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A good friend of the GMG.com site sent us a little information on the New Athletics Indoor Practice Facility in the UNT System Quarterly Operations Report on Page 62 which is the first website link below so you might want to check it out. It states: I am still reviewing everything but you may want to check out at the ‘Agenda’ and ‘Board Book’ and ‘APPENDIX’ which is under Notes right below the other two and you might want to look through these three to see additional information on athletics that can be found there as well. These three can be accessed from the second website below but you will need to scroll down a little after the second website comes up. GMG! https://www.untsystem.edu/sites/default/files/BoR-meetings/qops_feb2018.pdf https://www.untsystem.edu/leadership/board-regents/upcoming-meeting

I have long beat the drum for an indoor practice facility on S Bonnie Brae. Seeing this article made me wonder which Texas schools have and don't have indoor facility? I couldn't find a list, but schools that I know have a dedicated indoor facility are Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, TCU, and Houston. And while they're not in Texas or even our conference, the Ragin Cajuns have a pretty nice indoor facility over in Lafayette, LA. Does UTSA use the Alamodome to practice indoors? The article: http://redraiders.com/filed-online/2013-11-25/kingsbury-downplays-need-indoor-facility-ad-says-its-priority#.UpYqjc_0EtN Some snippets: - Kliff Kingsbury’s not breathing down Kirby Hocutt’s neck to build his team an indoor practice facility. The Texas Tech football coach makes it sound as if he cares little whether one ever gets constructed. - Tech has recently rekindled discussions with San Antonio architectural firm Marmon Mok to talk over size, scope and possible locations for such a facility. - Snow had to be cleared from the Jones AT&T Stadium turf before the Red Raiders practiced on Sunday. “We had a tractor out there moving it off, which took a little while yesterday, but we got it done,” Kingsbury said. “It’s been fine. It is what it is. We’ve practiced outside for a long time up here.” Kingsbury’s shrugging off a perceived need for an indoor facility is nothing new at Tech. His old coach, Mike Leach, snorted in disgust at the idea of weather influencing where his team practiced. Leach seemed to take it as a badge of toughness to be outside on the worst weather days. The last three years, it was much the opposite. Tommy Tuberville, who was sensitive to weather effects on his team’s preparation, tried to push an indoor workout facility up the priority list. He favored building an indoor workout facility over one of the team’s two existing practice fields, adjoining the Red Raiders’ football building and weight room.

With all of the rumors and high hopes surrounding the return of baseball to North Texas, it could be viewed as a little premature to start planning out the next athletic facility improvement. Obviously, most North Texas fans are thrilled about the prospect of adding a new baseball facility in the Eagle Village Athletic complex. And the fact that the athletic department - with big help from our sainted donor Ernie Kuehne - was able to build the new basketball practice facility in such short order - was a big feather in their cap. I was not one who thought an indoor football and athletic practice facility was a priority at North Texas. Sure, it would be a nice recruiting tool and knowing that Arkansas State is putting an 11 million dollar facility in place makes you think it must be pretty important to them. ASU is not a program that has a lot of T. Boone Pickens at their disposal. But is it really necessary to spend so much money on the convenience of having an indoor practice facility? I mean, maybe in the northwest where snow and inclimate weather was an issue you could make a case. But this is Texas. It seems to me that UNT Coach Dan McCarney does just fine even in the heat by scheduling practices early in the morning and late in the day. Read more: