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BETTESWORTHConstruction

How colleges are redesigning athletic facilities for the whole student-athlete

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College athletic facilities are being redesigned as student-athlete development environments, not just places to practice and compete. In response to changing expectations around Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal, colleges are bringing training, recovery, nutrition, sports medicine, academics and wellbeing into a more connected daily experience. Projects at Purdue University, the University of Houston and Colorado State University illustrate different ways to apply that idea. The examples come from an architect-authored perspective by DLR Group principal Gregory Garlock, republished by Building Design + Construction; they describe design intentions and project features, not independently measured improvements in recruiting, retention, performance or health.

What does “a new level” of student-athlete facility design mean?

It means planning the building around the complete student-athlete journey rather than treating the locker room, weight room or arena as separate destinations. The approach described by DLR Group links physical preparation with recovery, fueling, medical care, academic work and mental wellbeing. Recruitment and retention are part of the brief because facilities now sit within a more fluid college-athletics environment shaped by NIL opportunities and the transfer portal.

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That framing should be read as a design rationale, not a proven causal formula. The source identifies amenities that a school may use to support its priorities, but it supplies no named statistics or independent evaluation showing that a particular room or project produces better recruiting, transfer decisions, athletic results, graduation rates or health outcomes. A credible business case therefore needs the institution’s own goals, baseline data and post-occupancy evaluation.

Building Design + Construction’s March 31, 2025 article substantially overlaps with DLR Group’s September 12, 2024 original. Together, they are useful primary accounts of the design perspective and named projects, but they should not be counted as independent corroboration of outcomes.

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Why are NIL and the transfer portal changing facility priorities?

NIL and transfer movement have made the total student-athlete proposition more visible during recruiting and retention conversations. Garlock’s article presents facilities and amenities as one part of that proposition: a school must show how athletes will train, recover, eat, study, receive care and spend the hours between formal practices.

That does not mean a lavish building guarantees a commitment or a transfer decision. It means the brief has expanded. A project team must ask what experience the institution intends to offer, which athletes and sports it serves, how the spaces operate on a normal day, and how the school will determine whether the investment is meeting its stated objectives.

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How do the Purdue, Houston and Colorado State projects differ?

The three examples address different programs and therefore use different combinations of spaces. Comparing their planning logic is more useful than ranking one building as “better.”

Project Program needs Spaces described Organizing idea Intended emphasis
Purdue University, Mackey Arena basketball locker rooms Basketball team environment within an arena Oversized lockers, player lounges, team meeting rooms, recovery sleeping pods, nutrition and fueling stations, and a Hype Tunnel Create a team-centered sequence from arrival through preparation and competition Recruiting appeal, team identity, recovery and fueling
University of Houston Football Operations Center Football operations and daily team support Weight room, sports-medicine and hydrotherapy spaces, dining area and fueling station, and coach and operations offices Put performance, care, dining and administration in one operational hub Training, medical support, nutrition and program coordination
Colorado State University, Moby Arena renovation Arena renovation serving student-athletes and broader venue functions Renovated locker-room suites and recovery pods, with spaces arranged around a mapped daily sequence Plan the layout around the order of experiences in a typical student-athlete day Continuity of daily use, recovery and an integrated arena experience

These descriptions come from the two substantially overlapping source articles. They identify what the projects contain and what the design team intended; they do not establish that one project delivers superior recruiting, performance or wellbeing outcomes.

How can a facility support the whole student-athlete day?

Start with the day, not the room list. At Colorado State, Garlock says the design team worked with administrators and coaches to determine the ideal sequence of experiences in a typical day and then arranged the layout to accommodate that sequence. That method can be adapted to any sport or campus.

