Well, UF's locker room isn't done yet, and, even when it is, it's just a temporary fix until the standalone facility opens. A more fair comparison can't be made for a few years.

Which coach would he like more?

Why isn't it fair? We're behind and a 2020 recruit probably won't care about future buildings.

Ethan Hughes said:

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Well, UF's locker room isn't done yet, and, even when it is, it's just a temporary fix until the standalone facility opens. A more fair comparison can't be made for a few years.

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Everyone keeps throwing this excuse out there. So if you have D1 locker rooms in your stand alone facility it's ok to have a JR High locker room in the stadium? I could understand if that was the visitors locker room.

Bd489 said:

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Why isn't it fair? We're behind and a 2020 recruit probably won't care about future buildings.

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Because UF's doing all they can. They're not going to invest a ton of money into a locker room that's only going to be used on gamedays in a couple of years. If it costs them a recruit or two in the meantime, then that's just part of the process. While facilities are a factor in recruiting, I don't view facilities as being this overwhelming, dominating factor like a lot of people seem to think they are. It's not as simple as just building new stuff, and every five-star recruit's just magically going to want to play at Florida. Relationships and playing time are still the top-two factors, in my opinion.

Swamp_Thing said:

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Ethan Hughes said:

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Well, UF's locker room isn't done yet, and, even when it is, it's just a temporary fix until the standalone facility opens. A more fair comparison can't be made for a few years.

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Everyone keeps throwing this excuse out there. So if you have D1 locker rooms in your stand alone facility it's ok to have a JR High locker room in the stadium? I could understand if that was the visitors locker room.

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First, UF's locker rooms aren't done yet, so let's hold off on the "Jr. High locker room" talk. Second, a lot of the photos you see of fancy locker rooms at Alabama, Clemson, etc. are from their standalone facilities. Show me what their gameday locker rooms look like. I bet they're nowhere near as cool-looking. Third, there's only so much room down there in the south end zone. They don't have the room to put in a waterfall, a bowling alley or a recording studio.

Ethan Hughes said:

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Swamp_Thing said:

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Ethan Hughes said:

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Well, UF's locker room isn't done yet, and, even when it is, it's just a temporary fix until the standalone facility opens. A more fair comparison can't be made for a few years.

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Everyone keeps throwing this excuse out there. So if you have D1 locker rooms in your stand alone facility it's ok to have a JR High locker room in the stadium? I could understand if that was the visitors locker room.

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First, UF's locker rooms aren't done yet, so let's hold off on the "Jr. High locker room" talk. Second, a lot of the photos you see of fancy locker rooms at Alabama, Clemson, etc. are from their standalone facilities. Show me what their gameday locker rooms look like. I bet they're nowhere near as cool-looking. Third, there's only so much room down there in the south end zone. They don't have the room to put in a waterfall, a bowling alley or a recording studio.

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You can Google and find pictures. Look at Clemson's game day locker room before they even finished their practice facility. Just because there is less room is no excuse for it not looking nice. Look at that carpet. I live in San Diego and I've seen nicer 500 sq ft flats. Their are high schools that have nicer game day locker rooms. Let's hope they're not finished.

This is a high school that only spent 700K...

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/02/27/wisconsin-high-school-locker-rooms-662000-renovations

SFFLORIDAFAN said:

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Couldn't resist pointing out that the picture on the right's program is in dire financial straits. Can you spell bankrupt?

Ethan Hughes said:

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Bd489 said:

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Why isn't it fair? We're behind and a 2020 recruit probably won't care about future buildings.

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Because UF's doing all they can. They're not going to invest a ton of money into a locker room that's only going to be used on gamedays in a couple of years. If it costs them a recruit or two in the meantime, then that's just part of the process. While facilities are a factor in recruiting, I don't view facilities as being this overwhelming, dominating factor like a lot of people seem to think they are. It's not as simple as just building new stuff, and every five-star recruit's just magically going to want to play at Florida. Relationships and playing time are still the top-two factors, in my opinion.

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I'm all for being optimistic and defending the staff, but that is pretty weak...."doing all they can"..you really believe that?

If they were truly doing all they could the renovations would have been done by now or at least done by the end of this season. Florida Football is not the #1 priority....I'm not saying that is right or wrong, but it just isn't and hasn't been.

Yes, they will eventually get a new facility, in like 2-3 years assuming it is not delayed again....but they really are not doing all that can or at least not all they could if Football was their #1 priority.

