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SALT LAKE CITY - Out with the old, in with the new.
Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham helped demolish the old football center Tuesday to make room by a new football facility.
"That was exhilarating, without a doubt," Whittingham said with a grin after tearing down pieces of the former Dee Glen Smith Center with an excavator.
The new football center, expected to cost about $30 million, is scheduled to open in time for the 2013 season.
"It (will be) huge for our current players, having a place for them to take care of all of their needs," Whittingham said of the new athletic center.
"It's going to be a great recruiting tool for us. This will put us right towards the top of the Pac-12 with football facilities. This was the piece that was lacking right now. Our stadium is great, although we want to expand it in the next few years, but we have a great indoor and academic facility, this is the missing piece of the puzzle."
The football coaches' offices and all football operations have moved into temporary quarters adjacent to the construction site.
The Utes will also gain new practice fields when the project is completed and will practice in Rice-Eccles Stadium and the Spence Eccles Field House until then.
