GAINESVILLE — Six years in the making, Florida’s football facility opened Aug. 14 to launch a new era for the Gators.
Officials pulled back the curtain Monday during a guided tour through the 142,000-square foot James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Training Center sure to level the playing field for first-year coach Billy Napier’s program.
The $85 million investment will not solely benefit the athletic department’s cash cow program, either. Dining is available Monday through Friday for the first time to all the 500-plus scholarship athletes and walk-ons in UF’s 21 sports.
[ Heavener Football Training Center 'a game-changer' ]
“We’ve never had every student-athlete on a meal plan,” executive athletic director Chip Howard said.
UF executive athletic director Chip Howard speaks at the entrance of the Heavener Football Training Center. (Edgar Thompson / Courtesy photo)
Yet the focus is to ultimately recreate a national championship-caliber football program at a school with three titles (1996, 2006, 2008) won during a time when facilities were not nearly as critical to success.
The new training center, nicknamed “The 7th Heavener” by the Gainesville Sun’s David Whitley, exemplifies the investment required to lure the nation’s best players — then train them, teach them, care for them and coach them.
Here are five areas of note:
A little R&R or a power nap after class and before practice can be a player’s salvation during a long, taxing season.
The challenge at the Heavener Center could be getting players to leave their locker. Each features many amenities and a $15,000 price tag.
The centerpiece is a zero-gravity chair able to recline into a bed and replenish a tired body in no time. Twenty minutes in zero-gravity position generates the spinal compression achieved during 8-10 hours of sleep. While drifting off, a player can put on the Normatec air compression boots available at each locker to rejuvenate his aching feet and fatigued lower legs.
Each locker at the Heavener Football Training Center has every amenity and a price tag of $15,000. (Hannah White / Courtesy photo)
A table alongside recharges a player’s phone and storage areas include a helmet nook below an illuminating placard featuring his name and photo.
A messy, sweaty locker room never was so inviting.
Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells once said, “Availability is the best ability.”
The Heavener Football Training Center includes an extensive recovery and rehabilitation area for players. This includes a pool with two underwater treadmills for athletes nursing lower extremity injuries. (Edgar Thompson / Orlando Sentinel)
The Heavener Center offers an array of modalities to revitalize and rehabilitate players to keep them on the field.
The wet area includes a cold-plunge pool and two rehab pools, including one with two underwater treadmills for players nursing lower-extremity injuries. A sauna, steam room and two float tubs sit adjacently, as does a glassed-in athletic training area twice the size as previously available.
Nearby are two cryotherapy rooms, one set at minus-67 degrees and another at minus-167 degrees, to accelerate recovery. A three-minute treatment delivers well-documented benefits while replacing ice packs or ice baths.
The Heavener Football Training Center features two cryotherapy areas, one at minus-67 degrees and the other at minus-167 degrees, to accelerate athlete's recovery time. (Edgar Thompson / Courtesy photo)
Napier’s office occupies the northwest corner of the Heavener Center. A balcony 15 to 20 steps from his desks offers a view of Sanders Practice Fields. A window to his left overlooks the basketball court and swimming pool west of the building and available to all athletes.
Behind Napier’s desk are two bookshelves filled a variety of reading materials for the learned 43-year-old. A well-detailed day planner on his desk provides a window into his meticulous mind.
[ Florida’s Billy Napier focuses on P’s & Q’s before W’s & L’s with Gators ]
Napier’s influences and sources of inspirations are felt everywhere.
A framed collection of photos and writings pays tribute to Bill Napier, his late father and high school coach in Georgia. Napier’s three children and wife are well represented on the same wall.
Helmets sit in the corner, representing each of his stops. Napier’s sizable office is suited to a man now holding one of college football’s biggest jobs.
The view of Florida football coach Billy Napier's office includes the basketball court and swimming pool to the west of the Heavener Football Training Center. (Mark Long / The Associated Press)
Gainesville’s warm weather and sunshine are key selling points to recruits. A resort-style pool at the Heavener Center aims to capitalize.
The area is sure to be a prime gathering spot for UF athletes once it is completed. A large hot tub will sit nearby.
The pools sit at the west end of the building down the hall from the dining area and past a barber shop, pool table, ping-pong table and several massage chairs.
“How many schools can do this?” Howard said overlooking the pool area. “It’s uniquely Florida. That’s what you want.”
The Heavener Football Training Center will feature a resort-style pool still yet to be completed but soon available to all Gators' athletes. (Edgar Thompson / Courtesy photo)
Jeremy Foley’s presence is felt in every corner of Florida’s athletics program, including when one enters the new building.
The Foley Hall of Champions features banners celebrating the championship successes under the former AD. The Gators won 27 national championships and 130 SEC titles during Foley’s 25 seasons (1992-2016).
Jeremy Foley Hall of Champions — a nod to the former Florida athletic director's championship success — is showcased in the new James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Training Center. (Hannah White / Courtesy photo)
“It’s hard for me to put into words how meaningful this is to me,” Foley said in a statement. “Not only the recognition, but the way it embodies what I believe and what they still believe at the University of Florida; that all sports matter, and all will compete at the highest level.”
[ Jeremy Foley retires after 25 years ]
The banners hang in the foyer, dining hall and player lounge — areas open to athletes in all sports involved in shaping Foley’s legacy.
Leading up to his retirement, Foley recognized the need to improve the football program’s lagging facilities. In September 2016, Foley proposed one to serve as the centerpiece of roughly $100 million in construction projects also impacting the baseball and softball programs.
Considerable changes were made to push the price tag up as much $80 million. The Gators believe the Heavener Football Training Center is worth it.
“This is a 50- or 60-year fix,” athletic director Scott Stricklin said.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Edgar Thompson at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osgators.