The long awaited ground breaking of Troy University’s football facility may be close at hand. The approximately $17 million project will feature new football offices along with weight rooms and a brand new locker room for Troy athletes.

Even though there is still a lot to be done, Troy University Chancellor Jack Hawkins is hopeful that ground breaking will begin shortly after the 2015 football season.

“There is a lot to be done, there is a lot of engineering and architecture work that still needs to be done. Then, you still have to bid the project,” Hawkins said. “Those things take time, but I assume it will be soon after football season. What we do want is to be in the new facilities in the fall of 2017. All of that will depend on the architecture plans and being able to get those plans out there.”

After Tine Davis Field House underwent renovations this past offseason, new Athletic Director Jeremy McClain believes that the future of Trojan athletics will brighten with the construction of the new facility.

“I could not be more excited to jump in the middle of that and being a part of the process. It is going to be a lot of fun. It’s a game changer. It’s going to excite our fan base, it’s going to be a huge boost in recruiting. I’ll tell you something from experience – it’s going to change the atmosphere in the stadium. It’s going to be a lot of fun and we are going to get to that finish line very soon.”

Original plans called for the raising of the field house, but that is no longer the case after the offseason renovations.

Hawkins’ hope with the new facility is that the construction will rival that of Trojan arena which was built for $30 million on a $60 million budget.

“We do things the Troy way. We squeeze the sponge until its almost dry,” Hawkins said. “We get the most out of our money. We measure two, three or four times until we cut and that’s something we are going to do that with this project. I expect we will get a $25 million product for our $17 million that we have budgeted.”

When the picture of the renovations was released, it created a buzz through out the Troy community. It is still something that many Troy fans are still anxiously waiting for.

“When the first picture was shared that was a vision and it was almost a cataclysmic vision it was not born out of process and scrutiny,” Hawkins said. “I initially regretted that it did not go through that process. What we plan to do is give our staff what they need. We plan to do it in the first class way that we always do it. We know that this facility needs a wow effect. When your recording 18-year students it needs to have the same affect that we have in basketball.”