Durant football coach Mike Gottman had plenty of reason to smile Tuesday.

Gottman said the Cougars had raised enough money to begin construction on a 6,000-square-foot athletic fieldhouse. The coach said he is only waiting for the Hillsborough County School District to look over everything and sign off on the final plans.

“We’re really hoping we hear something by the end of the week on when we can break ground,” Gottman said.

Gottman said the Cougars raised $230,000 through private donations for the project and received $50,000 in matching funds from the school district to go toward the new fieldhouse, which will include a 3,600-square-foot weight room and two locker rooms. Construction is expected to take four months.

The fundraising drive began in February 2004, Gottman said. He added that the team raised up to $50,000 a year, but it sometimes seemed during the process that they would never reach the necessary total for the project.

“Inflation seemed to be going faster than we could handle,” Gottman said.

Gottman specifically credited Cougars assistant Scott Varnum for spearheading the drive toward raising the necessary funds. Gottman said it was Varnum who “really got the surrounding community behind the project.”