NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Middle Tennessee State is embracing a new era of athletics via the opening of the $66 million, 85,000-square-foot Stephen and Denise Smith Student-Athlete Performance Center.
The recently unveiled facility directly connects to Floyd Stadium, and the football team, coming off a 3-9 season, is aiming to level up alongside the impressive new building.
“Development matters,” MTSU head coach Derek Mason said. “That’s what they care about. They care about nutrition, they care about recovery, they care about, ‘How do you get me better?’ And when you walk through this facility, it’s as good as anybody’s.”
“We got the goods now,” Mason said. “So we can recruit, we can go after anybody. The thing that we have to do is win.”
The players echoed the sentiment that the Smith Student-Athlete Performance Center is bound to enhance the football program over time.
Here are instructions on how to watch WSMV4 live on various platforms.
“I told Coach Mason, like before, in the spring in the old facility, ‘We’re going to be better as soon as it gets built, as soon as we step into this,’ because it’s going to motivate guys,” MTSU linebacker Parker Hughes said. “You’re going to see the new stuff, you’re going to want to play harder for that, just because like we want to do better for the community. So the building’s going to make us better just like that.”
“When opposing teams have to come in and they get to see this building, it’s like, ‘Man, this place is nice. They do right by their players,’” MTSU quarterback Nicholas Vattiato said. “We have a good program, and I think that’s what Coach Mason is trying to instill in us.”
Middle Tennessee starts the season at home, August 30, hosting Austin Peay at 6 p.m.
Copyright 2025 WSMV. All rights reserved.