WVU locker room and accessories show were all-in on building – 247Sports

West Virginias football program was probably due for a positive off-the-field development. Theyve come in doses lately.

A chaotic and confusing spring and summer finally came to a finish last Monday when the Mountaineers returned to the field with their first full-scale football practice since the pandemic split the team up and sent everyone in different directions on March 12. A day later, the highly anticipated locker room project was unveiled, and there can be no doubting the approval rating.

The Mountaineers upgraded from 5,625 square feet in the former locker room to 11,125 square feet in the new one, and the new features are impossibly impressive.

There hasnt been a whole lot for the players to be really excited about lately, and so much credit goes to the people that made it happen, head coach Neal Brown said.

The result is a spacious place and lavish lockers that feature wireless cell phone chargers, a lockable compartment with an internal charging port, a stainless steel shoe and glove display drawer, a stainless steel helmet shelf, a backlit individual upper nameplate that includes a picture of the player and a listing of his jersey number, position and hometown, a clothing rod for game day apparel, a hook for the uniform and additional storage in an upper cabinet and a lower drawer.

The area is highlighted by sharp visual features, including LED walls. The most prominent one is a 16-by-7 foot display, and there are four other 4-by-7 walls on the end cap of each locker pod. The walls are linked to a video server, and theyre able to showa variety offootage, sizes and effects. The locker rooms sound system includes 16 ceiling speakers and four woofers. Audio, video and lighting can work in concert to create dramatic presentations.

This is a big push by our administration to show that were all-in on building not only championship teams but a championship program, Brown said. Weve already got so much positive momentum in recruiting with the Big 12 deciding that we are going to move forward with playing football this fall and now the locker room reveal.

Six of the lockers are designated for former players to use when they return to campus, and when they do, theyll notice a completely different area. In addition to the aforementioned features, the constructionalso created a quiet room with anti-gravity chairs and sleep pods. The equipment room now has far more space to accommodate the various uniform combinations. The nutrition center was improved, and a recovery space how has light therapy beds, cryotherapy chambers and sensory deprivation tanks. The players will also be able to relax in a lounge with gaming stations and various arcade and table games.

The locker room theming was focused on enhancing the openness of the center meeting space, allowing coach Brown to address the entire team, or allow separate addressing of the offensive and defensive units, said locker room architect Mark Clear of S/L/A/M Collaborative explained. The dark exposed ceilings with suspended clouds and center Flying WV feature give the illusion of a much taller space than the existing structure allowed and enhanced focus of the room to open the center space with an infusion of technology.

The locker room size increase is significant in itself, but equally significant is the addition of a mud room and cold-plunge pool to the locker suite in order to reinforce and streamline the post-practice sequence. This ensures the players are following cold-plunge protocol for maximum recovery and keeps the locker room maintained and in pristine condition.

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WVU locker room and accessories show were all-in on building - 247Sports