UGA Athletics Director Josh Brooks joins Jim Donnan and Dayne Young to discuss the array of construction projects going on with UGA venues. He gives a status update on the Sanford Stadium two-year project, the indoor tennis facility, Foley Field, Stegeman Coliseum repairs, moving track and field venue, and more. Brooks mentions the latest with NIL in college athletics. He shares what fans can expect from Wes Johnson, the new baseball coach, and Drake Bernstein, the new women’s tennis coach.

Brooks: “It is a two-year, two-phase approach. We’ve got less than 80 days until the first game, so phase one is wrapping up right now. The primary focus of phase one is centered around the South 100 improvement. That concourse has been a point of congestion for a long time. We are expanding it by blowing out the restroom and concessions along that pathway to now 23 feet in width and building new restrooms and concessions for gate 9 and gate 6. One of those concessions will be the grab-and-go style, like the Augusta National model. Restrooms will have points of use. We are also building the foundation for what will be the new press box. That will be built in phase two next offseason.”

“A key piece of this construction is a connection point from the bridge. You will be able to enter the stadium from the bridge. We are encapsulating the bridge as part of the stadium now. That is going to cause some minor issues for those who like to travel the bridge pregame. Now we will have more room for flow.”

Brooks: “We are going to build a new press box in the southwest corner roughly on the 10-15 yard line. We are also going to create some suites with that as well. The former press box will be turned into a new premium space. It will be the best premium space in the stadium. We've had such great response from our donors in the last few years donating to allow us to build the west end zone, the indoor, and the Butts-Mehre expansion. We needed more premium space to accommodate all the phenomenal donors who have stepped up. This is also going to create a trickle-up effect for seating availability.”

Brooks: “We have enacted the extension for seasons ‘24 and ’25 for Jacksonville. Right now, there's a projection there will be construction in ’26 and ’27 which will force us and Florida to move the site of the game. This is an opportunity for us to work with Florida and look at all options. There will be an option of looking at a home and home. There will be an option to look at different neutral sites. We have time. We are going to take our time and evaluate all of our options. We are going to fight for what is best for the University of Georgia.”

Brooks: “The good news is that the way we have a situation with eight conference games now, if we had to go eight another year, it would be an easy transition. If we went to nine, we could transition to that as well. They set it up well to where we have flexibility in 2025 to pivot as needed. I think the biggest thing throughout all of this is the greater schedule variability. Bringing Texas, bringing Oklahoma into the mix, having one division instead of two—that's all going to give us greater variability. Being able to say you’re going to go to every venue once every four years, and every team coming to Sanford Stadium every four years is really special.”

Brooks: “The steel is going up, so you can see the physical building taking shape. Seeing the frame go up is very exciting. Adding the indoor facility to what we already have gives us the best tennis complex in the country. We have already been able to recruit to that facility. When you can point to that indoor, that grandstand, our facilities, our history, it is an easy sales pitch. You throw in the university, Athens, and everything else, I think it has already led to the success we have had in recruiting. We are going to be hosting nationals soon and competing to host more national events here as well.”

Brooks: “When we took on this project, the primary was improving the student-athlete experience in the areas in which they spend their time and train. That was the thing that we felt was lacking. We know there are bigger stadiums, but we think we've got a venue that's kind of the Wrigley Field, one of the best settings and most beautiful venues in all of college baseball. But we know we have to improve the player amenities, whether that's hitting cages, whether it's a state-of-the-art pitching lab, lounge, renovated locker room, team meeting room, coaches' offices, weight room, things of that nature. So, we're going to have all of those things in this building.”

“Anytime we do a project, we always have a contingency built in. I know this from my days working in facilities, so you always want to have a safety net of a contingency built in. And with the current state of inflation, we've had to protect ourselves. For when you go to buy out materials and buy things up to be able to cover that, hopefully, we've done a good enough job that through this project we'll do some more things on the back end. I've got some ideas, but some of the other things that are already included in this project are going to be new LED lights like the Braves have or like we have at Sanford. We're going to extend the canopy of the grandstand to give shade for the entire grandstand. We're adding seats on the third base side. We're adding a new entry off of Rutherford on the third base side with a new standing room only plaza area, like a congregation area with new restrooms, a new point of sale. But beyond that, like I was saying, if we've got some funds left over to end the project or it could be a phase two, I really want to think about the future of right field and left field.

Brooks: “Any time you're doing a coaching search, there are certain metrics you want to look for, qualifications that kind of narrow your pool down and say, okay, these are the types of people or these are the candidates that fit the criteria I'm looking for. And then beyond that, you start, for me, the next step is getting into the character of a person.

And he was one that stood out really early on. As you talk to other AD’s, as you talk to other coaches, as you talk to men that play for him, the positive feedback was overwhelming. So that really got me excited just about his character and then when I was able to interview him and talk to him and meet with him face to face, it just blew me away.”

Brooks: “We're doing the remediation to repair the ceiling, which is actually a much simpler fix, but it's going to provide a safe atmosphere. And at the same time, we're going to go ahead and paint the ceiling black, which I think will give the whole venue a more modern look.”

"Moving down the road, and this is not final, this is just concepts we're working through. My vision is on the non-horseshoe on the end where that small video board is now is to basically build a massive video board on that wall, redo the sound, redo the lighting, and really make it impactful for the fan experience."

Brooks: “I appreciate everybody that supports Georgia. Whether it's the highest-level donor or the person that buys any seat in the stadium, or comes for one game, we appreciate it. We couldn't do it without everyone. And it's what makes Georgia so special. It makes my job the best job in the country.”