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  1. Map real user groups. List athletes by sport, gender, scholarship status, roster size, accessibility needs and competitive calendar. Add coaches, athletic trainers, strength staff, nutrition professionals, counselors, academic personnel, operations staff, visitors and service workers.
  2. Document a representative day. Plot arrival, changing, meetings, warm-up, training, treatment, hydrotherapy, meals, classes, tutoring, individual study, travel preparation and departure. Create separate maps for practice days, competition days, rehabilitation days and peak-season congestion.
  3. Identify handoffs and delays. Mark where athletes must cross public circulation, wait for treatment, carry food across a building, or choose between recovery and academic obligations. These friction points often matter more than adding another specialty room.
  4. Set privacy and safeguarding zones. Separate public event circulation from medical treatment, counseling, changing and recovery. Define who may enter each zone, when visibility is required, and how confidential conversations are protected.
  5. Test adjacencies before aesthetics. Place spaces that must work together—such as the weight room, sports medicine, hydrotherapy and fueling—so that staff can supervise and athletes can move efficiently. Then resolve daylight, acoustics, materials, identity and hospitality.
  6. Plan for flexible use. Team meeting rooms, lounges and study areas may need to change function during recruiting visits, camps, competitions or academic support periods. Provide furniture, technology and storage that can be reconfigured without disrupting clinical or training operations.
  7. Define measures before opening. Establish what the institution will track, such as utilization by program, treatment wait times, meal participation, tutoring access, athlete satisfaction, injuries, missed class time or retention. The source articles do not provide these measurements; each owner must create its own evaluation plan.

Which spaces belong in a holistic athletic facility?

No single checklist fits every campus. The appropriate mix depends on sport, roster, staffing, climate, competition schedule, existing campus services and whether the building is an arena, an operations center or a shared academic-and-athletic hub. The source discussion identifies the following categories as parts of a broader environment.

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Training and performance

Strength-training equipment, sport-specific training areas, sports analytics and media resources support preparation and review. Houston’s Football Operations Center, for example, includes a weight room. Equipment selection should follow the program’s movement, loading, supervision and maintenance requirements rather than a trend-driven inventory.

Recovery and sports medicine

Recovery sleeping pods, cryotherapy, hydrotherapy, massage therapy and sports-medicine spaces appear in the article’s examples and broader discussion. These functions require clear clinical governance, infection-control procedures, staffing, scheduling and emergency access. A recovery amenity is not automatically a medical intervention, and the design brief should distinguish clinical treatment from quiet rest.

Nutrition and fueling

Nutrition centers, dining areas and fueling stations place food access near training and competition routines. Purdue’s locker-room work includes nutrition and fueling stations; Houston’s operations center includes a dining area and fueling station. Operators should decide who sets menus, how allergies are managed, how food is replenished and how the space serves athletes whose schedules do not match standard dining hours.

Academic support

Tutoring, study areas and advising make it possible to integrate academic obligations into the day rather than treating them as an afterthought. These spaces need dependable connectivity, acoustical control, sightlines that support concentration and scheduling systems that coordinate with practices, travel and class times.

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Wellbeing and mental health

Mental-health resources, counseling rooms and relaxation areas require privacy, trauma-informed planning and straightforward access without forcing an athlete to pass through a highly public zone. The article proposes these spaces as components of holistic support; it does not measure their effectiveness or prescribe a clinical model.

Team identity and social connection

Player lounges, team meeting rooms, oversized lockers and branded arrival sequences can support belonging and communication. Purdue’s Hype Tunnel is an example of a deliberately choreographed team and competition experience. Identity elements should reinforce the program without displacing practical requirements such as storage, accessibility, maintenance and safe circulation.

What can the Purdue example teach a design team?

Purdue’s Mackey Arena basketball locker-room project shows how a relatively focused renovation can combine identity, recovery and daily support. Oversized lockers address personal storage and changing; lounges and meeting rooms create places for communication; sleeping pods provide a designated recovery option; fueling stations put nutrition close to the team’s routine; and the Hype Tunnel creates a ceremonial transition toward competition.

The planning question is not whether every basketball program needs the same package. It is how much of the athlete’s pre- and post-practice sequence can be supported without unnecessary movement or loss of privacy. A renovation should also examine egress, ventilation, acoustics, plumbing capacity, accessibility and the impact of construction on an operating arena—issues that the source articles do not quantify but that owners must resolve during design.

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What can the Houston football operations center teach a design team?

Houston’s example groups performance, medical care, hydrotherapy, dining, fueling and administrative offices in a football operations center. This arrangement can make staff collaboration and athlete movement more direct, provided that circulation, scheduling and infection-control boundaries are carefully managed.

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Football facilities also face large roster sizes, position-specific routines, equipment loads and sharp peaks before and after practice. The brief should model those peaks rather than size spaces only for average occupancy. Coaches’ and operations offices need visual and digital connections to the program while preserving confidential personnel and medical information.

Why is Colorado State’s daily-sequence method important?

The Colorado State Moby Arena renovation places the sequence of experiences at the center of planning. Rather than beginning with a collection of rooms, the team collaborated with administrators and coaches to determine how a student-athlete’s typical day should unfold and then arranged the layout around that sequence.

