Gamecocks’ football operations building moves forward

South Carolina’s planned $50 million football operations building received the second and final approval Friday from the school’s trustees.

The 100,000-square-foot building will be beside the new practice fields, diagonal from the indoor practice facility. Construction is expected to start in January and be finished in 15-18 months.

An operations building is the next amenity for many major schools in college football. USC’s current spaces are well maintained but spread out.

Coaches’ offices are in the Floyd Football Building on the north side of the stadium, while the locker room, weight room, team meeting rooms, player lounge and recruiting rooms are on the south side. The Gamecocks have been walking across Bluff Road to get to practice for decades, causing police to hold up traffic a few times every fall afternoon.

With an operations building beside the indoor facility, all of the coaches’ offices will be housed there, along with a locker room, team rooms and weight room. Coaches could work in the new building, then walk 100 yards or so to practice, indoor or outdoor.

Players can park there for practice, dress in the building, practice and then head home without jogging across Bluff Road or waiting for a policeman to halt rush-hour traffic.

This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Gamecocks’ football operations building moves forward."