{"id":250647,"date":"2026-04-15T08:37:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/250647\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T08:37:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:37:55","slug":"sark-longhorns-end-programs-time-at-denius-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/250647\/","title":{"rendered":"Sark, Longhorns end program’s time at Denius Fields"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Steve\u00a0Sarkisian<\/a> and the Texas football<\/a> team trot off the practice grass at Denius Fields for the last time this spring, the head coach won\u2019t exactly be overcome by nostalgia Friday.<\/p>\n

Yes, the new practice facility<\/a> just south of Royal-Memorial Stadium<\/a> will be done by the start of summer workouts in late July, a Texas source confirmed after Sarkisian spoke to the media Tuesday for the last time in spring football. And, no, Sarkisian won\u2019t miss the logistics of juggling practice on two outdoor fields tucked between Red River Street and I-35 as well as a smaller indoor field known as \u201cThe Bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Sarkisian \u2014 who shares control-freak tendencies with virtually every over coach regardless of the sport \u2014 couldn\u2019t help but think back to his former boss at Alabama when asked about the final days of practicing at Denius Fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the memories I have is the first time we were outside, and we had to transition to go into the Bubble because of weather and lightning,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cIt just didn’t dawn on me how long it would take to get 120 players plus staff and video into the Bubble. And I was like, tapping my foot, and I was thinking to myself, \u2018If Nick Saban<\/a> were here today, the top of the Bubble might have blown off.\u2019 Because, as a coach, you want to be efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarkisian and the Longhorns will wrap up their spring football with an open practice Saturday<\/a> inside Royal-Memorial Stadium that will also serve as a pigskin party of sorts for the fans. The next time Texas lines up to practice, it will either be on the indoor field or one of the outdoor fields<\/a> at the new facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been a lot of great players that have practiced in the Bubble, but I’m definitely looking forward to moving into the new indoor for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cWith the indoor and the practice field being right outside, with the garage doors in and out, the ability to have two fields now side by side, where we can be so efficient in the way we work.\u2026 We’re excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denius Fields has served as the practice home of the Longhorns since 1994, and the Bubble popped up in 2002 at a cost of $4 million. The new facility costs about $70 million and is already fully funded through donations and the Longhorn Foundation, which is the fundraising organization for Texas athletics.<\/p>\n

The university tore down the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at 1925 San Jacinto Blvd., between the Recreational Sports Center and the Jamail Texas Swimming Center to make room for the new football facility. The demolition came with plenty of controversy<\/a>\u00a0considering the building’s history. From 1933 to 1967, the building housed University Junior High School<\/a>, an education lab and\u00a0an important pioneer<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0desegregation of Austin schools<\/a>. The former school site was added to the National Register of Historic Places\u00a0in 2001 in recognition of its significance in the development of the university’s campus architecture and educational research, and it also housed \u201cHeart & Soul,\u201d a mural Austin artist Ra\u00fal Valdez created in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Steve\u00a0Sarkisian and the Texas football team trot off the practice grass at Denius Fields for the last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,261,81142,3231,537,536],"class_list":{"0":"post-250647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-college-football","12":"tag-royal-memorial-stadium","13":"tag-steve-sarkisian","14":"tag-texas-longhorns","15":"tag-texas-longhorns-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}