Construction began this week on a new football field house for Samford University. The new 39,000–square–foot facility will be located at the south end of F. Page Seibert Stadium on Samford’s campus.

Shelby County–based Gary C. Wyatt General Contractor LLC is the project’s contractor. Wyatt Construction was most recently involved with the building of the new Helena Middle School and the newest facility on the Shelby Campus of Jefferson State Community College.

Construction on Samford’s new field house is expected to last 11 months and should be done in time for the 2009 football season.

To accommodate the new building, the stadium’s video scoreboard will be moved to the north end zone.

The building, which will cost $7.5 million, is being funded with private contributions, said W. Randall Pittman, Samford’s vice president for university relations. Most of the funding has already been pledged, he said.

“The support for this facility demonstrates a growing interest and support of Samford athletics across the region,” Pittman said. “The addition of Pat Sullivan as our head football coach has helped to attract many new friends and donors to the university for the first time.”

The new field house will include locker rooms, training rooms, weight rooms, equipment storage, offices and meeting rooms. The field house will replace facilities that are about 50 years old.

“This new building provides our football program with state-of-the-art facilities at an important time for Samford athletics,” said Samford Athletics Director Bob Roller. “With the university’s move to the Southern Conference, it is critical for us to compete at all levels – on the field, in the classroom and facilities –– with our new conference counterparts.”

Visiting teams will continue to use locker rooms and other facilities in Seibert Hall, which is adjacent to the stadium. The building was designed by Davis Architects of Birmingham.