Renovated Nutter Field House is "one of a kind," says Mark Stoops

MrsTylerKSR

Fixing the Nutter Field House has been high atop Mark Stoops’ wish list since he arrived in Lexington over a decade ago. Not only was the 30-year-old facility showing some wear and tear, the field inside was not full-size, limiting the team to what they could do during practice and creating a dangerous environment as receivers caught balls and tried to avoid running on the surrounding track.

This offseason, UK Athletics raised roughly $5 million to tear up the track and install a regulation-size field, garage doors, ventilation, windows near the ceiling, and new lighting and netting. The new and improved Nutter Field House is ready to roll just in time for fall camp. In fact, Mark Stoops said that the team has already used it once, moving yesterday’s practice inside as storms rolled through Lexington. He’s a big fan.

“It is one of a kind. It’s beautiful. There is a ton of space. We had to go in there already this year, yesterday morning…and it was wonderful. When there’s just a ton of space and just the fact that our quarterbacks and receivers can catch balls on the sidelines and not worry about the track. And the [defensive] line and [offensive] line could get all the way off the field. There’s a lot of square footage in there and it’s a first-class facility.”

In July, Kentucky announced that the new state-of-the-art playing surface inside the Nutter Field House will be named after former head coach Rich Brooks and his wife Karen. Brooks, Kentucky’s coach from 2003-09, rebuilt the program, leading the Wildcats to four consecutive bowl games, winning the first three. He also famously lobbied for a new recruiting room, which used to occupy a corner of the Nutter Field House. Stoops said seeing Brooks’ name on the wall is a testament to what the program is today.

“Thank you to all the people involved and it’s an honor to have Karen and Rich Brooks’ name on that field and it puts a smile on my face when I saw that yesterday, going out there. So it’s a wonderful facility and thank you.”

This morning, Kentucky released a video tour of the new and improved Nutter Field House, including a close-up of a tribute to the late, great John Schlarman. You can also see banners on the walls honoring all the coaches in the program’s history and the seven straight bowl games Kentucky has been to in the Mark Stoops era.