Swamp is right on this one!

This isn't a coaching staff issue; facility upgrades are on the administration. I'm sure the entire campus would be one giant football facility if the coaches had their way. Here's the thing: once the standalone complex is open, they'll be able to create a lot more space in the Swamp by demolishing the offices and possibly the weight room. So, does it really make much sense to go all-out on the stadium locker rooms now, only to redo it and expand it all again in a few years? It might be frustrating having to wait a while, but if you want it done right you're going to have to wait. That standalone facility is going to open up a lot of space that just doesn't exist right now.

If we've been told this staff isn't great at recruiting, having these recruits also see a sub par collegiate experience in facilities as well versus the great recruiters facilities...At that point, everything matters.

Bd489 said:

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If we've been told this staff isn't great at recruiting, having these recruits also see a sub par collegiate experience in facilities as well versus the great recruiters facilities...At that point, everything matters.

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I understand all this. I just want to know what you want them to do at this point. To get these things done well takes several years. The fact that they've fallen behind a bit is on previous administrators. They're playing catch up, and Stricklin's trying to get this done as soon as possible.

Ethan Hughes said:

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This isn't a coaching staff issue; facility upgrades are on the administration. I'm sure the entire campus would be one giant football facility if the coaches had their way. Here's the thing: once the standalone complex is open, they'll be able to create a lot more space in the Swamp by demolishing the offices and possibly the weight room. So, does it really make much sense to go all-out on the stadium locker rooms now, only to redo it and expand it all again in a few years? It might be frustrating having to wait a while, but if you want it done right you're going to have to wait. That standalone facility is going to open up a lot of space that just doesn't exist right now.

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I'm not expecting, and I don't think anyone else on here is either, a multi-million dollar renovation of the locker room in the stadium. I think what we are expecting is if they're going to renovate it to at least make it look nice. I can take a long weekend and a couple trips to home Depot and make my garage look like that locker room. What I don't understand is the incessant need to set here and defend a subpar product.

Mark Wheeler said:

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To be clear, since our tweet from the Anonymous Player is what got the video and then the pictures circulating, that player told us he is impressed by the new locker-room.

I'll wait to see it finished before I pass judgement. I also will keep in mind that Florida is dealing with much less overall space to upgrade than what you see in some of these photos from new, from the ground up, facilities.

There is only so much you can do when low hanging ceilings and load bearing walls are concerned.

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Thank you. This is literally the point I was trying to make. It makes no sense to complain about an incomplete product. Besides, it's guaranteed to be better than what they had previously, so, at the very least, it's a step in the right direction.

Mark Wheeler said:

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To be clear, since our tweet from the Anonymous Player is what got the video and then the pictures circulating, that player told us he is impressed by the new locker-room.

I'll wait to see it finished before I pass judgement. I also will keep in mind that Florida is dealing with much less overall space to upgrade than what you see in some of these photos from new, from the ground up, facilities.

There is only so much you can do when low hanging ceilings and load bearing walls are concerned.

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Come on Mark...you dont need space to renovate a locker room. You need space for new facilities.

Hell, for $2m they could hire the Property Brothers to gut the place and renovate the hell out of it...it just takes a commitment.

I agree to wait to see what it looks like, but enough with the excuses....if it were important it would be done by now and would be done with excellence.

Mark Wheeler said:

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To be clear, since our tweet from the Anonymous Player is what got the video and then the pictures circulating, that player told us he is impressed by the new locker-room.

I'll wait to see it finished before I pass judgement. I also will keep in mind that Florida is dealing with much less overall space to upgrade than what you see in some of these photos from new, from the ground up, facilities.

There is only so much you can do when low hanging ceilings and load bearing walls are concerned.

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Well if that's what the new locker room looks like it doesn't seem like it would take much to impress. There is a lot you can do with minimal space. The materials you use, the lighting, etc. I'm pretty sure I had that carpet in some of my classrooms in Jr high in the 90s. Look at some of the ones I posted and tell me it would be impossible for Florida to do something similar without breaking the bank or The Swamp for that matter.

Eric-UF said:

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Ethan Hughes said:

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Bd489 said:

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Why isn't it fair? We're behind and a 2020 recruit probably won't care about future buildings.

