Nebraska Athletics Facility Project Quotes

Bill Moos
Nebraska Athletic Director
"Everybody catch the fly-over a minute ago? Well as a lot of you know, some may not, our theme with Nebraska Athletics is to Honor the past, live the present, and create the future. A few weeks ago, we honored the past just right over here as we inducted our fifth class into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame, some distinguished athletes and coaches. We certainly are living the present this weekend, we just need to look around. The prestigious ESPN College GameDay setting up right over here, the Nissan Heisman House behind us, prime-time television on ABC tomorrow night. I think we are moving in the right direction and it sure is a lot of fun. The last one of course, create the future, and that’s why we are here today. I’m thrilled to announce what we will refer to as the North Stadium Expansion Project, a 350,000 square foot, $155 million project that will not only serve as the home for Nebraska Football, but also house the training table, an academic services area for our over 650 student-athletes. It will be a state of the art, best facility of its kind, and I know because I've seen almost all of them in the country, facility. Here’s a little preview."
 
Video presentation
 
“I’m not kidding, huh? We are currently in the midst of a solid fundraising effort. It is going extremely well, and we feel like we are about 35-40 percent to our goal, and our hope is to break ground some time next spring and be able to occupy this fabulous facility in 2022. In my first day on the job almost two years ago, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany called me on my cell phone and welcomed me to the conference, and we had a real nice visit and at the end he said ‘Bill, Nebraska needs to get back to being Nebraska.’ With the investments we made already and what I think to be the finest young football coach in the college game today; a tremendous staff putting a lot of effort and resources into our nutrition, strength, conditioning, all of our performance areas; the tremendous fan support we have is second to none; and the tremendous administrative support we get not only from our President, Chancellor, our regents, but across campus; I am here to say that Nebraska will get back to being Nebraska. Thank you and Go Big Red."

Scott Frost
Nebraska Football Head Coach
“Before I start, I want to thank a few people. First and foremost, Bill was just up here. Everywhere Bill’s gone he’s been committed to making sure his teams have the best. He’s doing that again. I want to thank Susan Fritz for her leadership and also for making sure Hank Bounds stayed on board to help this project. He was there when it started and to keep it going forward. Ronnie Green, who has been instrumental in this process. Matt Davison, who is out there helping to raise money. There’s a lot of people that have gone into this decision and this process and others, too. Board of Regents members and others, I want to thank you guys.”
 
“When I got back to Nebraska, I knew there were a lot of things about the football team that needed to be fixed. To be honest with you, a new facility wasn’t even on my radar. It’s not something I even considered. We’ve been elbows deep in this process. Love where we are as a football team. I can feel where this is going. I know where this is going. We have more steps to take, but there are a lot of steps behind us already. I think it’s important for us going forward as a state, as a university and as a football team to make sure that we’re committed to competing at the highest level. This is evidence that the University of Nebraska is committed to making sure that we do everything we can to compete at the highest level.”
 
“When I was here, I think what Nebraska did better than anybody else in the country was give their student-athletes the best of the best and develop, not just athletes, but human beings better than anybody else. From Boyd Epley and the weight room with the largest weight room in the country. To the best strength and conditioning, best academic support, best nutrition. Whatever we could possibly give to student-athletes, I was a beneficiary of it, we gave to student-athletes. To be honest with you we’ve fallen a little behind because of how college football is today. Since we built North Stadium, I think all but two other Power Five schools have either built new facilities or upgraded theirs. I think it’s going to have to be done at some point and as the conversation kept going, we decided if we’re going to have to do it at some point. Now is the time. Now is the time while the football program is building, everybody can feel it growing while there’s momentum, while there’s enthusiasm, while we have the talented people from GameDay on our campus. Now is the time. This facility is going to make a difference. Again, when we talked about building it, I didn’t just want it to benefit football student-athletes, I want it to benefit all student-athletes. Nebraska is a more unified place than anywhere else. I think by adding a new training table, a new study area, an academic center. It’s not just going to benefit football players but benefit every student-athlete at the University of Nebraska. It’s going to make a big difference for our student-athletes. Instead of being all the way around the other side of the stadium and isolated from campus to be literally steps from our beautiful business building and our campus and our campus and our wonderful professors and staff at the university. It’s going to make us feel like a family more than we ever have than to be sitting in this space right here.”
 
