a phenomenal job of planning and doing the things necessary to enhance the student athletes. There isn’t a whole lot of things I would change after looking the renderings, it’s incredible.”
Larry Sheakley has been a lead donor for the University of Cincinnati since 2009, which currently holds a staple to the University of Cincinnati which features “Sheakely Lawn” right behind the baseball stadium and outside the Lindner Athletics building on campus. “I’m really excited.” said lead donor Larry Sheakley. “They showed me the plans two weeks ago and I just couldn’t believe it. I should have known that the University would do something that like because they have such a belief in the fact the University of Cincinnati is known as an architectural design school. I don’t know what vision I had but I thought it was just going a square box they practice football in, but I had no idea it would be an opera house, but man its beautiful.”
The Bearcats continue to build up momentum as they look to fly into the Big 12 later this summer. The Bearcats will wrap up their Day One ready tour with one final stop In Chicago at the beginning of June after previous stops in Cleveland and Columbus last week. “Whenever you move dirt, it means you are moving forward,” John Cunningham said. “I had someone tell me one time if you don’t have a crane in the air, you are dying, well there’s a lot of cranes in the air around here, and it means we have a lot of momentum going forward.”
