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With 3,671 days since Georgetown halted construction of football's future, the MSF Clock has stopped.

Georgetown University has announced a transformative $50 million gift from Georgetown parents Peter and Susan Cooper to fund a new on-campus stadium and underwrite a sports leadership program on the Hilltop. Parents of five Georgetown alumni, including three brothers who played football for the Hoyas: Ryan (B'02), Matthew (B'07), and Kris (B'10), the new stadium will be named Cooper Field and could open in the 2018 season.

"The athletics program at Georgetown has played a significant role in our family's life," Peter Cooper said.

"By its design and location, the Coopers' gift will have significant and long-term impact on the Department of Athletics and the university as a whole," said athletic director Lee Reed. "It will enable us to fulfill the high-level operating needs of our Division I athletics program while providing a central, multifunctional gathering place for students, faculty, staff, alumni and visitors."

The curation of the gift took well over a decade. Indeed, it was Peter Cooper that was at the stage when ceremonial shovels inaugurated construction of the Multi-Sport Field (nee Facility) in April 2005, but a naming gift became mired in negotiations and shifting University priorities through the term of former athletic director Bernard Muir. One by one, various construction projects leap-frogged the threadbare MSF: the Ryan Performing Arts Center, Hariri Hall, Regents Hall, the Healey Family Student Center, the Thompson Athletic Center, and most recently, the Northeast Triangle. In the final year of the University's $1.5 billion capital campaign, the transformative gift not only sets the football and lacrosse programs on higher ground, but supports a student leadership program that is rapidly becoming one of the nation's most innovative athletic development programs.

"The Cooper Athletics Leadership Program (CALP), will be the home of a unique, transdisciplinary, academically-grounded approach to the study and practice of leadership dynamics in an intercollegiate athletics environment." reads its web site. "Hoyas Lead, the leadership curriculum housed in the CALP, provides a four-year series of classes designed to teach the elements of leadership, expose students to different theories of influence, and help them develop their own leadership philosophies. Through the creation of an academically-based course curriculum available to all student-athletes the program aspires to include:

• --Collaborative research with external experts;
• --Integration of existing academic disciplines on campus;
• --The leveraging of leadership resources within the Washington DC community;
• --The evolution of a consulting practice on team dynamics;
• --A longitudinal approach to holistic development in preparation for professional careers; and
• --Executive coaching and professional development of coaches.

A final design for Cooper Field is underway, but is expected to change from the numerous designs which reflected its changing scope during the tenure of Muir and later, interim director Dan Porterfield. No new design has been disclsoed since Lee Reed became athletic director in 2010.

The gift is the largest gift ever to Georgetown athletics, the second largest gift received during the campaign, and the fourth largest gift in Georgetown's history.

The full release, below:

October 6, 2015: A $50 million gift to Georgetown will support an innovative leadership program for the university's 750 student-athletes and fund the completion of the sports field situated in the heart of campus.

The gift, from Georgetown parents Peter and Susan Cooper of Newport Beach, California, is one of the largest ever received by the university and is the biggest gift to the athletics program.

"Georgetown is deeply grateful to Peter and Sue for their commitment to our students and their ongoing dedication to our campus community," said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. "This investment will allow us to provide extraordinary opportunities for students engaged in intercollegiate athletics, preparing these young people for success both on and off the field."

PLANS UNDERWAY

Georgetown parents Peter and Susan Cooper are giving one of the largest ever gifts received by the university and the biggest gift for the athletics program. The historic gift will underwrite a pioneering, academically based program that develops leadership skills and opportunities for students involved in one or more of Georgetown's 29 Division I sports and teams.

The gift also will enable the university to further develop the centrally located Multi-Sport Field that is currently home to Georgetown's football, field hockey and lacrosse teams, as well as club sports and university wide events.

As permanent recognition of the Coopers' generosity, the three-year-old student-athlete leadership initiative will be named the Cooper Athletics Leadership Program and the existing Multi-Sport Field will be renamed Cooper Field when it is completed in an estimated 12 to 18 months.

A commitment of assets associated with holdings in Dimensional Fund Advisors, the gift will result in Georgetown receiving an income stream from the assets and additional earnings upon redemption or sale. Annual income from the gifts is fully expendable in support of the leadership program, the field and other needs within Athletics as the gift grows over time.

A HOYA FAMILY

"The athletics program at Georgetown has played a significant role in our family's life," said Peter Cooper, a former Georgetown Board of Directors member and founder and executive chairman of Cooper and Company, a real estate and private equity investment firm.

All of the Coopers' five children are Georgetown alumni. They include twins Kylie (C'02, L'06) and Ryan (B'02), as well as Matthew (B'07), Kris (B'10) and Adam (G'10). Kylie Cooper's husband, Michael McNamara (B'02), is also an alumnus.

Kylie was co-captain of the women's swimming team and three of the couple's sons played football at Georgetown.