“I couldn’t be more excited to be here. I know there’s a lot of people that are going to give a lot to make this happen. A lot of people are going to sacrifice to make it happen, but if we get this done, I think it’s going to make a big difference for us from a recruiting standpoint, from a unity standpoint and eventually a standpoint of success in our football program. It’s only going to accelerate the progress and momentum that we already have. I’m so glad that I’m the coach the University of Nebraska and I’m so excited about the future. Appreciate you guys. Go Big Red.”

Wan'Dale Robinson
Freshman, Wide Receiver/Running Back
“I’ve been here for about three months now, and just being here I already realize the impact sports can have on you and everything that it gives to you. This place stands for commitment, excellence, championships, and I feel like this facility is going to help us achieve that even more. Our facilities right now are even good enough, better than a lot of places already. This facility is going to attract even more recruits like myself and make people want to come here. I know that it’s probably like three years away from now, but hopefully I’ll still be here. It will come fast, so I’m just excited for the future and everything that this program has in store. I’m glad that student-athletes will get to come in contact with this. I just want to thank everyone for being here and everyone who made this possible.”

Ronnie Green
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor
“First of all, what a day to be a Nebraskan. What a day to be at the University of Nebraska. What a day for Husker Nation, for Husker Athletics, for our students, both present and future. In honoring the past that we have here, and as Bill, you said earlier, creating that future and the vision that Scott and the team have for Husker Athletics. This is a really amazing time for the University of Nebraska. It’s our 150th anniversary year. We all have been celebrating that this year. This great university’s 15 decades of impact. It’s also the 150th anniversary of college football this year. It’s the 129th anniversary of Husker football, Cornhusker football, that started here in 1890. And the excellence that this program has had, the storied history that it has had, reaching 900 wins, one of only five institutions in the country to do that with that win last week, Scott, congratulations on achieving that victory. It’s a huge deal. If you remember, just a little over two years ago last week, we talked about what our desire was. Hank Bounds, the president of the university at that time, we stood up and talked about our desire to compete at the very highest levels athletically, the very highest levels academically. And I can’t remember a time in the history of our institution, I shared this with our Board of Regents this week, where we had more going on in that way than we currently have at the moment. $350 million plus investment in the academic enterprise of the university that is occurring between the opening of the Carson Center for the Emerging Media Arts that we opened this past month and the projects that we have underway at the same time that this beautiful facility that will lead the country will be built over the next two years. With this athletic investment, to put us back in that leadership place, we will invest over $525 million at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to compete at the very highest levels academically and athletically, and that’s something folks to celebrate, and we’re very happy about that here today. I also want to do just a quick shout out. We also said two years ago, we wanted to assemble the best leadership team in athletics nationally. And the progress that’s been made in bringing the best group of coaches together, Scott, we are glad you’re our coach here at the University of Nebraska, and we’re going to bring that vision to reality, to compete at the highest level. It’s a great day to be in Nebraska, it’s a great day to be a Husker, Go Big Red.”

Sinclaire Miramontez
Senior, Women's Soccer
“I’m honored to be here to speak on behalf of all of my fellow student-athletes about the exciting changes in store for the Nebraska Athletic Department. During my recruiting process, the construction of Hibner stadium was being discussed and it was a huge selling point for me to continue my career here because I wanted to play in, arguably, what is the best soccer stadium in the country. Hibner has allowed for a soccer community to grow here in Lincoln and has helped further individual development at our national and competitive levels. I came here with sport as my main priority. However, over my time here, I realized that there is so much more to this athletic department than just that. It was hard to not gravitate towards all the resources it would give me and make it my everyday life. I credit Life Skills for developing me as a leader and as a future professional, academic support for increasing my knowledge and helping me in the classroom and Husker Power and nutrition for helping me achieve my soccer goals. The combination of these three areas have given me the best student-athlete experience possible, and I cannot wait to see how much better it will all be with these new facilities. This new building further validates the commitment to the whole student-athlete experience, and it is exciting that all 600+ of our student-athletes will benefit from this new complex. Although I will not personally reap the benefits of these improvements, I’m excited to see the positive impact this will have for the future of Nebraska Athletics, and I’m proud to be a part of an athletic department that is always evolving to ensure the best possible student-athlete experience. I’m proud to have been and have the opportunity to represent this University as a student-athlete, and I’m thankful to always say I was a Husker. Thank you, and ‘Go Big Red.’”

NU Athletic Communications