Tennessee State University struggles to bolster athletic facilities, find campus dorm space

Main gates at Tennessee State University in Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Tennessee State University continues to grapple with improvements for historic Hale Stadium, even as it plays home football games at Nissan Stadium, while trying to shore up dorm space after a housing crunch.

One of two land grant universities in Tennessee, TSU is set to make repairs in phases to the 1950s-era stadium, also known as “the Hole,” after dropping multiple requests over the last decade for millions of dollars worth of improvements. 

The university also sought a $41.5 million football operations building and a $157 million residence hall three years ago, according to state budget documents. But those were relinquished in favor of a gateway entrance, agriculture organic research lab and classroom labs and to be funded with federal or university funds. Requests for those projects are still to be submitted to state officials. 

Even though they’ve have a deal to play at the Titans’ stadium since 1999, TSU’s Tigers played a handful of games at Hale each from 2012 to 2020. Games have been limited there in recent years because the stadium fell into such disrepair. For instance, the press box had to be condemned and media was stationed above the visitors’ section.

No major renovation plan is scheduled for Hale Stadium, even though it was once home to one of the top college programs in the nation under coach John Merritt, who sent players such as “Jefferson Street” Joe Gilliam and Ed “Too Tall” Jones to the NFL. Since inception, TSU’s football program has played in a lower classification level than the University of Tennessee, a situation that can make athletics fundraising more difficult.

As TSU embarks on some repairs at Hale Stadium, the state’s other land grant college, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is wrapping up a $337 million Neyland Stadium upgrade for the football program and a $96 million Lindsey Nelson Baseball Stadium expansion where the newly-crowned national champion Vols play. The UT-K projects are being paid for with university money and private funds.

“We have two land grant universities, and let’s just see how the state has treated those two land grant universities,” says Rep. Sam McKenzie, a Knoxville Democrat.

TSU opened a new 700-bed dorm in 2022 — seven years after initially requested — but it didn’t provide enough space for a large freshmen class, and university leaders came under fire from state lawmakers for increasing scholarships and causing a housing crisis. The university had to ask the State Building Commission to approve funds for hotel space to house student overflow in 2021 amid a renaissance for historically Black colleges and universities.

TSU’s burden is being relieved to some extent by a nearby church. 

A housing development by Cobblestone, a private entity, is set to undergo construction near TSU at the House of God property. The university is acting as a “facilitator” in the arrangement, only giving students the option to sign a lease with Cobblestone.

The Legislature threatened to fire TSU President Glenda Glover three years ago, then vacated the TSU Board of Trustees this year, enabling Gov. Bill Lee to appoint new leadership. Glover stepped down, saying she wanted to focus on national policies, and the board named Ronald Johnson as interim president Wednesday, former president of Clark Atlanta University and most recently interim president of Kentucky State University.

The state “never held up” dormitory construction for TSU, according to a spokesman for Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, who “resents the implication that it did.” 

Spokesman Adam Kleinheider pointed out such projects are funded with bonds and university plant funds, not a direct state appropriation, and he said “no roadblocks” were put in the university’s way.

“If any ‘turmoil’ led to delays in these projects, that turmoil was entirely self-inflicted by the university,” he said. “… Lt. Gov. McNally is optimistic about the new leadership now in place at TSU and is hopeful that the turmoil and mismanagement of the past can be left in the past.”

But McKenzie, contends, if the state had moved quicker on TSU’s dorm project, the university might not have faced a housing crisis in 2022.

During Gov. Bill Haslam’s tenure from 2011 to 2019, the state poured money into dormitory projects at UT-Knoxville, according to McKenzie, while “gutting Tennessee State University by ignoring them.”

More public-private dorm projects are under way in Knoxville, too. 

At various times over the last decade, TSU sought funds to upgrade Hale Stadium, as well, but the work never came to fruition.

“I don’t like the fact that Tennessee State doesn’t play (football) on campus when they want to play on campus,” McKenzie says, noting he has heard the same concern from TSU supporters and officials.

Some games with traditional HBCU powerhouses could be played at Nissan Stadium, but most home games should be held at Hale to allow a better collegiate football atmosphere, McKenzie says. At the Titans’ field, smaller crowds tend to be swallowed up by the stadium.

While McKenzie is frustrated with sluggish progress at TSU, state Rep. Harold Love says he is “satisfied” that the state is moving on campus projects. Love, a Nashville Democrat, says the dorm project was slowed by COVID-19 pandemic supply problems.

TSU also has a $60 million engineering classroom in the works, along with nearly $30 million for Davis and Boswell Halls, $37 million for an agriculture food and animal science facility and $27.7 million for an agriculture environmental science facility. The state is set to take bids on the latter two in early 2025.

The Legislature approved $250 million two years ago for TSU to make infrastructure upgrades.

Love says he hopes the state would take up an “expedited process” for TSU to start work, especially in light of increasing construction costs. That could mean convening “emergency” State Building Commission meetings to take up TSU work, he says.

Lee proposed the extra funding for TSU after a national report came out showing TSU had been underfunded by $2.1 billion over 30 years. A previous state study determined the state shorted the land grant university by $150 million to $540 million over the course of a century.

The Comptroller’s Office undertook a $1.8 million forensic audit in 2023 that uncovered numerous findings but no fraudulent activity by the university and less than $4,000 in questionable expenses.

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