MARYLAND CELEBRATES DEDICATION OF NEW COLE FIELD HOUSE

Published 8/2/17 by Maryland Athletics

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Maryland joined key partners Wednesday to celebrate the dedication of the new Cole Field House with a ribbon cutting ceremony inside the state-of-the-art facility. Coaches and intercollegiate athletic staff members joined university constituents, media and fans to dedicate the recently completed indoor practice fields.

The institutions also celebrated the groundbreaking of the second phase of the project, which includes the Center for Sports Medicine, Health and Human Performance, a clinical treatment center and space for UMD’s Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“Why is this a fearless innovation? Fearless innovation expresses the attitude of our university,” said University of Maryland President Wallace Loh. “That attitude is what brought us here today for the opening of the new Cole Field House.”

The new Cole Field House will be a state-of-the art facility bringing research, innovation, athletics and clinical practice under one roof. The collaboration at Cole Field House will enable novel and groundbreaking work in brain injury and neuroscience that benefits the State at large.

“It’s been hard to wipe the smile off my face the past few weeks because of this amazing facility,” said head football coach DJ Durkin. “Any time you can make a positive influence and a positive effect on people, especially with our young people, it’s an amazing thing. To see the looks on our student-athletes’ faces when they walked into this facility for the first time was just a great moment in coaching. This building is going to be a game-changer for us, it’s going to be a collaborative laboratory and make us leaders in the field. Thank you to all the people whose generosity made this possible, your impact is greater than you’ll ever know.”

Director of Athletics Kevin Anderson, former head basketball coach Gary Williams, senate president Mike Miller, President Wallace Loh, UMB President Jay Perman and Terrapin Club President Mike Freeman joined coach Durkin on stage to cut the ceremonial ribbon and officially dedicate the facility.