ATHLETE LEADERSHIP

The Cooper Athletics Leadership Program is an initiative that teaches leadership through an academic framework.

The program is built on the philosophy that participation in college athletics provides a prime opportunity for personal development and experiential learning in leadership, and the belief that all Hoyas have the potential to be influencers before and after graduation.

"Sue and I are thrilled to share in providing a leadership curriculum and experience for student-athletes," Peter Cooper said. "We believe that athletics and academics combine to provide an ideal crucible to create future leaders. The program is a wonderful fit with Georgetown's Jesuit values and tradition of care for others."

Mike Lorenzen, Georgetown's assistant athletics director for student-athlete leadership and development, will run the Cooper Athletics Leadership Program. Lorenzen, who holds a master of arts in international relations from Yale and a doctorate in education from the University of the Pacific, is an experienced coach, consultant and teacher who researches and writes on leadership and team dynamics.

STATE-OF-THE-ART FIELD

Surrounded by residence halls and academic buildings, the current sports field is a hub of activity from early morning until late at night. The field hockey, football and women's and men's lacrosse teams, as well as several club sports teams, use the field for practice and competition. The field also hosts such popular university events as Relay for Life and community heritage festivals.

"By its design and location, the Coopers' gift will have significant and long-term impact on the Department of Athletics and the university as a whole," said Lee Reed, Georgetown's director of intercollegiate athletics. "It will enable us to fulfill the high-level operating needs of our Division I athletics program while providing a central, multifunctional gathering place for students, faculty, staff, alumni and visitors."

The facility's final design, now under development, will include additional seating for fans, "game day" locker rooms and more.

"We're delighted that the facility creates a wider range of spaces for people to gather on campus," Peter Cooper added. "Gathering together is the heart of community."

October 6, 2015

Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:

It is with great pleasure that I write to share with you that Georgetown has received a historic $50 million gift, one of the largest gifts in the history of the University. This gift, from Peter and Susan Cooper of Newport Beach, California, the parents of five Georgetown graduates, will support an innovative leadership program for our 750 students engaged in intercollegiate athletics and will enhance our Multi-Sport Field, improving the experience for students, parents, alumni and visitors.

Peter and Sue's exceptional generosity will enable Georgetown to expand a three-year-old initiative that teaches leadership through an academic framework. The program, which will now be called the Cooper Athletics Leadership Program, engages students in a rigorous development curriculum built on the philosophy that participation in intercollegiate athletics provides a unique opportunity for personal formation. The Coopers' investment in our community will allow us to strengthen opportunities for students engaged in intercollegiate athletics and will help to prepare them for leadership throughout their lives.

A part of the Coopers' gift will be used to enhance the facilities of the Multi-Sport Field for students and visitors. Our Multi-Sport Field is where our football, field hockey and lacrosse teams practice and play all of their home games-visitors watching the competition will enjoy new seating areas around the field and the teams will be provided with new locker rooms, among other improvements. The Multi-Sport Field is also home to Relay for Life, and other university-wide events, and is used by hundreds of students engaged in club sports.

The Multi-Sport Field's location in the heart of campus is an important focus in our planning for the future. As we work to create pathways that connect the academic, recreation and social hubs on campus, improvements to the Multi-Sport Field and the surrounding area will help bring our vision to reality, improving our physical spaces for all members of our University community.

In recognition of the Coopers' generosity, the Multi-Sport Field will be renamed Cooper Field when it is completed. We look forward to enhancing this central gathering space and the area surrounding it for our entire community.

I can only begin to express my appreciation to Peter and Sue for their commitment to our students and their ongoing dedication to our campus community. An active leader and Georgetown parent, Peter served as a member of our Board of Directors from 2001-2006 and then again from 2007 to 2013. During his times on the Board, he served as the Chairman of the Investment Subcommittee, overseeing the growth of our endowment. In 2008, we recognized his longstanding commitment by presenting him with the Patrick Healy Award, our highest honor for outstanding dedication to our community by someone who is not an alumnus.

Please join me in expressing my deepest gratitude to Peter and Sue for their commitment to Georgetown, and their vision to enhance our community and strengthen the impact that our students can have both on and off the field.

Sincerely,





John J. DeGioia

Writes the Post:

"Of the gift's initial installment of $15 million, $10 million will be spent on adding seats, locker rooms and other upgrades to Multi-Sport Field, which lies adjacent to the $62 million John R. Thompson Intercollegiate Athletics Center currently under construction. Work on enhancements to the field is expected to begin in summer 2016, following a design phase that is underway. Upon completion, expected to be 12 to 18 months later, it will be renamed Cooper Field.

"The balance of the initial installment will underwrite and expand a leadership program that was designed for and launched in 2013 for the roughly 750 athletes who compete on Georgetown's 29 varsity teams--roughly 10 percent of the 7,595 undergraduate student body.

"It is that part of the donation that is potentially unique in college sports philanthropy, which most often funds stadium construction and facilities upgrades rather than academically based programs."