UTRGV Athletics revealed new details about the plans for the Vaquero Performance Center to be built by Fall 2025 during a Zoom news conference last Tuesday.
Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque said during the conference the 45,000-square-foot facility will be the main home for the Vaquero football program, but will also be used for other athletic programs.
The new $45 million construction includes two practice fields, an artificial turf field and a real grass field, which are expected to be finished by Summer 2024.
Conque said the new facility will be on par with other athletic programs and could be used as a recruiting tool.
“This facility puts us in a different league within the Division I landscape, and a Division I [Football Championship Subdivision] landscape,” he said. “It will be one of the nicest facilities in the country. … I think we’ve been wise with the way that we’re going to have the ability to take care of other programs and be able to utilize this across the Athletics programs.”
Conque expanded on what the new Academic Success Center within the facility would do for student athletes, saying more space and resources will be available.
“As we grow and we go from 250 [to] 260 student athletes to 410 [to] 420-plus student athletes, we need additional space,” he said. “This facility will serve as a computer lab. It will have tutoring rooms, it will have an academic adviser and staff on hand to help our student athletes. [It is] not just for the football program, [but] other sports as well.”
The center will have a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning facility that will be used by all programs, a football locker room, a football coach’s office, a sports medicine facility, a team room, meeting rooms and additional office space.
Asked if there was something else he would want included in the Vaquero Performance Center, Conque replied he would like to add covering for the turf practice field.
“[We want to] cover that turf practice field to give some protection for our student athletes,” he said. “It wouldn’t necessarily make it an indoor facility, but to be able to have a cover to get outside the elements … more importantly the sun and heat.”
Conque said he appreciates how football head coach Travis Bush always advocates for prioritizing the students’ facilities, saying he would rather any necessary cuts be made to the coach’s office or other areas.
“If anything has to be cut or addressed, which I don’t think that’s going to be the case for us, then he wants to make sure we’re always protecting the student athlete areas,” he said.
Conque said the project would be funded by the revenue streams in the Athletics Department and they are still raising funds for the project.
“You’ve got to start with the Football Founders Society,” he said. “$1.7 million has been committed by that group of 34 families and individuals. You look at our revenue streams as we sit here today, and corporate sponsorships, and ticket sales and in general just fundraising outside of the Football Founders Society. All those revenue streams are at record levels.”
Bush was “excited” to reveal the Vaquero Performance Center plans to the public because they are going on the road from April 15 to May 31 for spring recruiting.
“We have plans to be out six straight weeks on the road,” he said. “Two of those weeks in the Rio Grande Valley, making sure to hit the schools there twice.”
Bush said they want to give the student athletes the best resources they can. They can offer a good facility when going out to recruit.
Asked if there was anything else he wanted included in the plans for the new construction, he said nothing was settled completely.
“We’ve already had the conversation,” Bush said. “If it comes down to budget, cut the coach’s stuff, cut our locker room, cut our offices, do not cut anything related to our student athletes. I’ve been able to add some things, not just football operations are going to be housed in that facility, but excited to make sure we’re adding stuff that every sport can use.”
As part of fundraising, there are naming opportunities for the head coach’s office as well as the assistant coach’s office, meeting rooms, the strength and conditioning facility, practice fields and each facility as a whole.
For more information on naming opportunities, contact UTRGV Athletics at 665-2221 or email vclub@utrgv.edu.
For more information about UTRGV Athletics facilities, visit GoUTRGV.com/AthleticsFacilities.
