Athletics gets new home: Football Ops Building completed

WSU officially gained ground in the ever-expanding college football facilities arms race.

Members of the media were privileged to have a first look inside the 84,192 sq. feet Martin Stadium Football Operations Building yesterday afternoon after 18 months of construction.

The five-story building, totaling $61 million in costs, is the second Martin Stadium renovation in the past three years, along with the premium seating added in 2012.

Designs for the building were gathered after research was done by Athletic Director Bill Moos and John Johnson, the senior associate athletic director. Moos said he collected ideas after visiting six schools: Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and LSU.

“We just cherry-picked the best features from all of those facilities and then put them into our building here,” Moos said. “That’s why I can safely say this is among the best of its kind in the country.”

The locker room occupies the ground floor, while the weight room sits directly above on the second floor. The sports medicine area and a “Wall of Fame” occupy the third floor. Meeting rooms for each position, including an auditorium for full team meetings, and the dining center make up the fourth floor. The coaching offices are located on the fifth floor.

“I can’t quite express the feelings right now, it’s very humbling to see something like this in Pullman and to know I was a part of the group that was able to make it happen,” senior quarterback Connor Halliday said of the building. “This is head and shoulders above anything I’ve ever seen.”

Redshirt junior linebacker Darryl Monroe cited efficiency as one of the more impactful features of the building, noting that all of the essential tasks can be accomplished in a timely manner without the need to leave the facility.

“When you’re here you’re in that football mode, that football zone,” Monroe said. “This place is like a paradise for players who want to better themselves and be successful.”

The two primary functions of the building are to enhance recruiting and develop the players, Moos said. He added that every floor of the building contributes to that goal, including the new dining area with European chefs and a full-time nutritionist.

“You can’t put two-bit gasoline in a car and expect it to perform,” Moos said when discussing the importance of properly “fueling” the student-athletes.

In terms of recruiting, Moos described the building as a necessity. He said with these new improvements, WSU will take a backseat to no one when it comes to attracting prospects.

The locker room is 11,610 sq. feet, more than 5,800 sq. feet larger than the old locker room in Bohler Gym. Connected to the locker room is the entrance where the players will enter the stadium on game days, which is directly next to the new CrimZone student section.

The new, spacious locker room impressed Monroe, an Orlando native who has visited numerous athletic facilities in both the South Eastern (SEC) and Atlantic Coast (ACC) conferences.

“I must say that none of them compare to what I have seen today and the last few weeks in this Cougar complex,” Monroe said. “I’m just blessed to be here. I’m overwhelmed by how great it is and how big this locker room is and the future of Cougar football. When you come in here you just want to win, you smell victory… you just want to be nothing less than the best for everything that Bill Moos and Coach Leach have done for us.”

Monroe was also pleased with the phone charger outlets in each of the lockers; a feature he said is reflective of today’s technology-driven society.

“It’s a great utility to have,” he said. “Your phone will never die even when you’re at practice.”

The weight room provides a view of both the practice field and Martin Stadium, a feature Moos said he is fond of because it allows players to visualize what they’re working toward as they prepare for games. Springs fill the floor of the weight room so that weights falling to the ground don’t disturb anyone on the lower levels, another special characteristic of the building.

“There’s nothing like it in the country,” Moos said of the weight room. “If we’re going to compete for championships, this is where it’s going to happen.”

Other notable features include the numerous player tributes covering the walls of nearly every floor, the hydrotherapy stations in the training room and the Student Plaza outside of the building in between Bohler Gym and Hollingbery Fieldhouse. The plaza will serve as a rallying area before games and during halftime with a big-screen TV message from a prominent player encouraging fans to return to their seats and cheer on the team before the start of the fourth quarter.

Discussions for the naming rights of the complex are underway, Moos said. He added that the naming rights for every room in the building are for sale.

As far as other projects in the works, Moos said renovations to the Indoor Practice Facility are on tap for the athletic department. 

“We need an indoor practice facility,” he said, “If we’re going to go to bowl games, which is our plan, year in and year out, we need to be able to practice. We need to use it for baseball; we need to have soccer in there. That’s the next one we’re going after.”