In less than 16 months, Oklahoma will be a part of the Southeastern Conference, which houses nine of the last 13 national champions and is regarded as the nation’s top conference.
And on Tuesday, OU’s Board of Regents took a substantial stride toward competing with the best by unanimously approving an estimated $390 million in athletics upgrades, headlined by a $175 million football operations facility.
Other improvements include a $75 million student-athlete success center, which will likely be located where the Bud Wilkinson House was on the corner of Lindsey and Jenkins before its demolition last summer, along with revamps to 12 other sports.
The project will be funded by athletics funds and private donations.
The move represents the Sooners’ commitment to contending in the future. Prior to the 2022 season, SEC powers Auburn, Florida and Georgia all completed football-only operations facilities upgrades, which cost $91.9, 85 and 80 million, respectively.
Each facility was designed by HOK, an architecture firm based out of Kansas City, who will also design Oklahoma’s newest project. HOK was approved as the architect at a regents meeting in November, and on Tuesday, OU’s Regents approved the selection of a construction manager.
OU athletics director Joe Castiglione said Tuesday the reasoning for the new building isn’t solely about contesting its future opponents, but, more importantly, setting up future Sooners for success.
“Comparative analysis is always part of it,” he said inside the Stephenson Research and Technology Center. “Sometimes (the media) frames it as keeping up with the Joneses. I don’t think it’s that as much as it is that the quest to recruit the best and the brightest is as competitive as it’s ever been. And it’s an entirely new landscape.
“We have to provide a comprehensive approach that makes Oklahoma the most attractive destination for the best and the brightest and do what we do best. Facilities are definitely a part of that, and they always will be because that’s where our athletes spend a good part of their time while they’re here on campus.”
Since 2018, OU football has resided in the Barry Switzer Center, a $160 million creation connected to Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium that holds locker rooms, offices, meeting rooms and training areas across 130,000 square feet.
Castiglione said he sees the area being converted to support other sports except football.
“We have a big vision for that,” Castiglione said of the Switzer Center’s future. “We’ll probably move our academic center and all the other supportive student-athlete services that serve all our sports. We have things that are changing as we move into the SEC like accommodating the SEC Network. And while our studios are great right now, there’s probably going to need to be adjustments and space for that.
“There (are) offices that we may relocate there and some of the space that’s currently being used in an office setting will be repurposed in the stadium master plan for areas that we want to provide for fan amenities.”
Castiglione said the new facility won’t have a firm location until the next regents meeting in June. He added it’ll include what OU football needs to operate on its own without sharing a complex.
“Everything you could think of, some of which exists in the current facility, we’ll have to build over in the new facility,” Castiglione said. “Some of the items in our current facility will continue to be there and operate for the rest of the teams that use them on a day-to-day basis.
“Everything from practice fields to strength and conditioning training, recovery, nutrition, dining rooms, meeting rooms, locker rooms and a variety of different elements that serve and help the sport, including moving two practice fields to that area.”
The regents’ decisions on Tuesday provided a step in the right direction for OU athletics’ future.
And Castiglione knows the importance of preparing for its program-changing move.
“With hiring this construction manager that can work hand in hand with the architect – it’s a much-needed step,” Castiglione said. “We can plan out not only where the facility is going, but how it's going to work on the site, and obviously the costs and assists in association with what the design will bring.
“It's an important step.”
