Busy summer for Athletics

UTRGV unveils new facilities and upgrades

The UTRGV Department of Intercollegiate Athletics recently revealed the work it has done to its facilities over the summer as part of a $160 million commitment by the department, consisting of 13 capital projects across 18 programs.

Chasse Conque, vice president and director of Athletics, said the upgrades were important to give UTRGV Athletics events a “true Division I feel.”

“We started our journey designing our capital projects and our facilities in December of 2019,” Conque said. “It’s hard to believe it’s been that long.”

 On Aug. 16, Athletics unveiled two separate facilities on a site just north of the UTRGV Baseball Stadium: the first of two practice fields for the upcoming Vaqueros Performance Center and the Athletics Pavilion.

The Vaqueros Performance Center is a facility currently under construction on the Edinburg campus. Once completed, it is expected to provide training and recovery facilities for UTRGV Athletics programs, including football and soccer.

The Athletics Pavilion is a facility constructed next to the Vaqueros Performance Center that temporarily includes the locker room, weight room and recovery facilities for the UTRGV Football Team before its inaugural season kicks off in 2025.

UTRGV Football head coach Travis Bush, while acknowledging the facility is still a “work in progress,” is “excited” that his athletes now have a place to train and prepare for their debut year.

“For us to have this advantage to bring [recruits] in with this type of facility is phenomenal,” Bush said. “To have our own facilities on home and for [the players] to come out here and practice and see the big facility, the VPC, being built on a daily basis and being able to do that next year is big time.”

Thursday, construction crews placed the final beam on the expansion to the UTRGV Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus. Construction on the $14 million expansion began in December and includes a new lobby, team store, hall of fame, restrooms and concession stands. 

Conque said having a hall of fame, a place to commemorate the icons of UTRGV and its legacy institutions’ athletic programs, was something “desperately missing.”

Volleyball head coach Todd Lowery said the upgrades were part of discussions he had with the Athletics department to allow his student athletes to “thrive at the Division I level.”

“It’s like adding a front porch to UTRGV,” Lowery said. “… The community interest that it’s generating has just been phenomenal over the last 18 months.”

UTRGV Women’s Basketball head coach Lane Lord said during a news conference Thursday that he and the team have been “waiting for this day” eagerly.

“[These are] exciting times at UTRGV,” Lord said. “You look all around the country, especially at the mid-major level, there’s nobody doing what we’re doing right now.”

Newly hired men’s basketball head coach Kahil Fennell said construction of new facilities is “huge” for his program’s recruiting efforts.

“When you have a crown jewel like this,” Fennell said, “it’s something you can truly show recruits, a sign of not only something you’re gonna be in every single day, but it just signifies intent inside the Athletics department. … Obviously, that’s gonna play well with recruits.”

The Fieldhouse renovations are expected to be completed in early summer 2025.

Before the summer, UTRGV had already completed renovations and upgrades to facilities for its baseball, golf, soccer and track and field programs.

UTRGV Athletics generated the funds for these facilities via its own fundraising (tickets, sponsorships, donations, etc), according to the department’s website. Texas state law forbids UTRGV from using tuition dollars on athletic facilities.

–Rider Reporter Cadence Vaughan contributed to this report.