Texans owner Bob McNair commits $5 million to USC’s football operations building

South Carolina grad and Houston Texans owner Bob McNair made a $5 million commitment to the construction of the new football operations center, the school announced Tuesday.

With the gift from McNair and his wife, Janice, more than $16 million of the $30 million goal has been raised for the facility. The school will hold a formal groundbreaking for the project in February, athletics director Ray Tanner said Tuesday.

“We have a fence up. We have some equipment out there,” Tanner said. “We are moving forward now. In days to come you will see more activity.”

McNair had given $28 million to the academic side of the university before Tuesday’s gift.

“Janice and I have been privileged to support great initiatives in higher education and athletics,” he said in a statement. “We are again honored to join with other Gamecock supporters in supporting the new football operations center at the University of South Carolina. We hope all fellow Gamecocks will join us in taking part in this extraordinary project.”

The 110,000-square-foot building will be beside the new practice fields, diagonal from the indoor practice facility. Construction started this month and is expected to be finished in 15-18 months.

The center will include a recruiting center, locker room, weight room, athletic training room, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, dining room, equipment room and player areas.

“We are very appreciative of Janice and Bob McNair for their substantial gift towards the new football operations center,” Tanner said. “The football operations center is a state-of-the-art facility that will benefit our football program and student-athletes for years to come.”

McNair earned a psychology degree from USC in 1958. Following his days at South Carolina, he founded Cogen Technologies, one of the largest privately held energy companies in the world. He sold Cogen before founding the Texans in 1999, and maintains ownership of a private investment company.

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Texans owner Bob McNair commits $5 million to USC’s football operations building."