{"id":341519,"date":"2026-06-18T16:46:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/341519\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T16:46:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:46:36","slug":"new-tcu-institute-to-study-athlete-performance-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/341519\/","title":{"rendered":"New TCU institute to study athlete performance and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The TCU football team emerges from the tunnel prior to the first half of a Big XII conference game between the TCU Horned Frogs and the Cincinnati Bearcats at Amon G Carter Stadium in Fort Worth on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.<\/p>\n

Christopher Torres<\/p>\n

ctorres@star-telegram.com<\/p>\n

TCU is launching an institute that will focus on how athletes \u201ctrain, recover and perform under pressure,\u201d the university announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Roach Institute of Athlete Engineering is funded by a $10 million gift from the Roach Foundation of Fort Worth. The gift is the biggest donation from the Roach family in history, said Amy Roach Bailey, the treasurer of the Roach Foundation and a TCU alum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Roach Institute is a clear reflection of that vision of our values as we bring together disciplines to lead in human performance and preparing our students to lead in a rapidly evolving world,\u201d TCU Chancellor Daniel Pullin said.<\/p>\n

Pullin announced the new institute Tuesday, June 16, during TCU\u2019s inaugural Global Human Performance Forum.<\/p>\n

\"TCU TCU Chancellor Daniel Pullin announces the Roach Institute of Athlete Engineering at an event on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. The institute will be dedicated to studying athlete performance both on and off the field. Ciara McCarthy <\/p>\n

The institute will be led by Jim Weinstein, Ph.D., who retired as a colonel after a 28-year career in the U.S. Air Force and previously served as deputy director of athlete engineering at Mississippi State University. Weinstein explained that the institute will have a broad definition of athletes. The institute will include construction workers, machinists, people working in hot environments, military, firefighters, police and more in their definition of athletes, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur vision is \u2026 about connecting the world of athletics with the research and academic side,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re the connective tissue between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weinstein joins TCU Vice Provost for Research Reuben Burch V, Ph.D., who founded the field of athlete engineering, according to TCU. Burch joined TCU in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost universities have athletics, and many universities have research, but few intentionally bring those worlds together,\u201d Burch said in a statement. \u201cTCU is uniquely positioned to lead Athlete Engineering because we view athletes as people first and believe the lessons we learn through research can improve lives far beyond the playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 3:24 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Ciara McCarthy<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Ciara McCarthy covers health and wellness as part of the Star-Telegram\u2019s Crossroads Lab. She came to Fort Worth after three years in Victoria, Texas, where she worked at the Victoria Advocate. Ciara is focused on equipping people and communities with information they need to make decisions about their lives and well-being. Please reach out with your questions about public health or the health care system. Email cmccarthy@star-telegram.com or call or text 817-203-4391.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The TCU football team emerges from the tunnel prior to the first half of a Big XII conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-341519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341519","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=341519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}