Under Armour and Maryland signed a 10-year contract extension last year that will pay the university nearly $33 million in cash and gear. Under Armour already tests new products on campus, including a new so-called ungrabbable fabric, using athletes as part of its research-and-design process. Randy Edsall, the Maryland football coach, said players were sometimes “the first to put everything on — uniforms, shoes, gloves, you name it.”

After all, as Mr. Peake explained, “The faster you can be, the better you can be as a brand.”

The playbook for such an arrangement was written by Nike. Oregon’s $95 million Football Performance Center was completed two years ago, courtesy of a gift from Phil and Penny Knight. It features rugs woven by hand in Nepal, furniture sourced from Italy and floors made of Brazilian wood. Nike stirred a revolution in team uniforms by outfitting the Ducks loudly and proudly — in verdant green, neon yellow and charcoal.

Maryland, and Under Armour, followed with their Maryland Pride uniforms, which feature an almost Cubist deconstruction of the Maryland state flag’s taxicab yellow, wavy checkers and clover-capped crosses. Under Armour’s investment in the summer basketball scene — long dominated by Nike — also seems to be paying dividends for the Terrapins. Maryland’s top recruit last year, the sophomore point guard Melo Trimble, played for a team sponsored by Under Armour before college. So did the freshman Diamond Stone, considered by many the class of 2015’s best center.

If all goes to plan, the renovations at Cole Field House — including the football facilities, to be called the Terrapin Performance Center — will be ready for the 2018 season, spurred by a $25 million lead gift from Mr. Plank.

These facilities, according to promotional material, will be “unmatched in Division I sports.”

The university president, Wallace D. Loh, who since arriving in 2010 has encouraged more entrepreneurship among Maryland’s 37,000 students, said of Mr. Plank’s desire to converge business strategy and athletics: “There is truly a meeting of the minds. We are soul mates on this.”

Mr. Plank’s influence at Maryland does not extend to the hiring and firing of coaches, according to Maryland and Under Armour officials. But he is not a passive check-writing machine. Mr. Anderson said his interview process, which culminated with his hiring as the athletic director in 2010, included an interview with Mr. Plank. He said that he and Mr. Plank were involved with the brainstorming session at Under Armour’s waterfront headquarters in Baltimore that spawned the first edition of the Maryland Pride uniforms.