Tench and Simone Coxe, minority owners in Austin FC, are putting a massive bet on Austin’s medical future, pledging $100 million to help launch The University of Texas at Austin’s planned academic medical center. The unrestricted gift, which ranks among the largest private donations in UT history, is intended to speed up construction, recruitment and technology for a new UT hospital and an Austin presence for the MD Anderson Cancer Center. The couple say personal experiences with serious illness, and watching friends travel for treatment, pushed them to act so that Central Texas patients can get complex care closer to home. University leaders are calling the donation a catalytic step toward building a new academic health system in Austin.
In a university news release, officials said the Coxes’ $100 million commitment will jump-start the emerging academic medical center by backing priorities where leaders see the most urgent need. According to UT Austin, the center is planned as a digitally enabled, patient-centered system that will bring together Dell Medical School, UT MD Anderson cancer services and existing outpatient partnerships. Dell Medical School noted that the Coxes initially intended to give anonymously, but ultimately decided to go public in hopes of nudging other big donors off the sidelines.
Who the Coxes are
Tench Coxe built his wealth as a longtime venture capitalist and early backer of Nvidia, according to Forbes. The couple relocated to Austin in 2020 and hold a stake in Austin FC, as local reporting first revealed; KVUE carried the first in-depth local account of the gift on Jan. 13.
What's being built and how much it costs
The project centers on a two-hospital campus that is part of an estimated $2.5 billion plan to develop a UT specialty hospital and a dedicated MD Anderson cancer hospital on or near the UT campus, according to the Houston Chronicle. University leaders say as many as one in four Central Texas residents now leave the region for complex care, a gap the new center is designed to close, according to UT Austin. Officials say the exact project schedule will depend on securing final funding and approvals, but they currently expect the center to open around 2030.
Site questions and timeline
UT had previously announced plans to build on the cleared footprint of the former Frank Erwin Center. In November, however, the Board of Regents told reporters it is also weighing a separate site near the Domain, according to KUT. University officials say the Coxes’ unrestricted gift can be used no matter which site is ultimately selected. Even with the new funding in hand, leaders still need to lock in the campus location, financing plan and final design before any ceremonial shovels hit dirt.
Why the gift matters
In materials shared by the university, Tench Coxe said that conversations with Dell Medical School’s leadership persuaded the couple to invest after seeing friends routinely travel to Houston for specialty care. Dell Medical School quoted Dean Claudia Lucchinetti saying the gift "adds momentum" and will help "redefine what’s possible" for health care in Austin. The Coxes say they hope going public with the donation will help de-risk the project in the eyes of other philanthropists and speed up the university’s push to recruit top clinicians and scientists.
University officials and local health leaders stress that the Coxes’ $100 million pledge is a major early win, not the finish line. The roughly $2.5 billion buildout will still require substantial public and private backing before construction can start, as the Houston Chronicle has reported. For now, the gift gives UT leadership a clearer runway to make hiring and planning decisions that could significantly reshape access to advanced health care across Central Texas.