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Because UF's doing all they can. They're not going to invest a ton of money into a locker room that's only going to be used on gamedays in a couple of years. If it costs them a recruit or two in the meantime, then that's just part of the process. While facilities are a factor in recruiting, I don't view facilities as being this overwhelming, dominating factor like a lot of people seem to think they are. It's not as simple as just building new stuff, and every five-star recruit's just magically going to want to play at Florida. Relationships and playing time are still the top-two factors, in my opinion.

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I'm all for being optimistic and defending the staff, but that is pretty weak...."doing all they can"..you really believe that?

If they were truly doing all they could the renovations would have been done by now or at least done by the end of this season. Florida Football is not the #1 priority....I'm not saying that is right or wrong, but it just isn't and hasn't been.

Yes, they will eventually get a new facility, in like 2-3 years assuming it is not delayed again....but they really are not doing all that can or at least not all they could if Football was their #1 priority.

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How much did you contribute toward the lockeroom?

Keep in mind the lenses they use for these pics give a false sense of space. Ever gone to buy a house and it looks half the size than it did in the website? As a Realtor I can tell you a good photographer can do wonders.

MarriedTheEnemy said:

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Eric-UF said:

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Ethan Hughes said:

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Bd489 said:

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Why isn't it fair? We're behind and a 2020 recruit probably won't care about future buildings.

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Because UF's doing all they can. They're not going to invest a ton of money into a locker room that's only going to be used on gamedays in a couple of years. If it costs them a recruit or two in the meantime, then that's just part of the process. While facilities are a factor in recruiting, I don't view facilities as being this overwhelming, dominating factor like a lot of people seem to think they are. It's not as simple as just building new stuff, and every five-star recruit's just magically going to want to play at Florida. Relationships and playing time are still the top-two factors, in my opinion.

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I'm all for being optimistic and defending the staff, but that is pretty weak...."doing all they can"..you really believe that?

If they were truly doing all they could the renovations would have been done by now or at least done by the end of this season. Florida Football is not the #1 priority....I'm not saying that is right or wrong, but it just isn't and hasn't been.

Yes, they will eventually get a new facility, in like 2-3 years assuming it is not delayed again....but they really are not doing all that can or at least not all they could if Football was their #1 priority.

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How much did you contribute toward the lockeroom?

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Enough, but not sure how that is relevant or changes the validity of the point.

We're all so focused on the locker rooms, why did they have to say 3 star prospect? We're not getting any 5 stars, but they could have said 4 star dammit!

Bd489 said:

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We're all so focused on the locker rooms, why did they have to say 3 star prospect? We're not getting any 5 stars, but they could have said 4 star dammit!

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Because it's a troll?

Based on the last few years it might be more true than a troll. But it seems like things are going in a bit of a better direction of late.

To me it seems like the "lack of space" is a bit overblown...

Mark Wheeler said:

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I stand by the space issue, not only is there limited SQFT, but it isn't wide open. You can see the columns in those photos. I would bet anything they are load bearing and can't be removed to open it up more. And the low hanging ceilings are on display in the second photo.

Look at some of the photos posted above, UF doesn't have the option for a locker room that is so wide open and spacious looking.

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Look at the Clemson photo. The ceilings are just as low, but one has office tile and the other is a solid ceiling with recessed lighting, huge difference. The wood paneling look is dated as hell.
All I'm saying is replace the office tile ceiling, new carpet, new and better looking lockers, new lighting, and new paint. That place could look 100x better.

It is the same issues with the dorms. It is not a size issues, it is a commitment to quality issue verse trying to save money...which is how you end up with painted cinder blocks verse decent walls and how you end up with IKEA looking closets verse something custom.

It is easy to remodel and upgrade and make a place look awesome, it just takes money (something Florida had a lot of). I agree that it is harder (if not impossible) to create space when land locked...

But from the article you did a while back with White enrolling. Those dorms didnt look small, they looked cheap.

Eric-UF said:

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It is the same issues with the dorms. It is not a size issues, it is a commitment to quality issue verse trying to save money...which is how you end up with painted cinder blocks verse decent walls and how you end up with IKEA looking closets verse something custom.

It is easy to remodel and upgrade and make a place look awesome, it just takes money (something Florida had a lot of). I agree that it is harder (if not impossible) to create space when land locked...

But from the article you did a while back with White enrolling. Those dorms didnt look small, they looked cheap.

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Agreed, if I remember they're were not even doors on the closets.