As the Houston Cougars draw closer to the start of the 2011 season they aren’t just making progress on the field. They’re making significant progress off the field as well.

UH received a boost in its efforts to raise the necessary funds for a new football stadium in the form of a $10 million donation towards the football stadium project, which was announced on Thursday at the annual Cougar Pride Kickoff Luncheon at Yeoman Fieldhouse.

Carolyn and Ron Yokubaitis, who are co-chief executive officers and co-founders of the Austin-based company Data Foundry, a tech-based provider of data center outsourcing, made the donation.

Ron Yokubaitis is a former UH football player who lettered for the Cougars in 1962-63, the first two seasons the Cougars spent under legendary coach Bill Yeoman. It marks the largest individual gift that has been given to UH for the football stadium fund thus far.

The gift brings UH’s fundraising total for the stadium to approximately $60 million, which puts it roughly three-quarters of the way to athletic director Mack Rhoades’ stated goal of $80-85 million needed to break ground on the project. UH continues to engage in negotiations with potential stadium naming rights donors for the lead gift.

The stadium, which would be built on the site that Robertson Stadium currently resides, is projected to cost $120 million, according to the feasibility study conducted by architectural company AECOM for UH last summer. The stadium would seat 40,000 and be expandable to 50,000-plus.

Ron Yokubaitis, along with his wife Carolyn and son Jonah, launched Texas.net, one of the first internet service providers in the United States, in 1994 in San Antonio. Ron is also the chairman of Giganews, a private company that is one of the world’s largest Usenet providers, where Jonah is CEO and Carolyn is treasurer. Data Foundry operates data centers in Austin and Houston and owns private networks in the two cities as well as Dallas and San Antonio.

The gift marks another stride forward for UH, which has made significant progress raising funds for the stadium project since last September. The news of the gift and the progress towards the groundbreaking goal comes at an opportune time for UH. With conference realignment rumors swirling as Texas A&M contemplates its future and possibility of leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference, the Cougars could be a possible candidate to replace the Aggies in the league, if it decides to fill the vacancy. A high-ranking A&M official told the Chronicle last week that the Big 12 believes that UH would be a viable candidate to replace the Aggies should they bolt.

The Cougars open their football season at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 3 at Robertson Stadium against UCLA.

Nick de la Torre/Chronicle

sam.khan@chron.com

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