UNC football coaches call new indoor practice facility a morale boost for the team

North Carolina’s football team has started practice in its new indoor practice facility, three months after its intended date.

The project was expected to be finished in August, but weather has continued to delay it. A clause in UNC coach Larry Fedora’s contract allows him to terminate the agreement without paying a penalty if the practice facility was not substantially completed by Sept. 1, 2018.

The practice facility is not fully complete, and media members were not allowed inside Tuesday night. The outdoor practice fields, which are part of the project, are still under construction. It is unclear when the entire project will be finished.

“It’s nice,” UNC defensive coordinator John Papuchis said Tuesday night. “It’s a great facility. It’s nice to be able to get in there at the end of the year. I think it’s a good kind of morale boost for the guys to get a change of environment.”

UNC offensive coordinator Chris Kapilovic said the same.

“It’s one of the bigger ones that I’ve been in, where you can get everything done in there, and kicking game, and have the whole team in there,” he said. “So it’s huge plus to be able to have that surface and be able to have a place like that to practice.”

In 2015, the UNC Board of Trustees approved plans to build the practice facility in conjunction with a new soccer/lacrosse field. The project was slated to cost about $67 million. The Rams Club — the booster club for UNC athletics — is footing most of the bill.

UNC had hoped the facility would be completed by the start of the 2018 football season, but it was not. UNC’s first practice in the indoor part was late last week, before its game against Western Carolina. UNC won that game 49-26. The team had previously been practicing at Kenan Memorial Stadium.

It has been a disappointing season for the Tar Heels, who are 2-8 this year. They have one game — against N.C. State — before the end of the season.

When asked last week whether he was frustrated that the project was not complete, Fedora said, “It is what it is. Any time you’re dealing with construction, it’s out of your control. I would have liked to have had it, but we don’t and it’s just the way it is.”

He was also asked how having it done before the season would have helped.

“I think it will help in recruiting, in the morale of the team, I think it will help in the energy of the team,” Fedora said. “I think everybody will be energized by it.”

UNC is currently ranked 61st in recruiting rankings for the 2019 class, according to 247sports, its lowest ranking in Fedora’s seven seasons.