Basketball Performance Center Breaks Ground
Facility Will House Practice Court, Locker Rooms, Strength and Conditioning Areas, and More
By Terp Staff
Renderings courtesy of Maryland Athletics
Photo by Mackenzie Miles/Maryland Athletics
As a shot clock reached zero outside the Xfinity Center, a giant banner dropped to reveal Maryland’s two head basketball coaches taking charge, but not of their teams. Brenda Frese and Kevin Willard each grinned from behind the wheels of giant excavators, and right on cue, both dug into a mound of dirt in front of them.
The temporary construction crew’s inaugural scoops, which were met by cheers and confetti at the June event, marked the groundbreaking for the Barry P. Gossett Basketball Performance Center, a practice facility for the men’s and women’s teams.
“We have storied basketball programs at the University of Maryland, and this facility will be a catalyst for future success representing the best possible environment for our student-athletes to succeed academically, athletically and socially,” Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics Damon Evans said at the ceremony, which was emceed by ESPN host Scott Van Pelt ’88. He thanked Gossett for his continued support, as well as several other major donors: Brooke Butler-Wagner, Billy Greenblatt, and Harvey and Ellen Sanders.
The 44,000-square-foot building adjacent to the Xfinity Center, expected to be complete in Fall 2025, will feature a practice court, a strength and conditioning facility, expanded locker rooms, state-of-the-art athletic training areas with hydrotherapy, and space for film study and game-planning, as well as large lounge areas and office space for both coaching staffs.
“This facility will help us continue to attract the best-of-the-best: the best students, the best athletes and the best people,” said Frese.
It will also benefit other sport programs at Maryland, allowing upgraded locker rooms, sports medicine areas and coaching spaces within the Xfinity Center as well as the expansion of programming space. Additionally, the Xfinity Center itself will be available to accommodate more special events, a boon to the entire campus community.
“This is one of the most important days of Maryland basketball because it’s giving men’s and women’s basketball a place to call home—a place to eat as a family, a place to train as a family, a place to stay after practice and watch games as a family,” Willard said.
Building Champions Around Campus
The Barry P. Gossett Basketball Performance Center is just one of several Maryland Athletics projects improving team facilities.
The new Field Hockey and Women’s Lacrosse Complex opens this fall, replacing the former 5,500-square-foot building with a 17,193-square-foot team house for two of the university’s most accomplished athletic programs.
The facility features spacious locker rooms (right) and team rooms for both sports, a sports medicine area with hydrotherapy and other rehabilitative equipment, a relocated fan entrance for easy seat access, coaching offices and meeting spaces, and a lobby celebrating the teams’ combined 23 national titles.
OTHER PROJECTS ON THE WAY INCLUDE:
- The Stanley Bobb Baseball Development Center
- The Softball Player Development Center
- The Golf Development Center
- A soccer stadium
For more on Maryland Athletics’ new and renovated spaces, visit umterps.com/BuildingChampions.
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