That approach helps expose conflicts that a conventional room schedule can miss. For example, an athlete may need to move from treatment to class, eat while meeting with staff, or recover while another group occupies the main training space. Mapping those transitions can guide adjacencies, queuing areas, acoustic separation, time-based sharing and the location of locker-room suites and recovery pods.

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Garlock’s description is a source statement about the design process, not evidence that the resulting arrangement improved outcomes. Institutions adopting the method should document the assumptions, involve athletes directly and revisit the map after occupancy.

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How should owners evaluate recruitment and retention claims?

Separate design intent from evidence. A project narrative may reasonably say that amenities are intended to strengthen recruiting appeal or support wellbeing. It should not present those intentions as measured results unless the institution has collected and published appropriate data.

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A useful evaluation framework can include:

  • Recruiting experience: visitor feedback, tour participation and the aspects of the facility prospective athletes mention—not a claim that the building alone caused a decision.
  • Retention: year-to-year continuation, transfer patterns and interview data interpreted alongside coaching, scholarship, academic and competitive factors.
  • Use and access: occupancy, wait times, participation by team and access for athletes in rehabilitation or nontraditional schedules.
  • Health and wellbeing: clinically appropriate indicators, privacy-protected surveys and service utilization, with safeguards against treating utilization as proof of health improvement.
  • Academic integration: tutoring attendance, study-space use and coordination with class schedules, interpreted with academic-support staff.
  • Operations: staffing hours, maintenance, food waste, energy use, cleaning requirements and the cost of changing spaces for seasonal demand.

Because the reviewed articles provide no named statistics or measured outcomes, these are recommendations for an owner’s evaluation plan, not results attributed to Purdue, Houston or Colorado State.

What should be on a construction and design checklist?

Before advancing a concept, an institution should be able to answer the following questions:

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  • Which student-athlete journeys are being designed, and where do they differ by sport, season or medical status?
  • Which services already exist elsewhere on campus, and will duplication improve access enough to justify capital and operating costs?
  • Can athletes reach training, treatment, fueling, academic support and counseling without crossing inappropriate public or confidential zones?
  • Are locker, shower, restroom, storage and changing facilities equitable, accessible and sized for actual roster peaks?
  • How will hydrotherapy, cryotherapy, massage and sports-medicine functions be staffed, cleaned, scheduled and governed?
  • Can lounges, meeting rooms and study areas be reconfigured as teams, schedules and technology change?
  • Does the building support daylight, acoustics, thermal comfort, indoor air quality and restorative quiet as well as visual branding?
  • What technology is required for sports analytics, media, access control, scheduling and secure records?
  • How will the project remain operational during phased renovation, especially in an arena or active operations center?
  • Which baseline measures and post-occupancy reviews will determine whether the facility is meeting its stated goals?

What is the defensible conclusion about this design approach?

The projects at Purdue, Houston and Colorado State show three ways to move beyond a single-purpose athletic venue: enrich a basketball locker-room environment, consolidate football performance and support functions, or organize an arena renovation around the sequence of a student-athlete’s day. Their common lesson is planning coherence—placing the right services, people and transitions around real routines.

The evidence does not justify saying that any one amenity causes better recruiting, retention, athletic performance, wellbeing or academic achievement. A sound project uses the design ideas as hypotheses, involves athletes and staff in the brief, and commits to measuring how the completed facility is actually used.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a college need a separate NIL facility to compete for athletes?

The cited design discussion does not call for a dedicated NIL building. It treats NIL and the transfer portal as context for a broader student-athlete experience, so institutions should first assess whether existing training, recovery, nutrition, academic and wellbeing spaces meet their priorities.

Are sleeping pods, cryotherapy and hydrotherapy required in every athletic project?

No. They are examples of amenities described in the source, not universal requirements or proven drivers of outcomes. Their inclusion should follow sport-specific demand, clinical oversight, staffing, accessibility, maintenance and an evidence-based operating plan.

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How can athletes participate in planning a new facility?

Invite representatives from each sport and from rehabilitation, academic and support programs to map typical days, identify privacy concerns and review circulation options. Use facilitated sessions and anonymous feedback so the brief reflects ordinary users, not only senior staff or highly visible teams.

What evidence should be published after a facility opens?

Owners can report utilization, access, wait times, service participation, user feedback, operating performance and other measures established before opening. Results should identify methods, dates and limitations, and should not attribute a recruiting or health outcome to the building without controlling for other factors.

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