BleedGopher
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per Joe:
When you open the main entrance to the Gophers’ new $166 million Athletes Village, it’s like stepping inside a maroon-and-gold themed Times Square, with nine scoreboard-sized video screens lining the wall, flashing an endless loop of Minnesota highlights.
The sixth floor of the Land O’Lakes Excellence Center, one of five buildings in the complex, offers sweeping views of the Minneapolis skyline, the University campus, TCF Bank Stadium and other Gophers venues.
The athletics department wanted a “wow factor” to capture recruits’ imagination, when it commissioned this project to upgrade the football and basketball facilities, while adding nutrition, academic and career development space for all 750 student-athletes.
The new facilities feature plenty of Minnesota-inspired charms, including Cambria countertops, Kasota stone and Sage Glass adjustable tint windows from Faribault. But what coaches and players talk about most is how functional the village is, how efficient it will make them.
“Our lives are going to change drastically,” Gophers women’s basketball senior Carlie Wagner said before the village opened this month. “The university’s never had something like this before.”
Key recruiting tool
Former men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith made no secret how badly the Gophers needed a practice facility. Richard Pitino took a quieter approach after arriving from Florida International University, converting an intramural gymnasium in the Bierman facility into a practice gym.
“I never wanted to make an excuse.” Pitino said. “But we were really, really lacking. Like our locker room at Bierman; my FIU locker room was 10 times nicer than that.”
Pitino’s new office has glass doors with a balcony view of the men’s practice gym. Two stories above him, Stollings has the same setup overlooking the women’s practice gym. The men’s and women’s basketball facilities are basically identical, with two floors dedicated to each. Both courts have sound-engineered floors, minimizing the noise, and there are windows everywhere, inviting natural light.
“They knocked it out of the park,” Pitino said. “It’s going to be real big from a recruiting standpoint, especially locally.
“When you bring a kid in from out of town, you can kind of hide some things — ‘Show them that, don’t show them this’ — but local kids know.”
Sophomore guard Amir Coffey followed the university’s facility plans closely when he was a coveted recruit out of Hopkins.
“I think a lot of guys are looking for facilities and things like that coming out of high school — the newest this, the newest that,” Coffey said. “This just being built, I think it’ll have a big impact.”
http://www.startribune.com/athletes...erything-about-gophers-athletics/469652863/#2
Go Gophers!!
When you open the main entrance to the Gophers’ new $166 million Athletes Village, it’s like stepping inside a maroon-and-gold themed Times Square, with nine scoreboard-sized video screens lining the wall, flashing an endless loop of Minnesota highlights.
The sixth floor of the Land O’Lakes Excellence Center, one of five buildings in the complex, offers sweeping views of the Minneapolis skyline, the University campus, TCF Bank Stadium and other Gophers venues.
The athletics department wanted a “wow factor” to capture recruits’ imagination, when it commissioned this project to upgrade the football and basketball facilities, while adding nutrition, academic and career development space for all 750 student-athletes.
The new facilities feature plenty of Minnesota-inspired charms, including Cambria countertops, Kasota stone and Sage Glass adjustable tint windows from Faribault. But what coaches and players talk about most is how functional the village is, how efficient it will make them.
“Our lives are going to change drastically,” Gophers women’s basketball senior Carlie Wagner said before the village opened this month. “The university’s never had something like this before.”
Key recruiting tool
Former men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith made no secret how badly the Gophers needed a practice facility. Richard Pitino took a quieter approach after arriving from Florida International University, converting an intramural gymnasium in the Bierman facility into a practice gym.
“I never wanted to make an excuse.” Pitino said. “But we were really, really lacking. Like our locker room at Bierman; my FIU locker room was 10 times nicer than that.”
Pitino’s new office has glass doors with a balcony view of the men’s practice gym. Two stories above him, Stollings has the same setup overlooking the women’s practice gym. The men’s and women’s basketball facilities are basically identical, with two floors dedicated to each. Both courts have sound-engineered floors, minimizing the noise, and there are windows everywhere, inviting natural light.
“They knocked it out of the park,” Pitino said. “It’s going to be real big from a recruiting standpoint, especially locally.
“When you bring a kid in from out of town, you can kind of hide some things — ‘Show them that, don’t show them this’ — but local kids know.”
Sophomore guard Amir Coffey followed the university’s facility plans closely when he was a coveted recruit out of Hopkins.
“I think a lot of guys are looking for facilities and things like that coming out of high school — the newest this, the newest that,” Coffey said. “This just being built, I think it’ll have a big impact.”
http://www.startribune.com/athletes...erything-about-gophers-athletics/469652863/#2
Go Gophers!!