STATESBORO - It was a great day for the Georgia Southern athletics family Saturday as the ground was broken on the Anthony P. Tippins Family Indoor Practice Facility prior to the annual spring game. The $12.3 million facility will be built adjacent to Allen E. Paulson Stadium and will serve all 17 NCAA-sponsored athletic programs. The transformative project, which is slated for completion in early 2023, will benefit the needs of all 400 student-athletes while also creating new revenue-generating activities for the department.

Speakers for the event included University President Dr. Kyle Marrero, Director of Athletics Jared Benko, Tippins, Chairman of the Athletic Foundation Leonard Bevill, softball coach Sharon Perkins and football coach Clay Helton. Following their speeches, members of the Tippins family, the speakers and other representatives of the USG, University and Department of Athletics posed for a ceremonial shoveling of dirt on the site of the project.

"I saw a vision for the IPF and to me was really simple," Tippins said. "The fact that it can be used for all sports, not just football, this was not going to be just another facility, but this one was going to be a piece to something really, really big."

"This is a statement to all of us," Helton said. "This is a national statement to who we are, that we are taking the next step forward."

A generous gift from the Anthony P. Tippins Family jump-started the project and the remaining costs will be covered through fundraising and donations. Tippins, originally from Claxton, Georgia, is the current President of Coolsys Professional Solutions. A retired 23-year Veteran and Commissioned Officer in the United States Naval Reserve and a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of Georgia, Tippins is a 1992 graduate of Georgia Southern University. Tippins earned his BS in mechanical engineering technology from GS and an Executive MBA from Emory University. After working in multiple key management and engineering roles, Tippins co-founded Aztec Energy Partners, which was sold to Danfoss in 2006. He then started Axiom Energy Solutions, which CoolSys acquired in 2018.

If you would like to help support the Anthony P. Tippins Family Indoor Practice Facility, please visit Give.GSEagles.com/IPF to make a donation today! If you would like to talk about giving options, please contact Ben Rodriguez at BenRodriguez@GeorgiaSouthern.edu or 912-601-7892.

For more on the facility, as well as renderings, click here.