As the University of Maryland unveiled the first phase of the Cole Field House Performance Center at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 2, the initial implication was obvious. The football team's long-discussed, full-size indoor practice field, its fresh turf glistening on the same grounds that housed back-to-back Final Four men's basketball teams more than a decade ago, was ready for fall camp.
"We actually filmed the guys the first time we walked them in the building, and the looks on their faces just said it all," Terps head football coach DJ Durkin said. "Guys were just eyes wide open because our team, really, for the most part had not been in here at all. I think [for] a lot of our veteran guys it was really special because they've been here, been in the program, and to see this all kind of get to this point, obviously, they take ownership in that. It was really special for them."
Less obvious was how the Cole Field House project would eventually transform the relationship between athletics and sports medicine at the university. Plans were announced last fall by the University of Maryland-College Park and University of Maryland-Baltimore for the Center for Sports Medicine, Health and Human Performance, a joint project by the two schools that'll open as part of the new Cole Field House complex in 2019.
