Football only weight room
- Thread starter Bucket Getter
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It is a big deal for those that care about football and its players. Scheduling workouts is much easier without conflicts with other sports.
They need a new indoor practice facility more than anything. Mellencamp is way out of date.
Not a big deal. I bet football players already get priority
From a recruiting standpoint, it’s huge. Exclusivity of certain facilities for use by football only is a big deal.
So are there now 2 weight rooms in memorial stadium? One to share and one to not share?
Big deal in the image it projects for recruiting. It projects priority and commitment. It’s about the image.
At one time we had one of the biggest weight rooms in the country and the knock on it was “yeah, but this a shared weight room. IU won’t provide a dedicated weight facility because they don’t prioritize it for their players.”.
It is entirely about optics but optics count.
At one time we had one of the biggest weight rooms in the country and the knock on it was “yeah, but this a shared weight room. IU won’t provide a dedicated weight facility because they don’t prioritize it for their players.”.
It is entirely about optics but optics count.
I agree with BRCB that Idk if it's ever made a tangible difference in landing or not landing a recruit, but it sends the wrong message when you are (according to former IUFB player Dylan Powell) the only FB program in the B1G without it's own personalized weight room. It just makes it that much harder for our coaches to sell IU as a serious program, that's actually committed to competing for B1G titles.
Things like this are IMO why IU has never been able to challenge for top tier in state recruits. Obviously we're never going to beat OSU/UM for recruits solely on the merit of our program, but I think the the reason elite kids in our state don't even consider IU is because they know IU is not committed to FB like the big boys around them. There's a multitude of reasons kids would have this impression outside of simply not having a FB only weight room, but it's another clear cut example of IU being a school that doesn't take FB seriously. If you think I'm crazy for suggesting we should be able to compete for top talent in our state, just look at how competitive Wisco and Iowa are for kids in their own state. In 2022, Iowa beat out OSU, ND, Bama, and A&M for 5 star safety Xavier Nwakpa, and Wisco beat out ND+OSU for top 150 OT Joe Brunner. Now these schools have also been considerably stronger than IU on the field, but Wisco+Iowa certainly weren't stronger than the teams they beat out for these elite in state talents.
If we seriously committed to improving our facilities and had a few 8-4/7-5 seasons with a bowl win, I genuinely think we could compete for top talent in state. But the commitment will not come from the IU athletic department without more sustained success + fan interest, and sustained success is nearly impossible when you are at the resources disadvantage IU is at compared to their conference opponents. For as much as I give CTA crap for going 0-4 against RU and Maryland the last two years, it's inarguable that he's at a significant resources disadvantage compared to the majority of his conference opponents.
Things like this are IMO why IU has never been able to challenge for top tier in state recruits. Obviously we're never going to beat OSU/UM for recruits solely on the merit of our program, but I think the the reason elite kids in our state don't even consider IU is because they know IU is not committed to FB like the big boys around them. There's a multitude of reasons kids would have this impression outside of simply not having a FB only weight room, but it's another clear cut example of IU being a school that doesn't take FB seriously. If you think I'm crazy for suggesting we should be able to compete for top talent in our state, just look at how competitive Wisco and Iowa are for kids in their own state. In 2022, Iowa beat out OSU, ND, Bama, and A&M for 5 star safety Xavier Nwakpa, and Wisco beat out ND+OSU for top 150 OT Joe Brunner. Now these schools have also been considerably stronger than IU on the field, but Wisco+Iowa certainly weren't stronger than the teams they beat out for these elite in state talents.
If we seriously committed to improving our facilities and had a few 8-4/7-5 seasons with a bowl win, I genuinely think we could compete for top talent in state. But the commitment will not come from the IU athletic department without more sustained success + fan interest, and sustained success is nearly impossible when you are at the resources disadvantage IU is at compared to their conference opponents. For as much as I give CTA crap for going 0-4 against RU and Maryland the last two years, it's inarguable that he's at a significant resources disadvantage compared to the majority of his conference opponents.
According to the article on the homepage, it’s underway. Hence the post.
We've always had the money. The question has always been, do we have the desire and the vision. Or are we satisfied with a being a bb school.
Don't you think football has top priority for scheduling the weight room?
I mean, it's in the stadium......
Why wouldn't they just build a separate facility for everyone else? Like around the new volleyball/wrestling building. Seems like it would be a pain for other sports to always have to go to Memorial Stadium to work out.
Because you know if you don't have a football only weight room then you are a bb school lol
I got that. Didn't know if they planned on moving that wimpy current weight room somewhere else for the lesser sports to use
Whether it's shared or not, it looks pretty good, plenty equipped to get in a good workout. As far as recruiting, it wouldn't hurt to have a dedicated football weight room, but I think going 12-0 is a better recruiting pitch.
Does anything matter to recruits more than money? Rather than having wood grained lockers, pool tables, weight rooms, and PlayStations, the kids are like, "I'll take the money instead."
My understanding is the new facility will be a combination of new and existing equipment, and that the current facility will be ”adjusted” to better address the needs non-football student-athletes.
Most kids at IU will see relatively modest benefits from NIL. Modern facilities still give us an opportunity to compete for many recruits.
IU should actually prioritize the women’s bball team over the men now as far as access. They are more exciting, better coaches, play hard every game. Actually won the Big Ten regular season last year.
The guys? Hoping for anything above a round of 32 shellacking.
Might be a better investment to put that money towards a coaches buyout fund.
Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and start such a fund.
“Wimpy”? You obviously have not been through it
It’s both.
Yes it checks a box, but it is a damned important box in the recruiting wars.
The move also allows l for some space and equipment-based specialization for FB and non-FB SAs.
Someone else mentioned moving the non-FB space out to a more convenient location. No matter where it is it will be inconvenient for some plus many other SA related services are located on MS grounds.
IU put all the athletic performance stuff in the end zone for all sports. The learning center, rehabilitation stuff for everyone. This is a big problem for the football program. They need to build a new practice field, weight room, rec area, rehab area etc for just football. This is just a bandaid.
God forbid anyone share. Wouldn't want to rehab with hot female volleyball players. Might spike their blood pressure.
Major issues indeed. Sounds like some first world problems.
Well if you want to keep up(you clearly don’t) then it is a problem. Choose wisely.
Not if you want to recruit better players. I assume you objected just as strongly when we built Cook Hall?
Nope. Practice courts are a little more useful than building duplicates just to not share
We won three national championships practicing on the same floor where we played games, and we shared that floor with the women’s team. There was no separate practice facility.
What worked 40-50 years ago does not work now. This mindset of refusing to modernize is why IU basketball is at best mediocre.
Almost every program has a football only weight room. The fact that IU does not is used against them in recruiting.
He’s not arguing that. He’s trying to make a point to hickory how things have changed. Football is an arms race as is most other revenue sports. Hickory is being obtuse. Football involves double almost triple the personnel that other sports do. It’s beyond ridiculous not to have them separate. IU should be spending on that program regardless if you like the coach. IU is way behind.
You think outside the box. Got it.
Agree completely. We had to adjust upward and we were a top program when we did. In football, we’re historically bad and some still believe we can do less than winning programs yet somehow build a winner ourselves. There’s zero logic or reason to those kinds of arguments.
