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Finally, the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility is open for business.
After many fundraisers and countless hours of construction, the nearly 3 year process culminated Friday morning with the Miami Hurricanes moving into their very own indoor practice facility for practice #11 of fall camp. How did it feel, Coach Richt?
“For the first time in my head coaching career, I don’t have to worry about ‘Plan B’,” Mark Richt said. “This was super fun. And I got a little emotional, too, when it first started. Just seeing Carol [Soffer] loving it. It was awesome. When that horn blows and we come straight in…we’re looking forward to that.”
UM had already taken small steps towards an IPF before Richt was hired in December 2015, but Richt made it a personal mission of his to get the project done, donating $1 million of his own money to get things off the ground. It was also Richt’s idea to put upgraded coaching offices inside the IPF.
“The big change was incorporating the coaches’ offices and the mezzanine level that is now suspended from the rooftop,” Richt said. “That was the biggest thing, because I knew our football operation needed a facelift badly. And I knew we needed this. So I’m thinking, I’ve got two projects. Which one? I’ve got to go for the indoor. Truly, one morning, about 2 [o’clock] or 3 [o’clock] in the morning, I woke up and thought maybe we could do both at the same time, make it one project.”
“The thing that really I appreciate the most is Blake James allowing me to spend time with the architects to talk about exactly what we need and how we needed it, let us bounce ideas on how we can do it.”
That will to modernize UM football inspired Jeffrey Soffer, who then donated $14 million of the projected $34 million needed and dedicated the donation to his mother, Carol. However, despite the building being safe enough to practice in, the project is not yet 100% completed. There are still funds to be raised and the coaching offices that Richt wants are not done either.
“I want to make this real clear: we’re not done with this project,” Richt said. “We’re practicing in it, but we’ve still got a lot of branding to do. We’ve got things to do in the coaches’ offices and the football operations area. We’re not done fundraising for this project, is what I’m saying.
“We need at least $3 million [more] to make it the way it should be made. I always tell everybody, ‘we got one chance to do it right.’ Let’s do it right the first time, let’s not go cheap on anything. Let’s go first-class on everything – and we have, on every single thing we have done on this building and this project.”
The IPF includes two separate fields, 80 yards and 40 yards. Just because the Canes have their own swanky, air-conditioned facility now, doesn't mean Richt plans on having the team lose its competitive edge working in the heat. The plan was to use the IPF today just to mark the occasion, but in the future, the team will use the facility at the end of a long practice week to give the players a break from the heat and of course in the event of heavy rain or lightning.
“We did it today because we wanted to celebrate the building today, and we have a scrimmage tomorrow and I didn’t want to take a lot out of them,” Richt said. “So that’s why we’re in here today.”
“We have to practice in the heat. We have to play in the heat. We understand that. But when you’re in a camp setting, and we have 24 practices over a three-and-a-half-week period, there really isn’t a break. And every [camp] practice is like a Tuesday [practice]. It’s a full, fundamental practice. It’s like Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday…you do six of those in a row, especially in the heat, you’re depleting all of their electrolytes and all that. You grind really good for maybe three or four days, whatever it is, then on the next day, instead of taking the day off and going bowling, you get in the air condition and you still get your work in, and obviously we’re going to need it when the [lightning] horn blows.”
After many fundraisers and countless hours of construction, the nearly 3 year process culminated Friday morning with the Miami Hurricanes moving into their very own indoor practice facility for practice #11 of fall camp. How did it feel, Coach Richt?
“For the first time in my head coaching career, I don’t have to worry about ‘Plan B’,” Mark Richt said. “This was super fun. And I got a little emotional, too, when it first started. Just seeing Carol [Soffer] loving it. It was awesome. When that horn blows and we come straight in…we’re looking forward to that.”
UM had already taken small steps towards an IPF before Richt was hired in December 2015, but Richt made it a personal mission of his to get the project done, donating $1 million of his own money to get things off the ground. It was also Richt’s idea to put upgraded coaching offices inside the IPF.
“The big change was incorporating the coaches’ offices and the mezzanine level that is now suspended from the rooftop,” Richt said. “That was the biggest thing, because I knew our football operation needed a facelift badly. And I knew we needed this. So I’m thinking, I’ve got two projects. Which one? I’ve got to go for the indoor. Truly, one morning, about 2 [o’clock] or 3 [o’clock] in the morning, I woke up and thought maybe we could do both at the same time, make it one project.”
“The thing that really I appreciate the most is Blake James allowing me to spend time with the architects to talk about exactly what we need and how we needed it, let us bounce ideas on how we can do it.”
That will to modernize UM football inspired Jeffrey Soffer, who then donated $14 million of the projected $34 million needed and dedicated the donation to his mother, Carol. However, despite the building being safe enough to practice in, the project is not yet 100% completed. There are still funds to be raised and the coaching offices that Richt wants are not done either.
“I want to make this real clear: we’re not done with this project,” Richt said. “We’re practicing in it, but we’ve still got a lot of branding to do. We’ve got things to do in the coaches’ offices and the football operations area. We’re not done fundraising for this project, is what I’m saying.
“We need at least $3 million [more] to make it the way it should be made. I always tell everybody, ‘we got one chance to do it right.’ Let’s do it right the first time, let’s not go cheap on anything. Let’s go first-class on everything – and we have, on every single thing we have done on this building and this project.”
The IPF includes two separate fields, 80 yards and 40 yards. Just because the Canes have their own swanky, air-conditioned facility now, doesn't mean Richt plans on having the team lose its competitive edge working in the heat. The plan was to use the IPF today just to mark the occasion, but in the future, the team will use the facility at the end of a long practice week to give the players a break from the heat and of course in the event of heavy rain or lightning.
“We did it today because we wanted to celebrate the building today, and we have a scrimmage tomorrow and I didn’t want to take a lot out of them,” Richt said. “So that’s why we’re in here today.”
“We have to practice in the heat. We have to play in the heat. We understand that. But when you’re in a camp setting, and we have 24 practices over a three-and-a-half-week period, there really isn’t a break. And every [camp] practice is like a Tuesday [practice]. It’s a full, fundamental practice. It’s like Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday…you do six of those in a row, especially in the heat, you’re depleting all of their electrolytes and all that. You grind really good for maybe three or four days, whatever it is, then on the next day, instead of taking the day off and going bowling, you get in the air condition and you still get your work in, and obviously we’re going to need it when the [lightning] horn blows.”
