New Locker Room Wows Bulls on First Day of Camp
By Joey Johnston
Linebacker Dwayne Boyles said it was "like a luxury hotel.'' Center Brad Cecil said it "surpassed every expectation.'' Coach Jeff Scott called it "the next chapter for our program.''
There were rave reviews all around when USF football unveiled a $3.3-million upgrade to its current football facilities, including a sparkling new locker room that had Bulls players squealing with delight upon first inspection.
"My favorite part was the 10 seconds when they first opened the doors, seeing the players run in here and seeing their excitement,'' Scott said. "It reminded me of what (vice president of athletics) Michael Kelly said when he wanted to see our athletic department and team charging out of 2020 into what was in front of us. Seeing our players run through those doors, it was like seeing the Bulls charging into 2021.''
The new locker room includes 120 lockers (with each player's color photo), a state of the art digital, multi-color lighting and surround sound system, two 86-inch big-screen televisions, four video game consoles (Xbox & Playstation), pool table, ping-pong table, a nutrition fueling station, new LED graphics, 55-inch monitors throughout and new furnishings.
Upstairs, there are renovated coaches offices and staff rooms with new furniture, graphics and carpeting.
"We're definitely modernizing our athletics facilities,'' Scott said.
As USF prepared for fall camp — the players will do a walk-through Wednesday before the first full practice Thursday morning — Scott used the new locker-room as a reference point.
In keeping with the nostalgic theme of USF's 25th anniversary season, Scott showed his players a video that harkened back to the "Ponderosa,'' the four-trailer complex used by Coach Jim Leavitt and his staff when the Bulls' program began practicing in 1996. Then it showed the opening of the current building, now known as the Selmon Athletics Center, in 2004.
Scott said more than 500 donors contributed to the new locker room/coaches offices project. Next up: The expected fall groundbreaking for USF's $22-million Indoor Performance Facility, scheduled to open prior to the 2022 season.
Can on-field improvements be far behind?
"As a team and program, we're not where we want to be,'' Scott said. "But I'm confident that we're moving in that direction very quickly. There's a very genuine positive energy going through our athletic department and football program right now.''
Scott said the culture of USF football has changed. He compared it to his days at Clemson, when he worked on the staff of Dabo Swinney, who was named interim head coach midway through the 2008 season. Scott remembered an ESPN graphic that stated the last 29 consecutive interim coaches had failed to be named to the permanent job.
Following the 2010 season, when Clemson was beaten by USF in the Meineke Car Care Bowl and slipped to a 6-7 finish, Swinney proclaimed that the program's foundation had been laid and the most dynamic decade of Clemson football was ahead.
"Most people probably laughed,'' Scott said. "A lot of people were done with the Dabo Swinney experiment.''
Clemson is now shooting for its 11th straight season with double-digit victories, a run that includes two national championships.
"There are some differences, of course, but also some things that seem similar,'' Scott said. "Clemson had not had the success everybody thought it should have. It had tradition, but some of its facilities were similar to 10, 15, 20 years before.
"They were trying to breathe life into a program that had been there before and still had great potential. The leadership was aligned. Things got done.''
And the Tigers, with a new culture, began to win.
That's what Scott envisions for the Bulls.
"It's almost like a U-turn,'' Cecil said. "The culture has shifted so much in the short time he (Scott) has been here. We're in the weight room now and everybody is wearing the same thing — green shirt, green shorts, ankle socks, gold workout shotes. It might seem like a little thing, but we're on the same page and you notice that.
"In the locker room, everybody is picking up trash. You've got to keep clean, whether it's the hallways, the meeting rooms, the locker room. It just shows that no one is too big to do little things.''
Boyles said that attention to detail is bound to translate into on-field performance. The Bulls open Thursday, Sept. 2 at N.C. State, then also face non-conference games against the Florida Gators (Sept. 11, home), Florida A&M Rattlers (Sept. 18) and BYU Cougars (Sept. 25, road).
"We're coming in with the attitude that we can beat them and we will beat them,'' Boyles said. "Every day, we're going to come with intensity and practice like it's game day.''
