USF Bulls celebrate grand opening of Porter Family Indoor Training Facility

Indoor performance facility opens at USF

Sean Barie reports

TAMPA, Fla. - With no shortage of fanfare, the University of South Florida officially celebrated the grand opening of the Porter Family Indoor Performance Facility.

"This is a place that we can finally call home," said USF quarterback Gerry Bohanon to a crowd of donors and fellow student athletes. "We had the practice fields outside, but there's nothing like this."

The indoor facility houses a full-sized turf football field with goal posts, as well as other amenities and has been open to student athletes for nearly two months prior to the grand opening.

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New head football coach Alex Golesh hopes this puts his program, as well as others, in a new league.

"When you're competing at this level and don't have a facility like this, I think it's a huge disadvantage," Golesh said. "I think it puts you on a level playing field."

Aside from serving as a training ground for current Bulls and a recruiting tool for future Bulls, Golesh said the new facility shows everyone that the school is willing to invest in future success.

"Everyone talks about going and being elite," Golesh said. "Here's a small piece of the commitment that you can visually see at this point."

The indoor practice facility is the culmination of more than $22 million in donations, which is a school record for any one project.

"There was just a lot to overcome.," said USF Director of Athletics Michael Kelly. "But to see everyone come together and believe in the vision we set forward and to see this as the next step in our masters facilities plan, is a big, big step forward."