Sunday’s Takeaway: USC’s House Of Dreams
“If you build it, he will come.”
Anyone that has seen or heard of the movie, Field of Dreams understands the whispers.
Those whispers go back a little bit further than a movie about building a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield—something about an ark for gathering.
USC has been talking about building its own football-only Ark in hushed tones for nearly as long,
Lincoln Riley isn’t Noah, but he will have a monument that will attract recruits who in the past chose places with better facilities.–Places like Alabama, LSU, Georgia, and yes, wait for it, Oregon.
It isn’t so much that Trojan Football struggled to survive while the college football world grew, but they weren’t making things easy on themselves. Sure, a benchpress rack of 225lbs weighs the same everywhere, however, some racks look better than others, and that’s what young eyeballs see first.
Despite USC’s house having all of the necessary tools to compete and develop future Trojans athletes, it still wasn’t enough because it wasn’t new. There wasn’t enough ambient mood lighting or individual locker pods that looked like they were stolen from the Jetsons set design when it was built 12 years ago.
Today’s football recruits need more than one place to hang out and feel comfortable. Apparently, today’s recruits require a higher standard of living than just a roof over their heads, food, and clothing.
And this is why USC’s new Ark will have multiple player lounges, a recovery hub, nutritional support, sports science services, a weight room, a training room, and an equipment room. The three-story structure will also have a rooftop hospitality deck, a player lounge, as well as a second full-length practice field, and they’re leaving room for any additional future add-ons.
Plus I imagine anything else that can make an impression with teenagers that need convincing.
USC opened the John McKay Center in 2012, and it’s still pretty cool.
But the Trojans football team has to share it with the rest of the student-athletes like they were sharing a hostel’s bathroom. Do you think the Crimson Tide’s linebackers and offensive linemen are waiting in line behind their men’s rowing team so they can train? Do you think the LSU football players are waiting in the same food line for a bowl of Etoufe as its gymnastics team?
Of course not!
When Lincoln Riley heard a voice guiding him to USC, he heard the same voice tell him USC was serious about creating the necessary space for a football-only training facility. And that was significant because Riley said in the press release, “it is an absolute game-changer for our program.–It will be the perfect home for our team and give our players every opportunity to be successful.”
USC’s past football successes were built using hard work, being dedicated, and having great coaches offering the support needed. And while those values are still the foundation, the world has changed. Mood lighting, artificial intelligence, plus the ability to maintain pace with new technology illustrates the seriousness in the eyes of today’s football recruits.
And the timing of USC’s announcement was perfect.
Just a day ahead of USC’s big June Recruiting Bask Weekend with recruits attending a luau and taking a yacht cruise, they also saw their future football-only house of dreams.
So if you build it, “they” may come.
However, if you want “they” to come, and more importantly, to stay, the real work happens after the Ark is built.
The post Sunday’s Takeaway: USC’s House Of Dreams appeared first on On3.
