Texas Southern Athletics makes strides with improvement of facilities

TSU Men's Basketball Players Lounge
(Courtesy TSU Athletics)

HOUSTON, Texas  --   The Texas Southern University Men's and Women's basketball teams locker rooms have received facelifts as both facilities underwent major renovations. After months of planning and hard work from all participants involved the locker rooms were completed and unveiled to the respective coaching staffs and student-athletes.

"Our renovated locker room looks absolutely amazing," said Tim Waller TSU Executive Director of Men's Basketball Operations. "The plans called for the renovations to be a six week project and it ended up taking exactly six weeks and one day to complete. When we started the process we met with Project Manager Joe Ellis roughly five or six times and we explained to him what we would like to see and his team did a tremendous job incorporating our ideas and completing the project from start to finish."

The Men's Basketball locker room features custom made wood locker stalls, three flat screen televisions, leather sofas, and custom embroidered TSU recliner chairs. The men's locker room also has space dedicated for team meetings and film study.

"It was a bit of a challenge to come up with the plans of how we wanted things due to the fact that we were basically looking at a big blank space," said Waller. "But I must say that what we initially visualized and what we ended up getting definitely went above and beyond meeting all of our needs."

The Women's Basketball locker room is equally impressive and also features state of the art design mixed with a unique blend of functionality that gives the space a look and feel like no other. The structure features brand new custom built wood locker stalls, two flat screen televisions, leathers sofas, and custom embroidered TSU recliner chairs.

"We're extremely happy with the renovations to our locker room," said TSU head women's basketball coach Johnetta Hayes-Perry. "Our Director of Athletics Dr. Charles McClelland wanted to provide us with a facility that would allow us to attract and recruit the best student-athletes in the country and now we definitely have that."

WBB Locker Room Photo Gallery

MBB Locker Room Photo Gallery 

 Upon assuming the position of Director of Athletics at Texas Southern University McClelland saw room for facility improvements that could give the athletics program at TSU the boost it needed to become a legitimate contender in all sports. Under McClelland's watch the athletics programs' facilities have steadily improved over recent years with the refurbishing of the departments' weight room, Health and Physical Education Arena, as well as Alexander Durley Field which serves as the home of Lady Tigers soccer and Texas Southern Track and Field.

One of the biggest facility achievements for the program was the construction of the 22,000 seat BBVA Compass Stadium which serves as the home of Tigers football. BBVA Compass stadium is a state of the art facility with all of the amenities and features of a premier sports venue.

When undergoing plans and procedures to improve the inside of H&PE Arena the department also refurbished the hardwood floor in the gym giving the facility a fresh new look. Completed renovations to the TSU Volleyball locker rooms located inside the arena were also completed within recent months.

"The renovations to our locker rooms puts us on par with some of the top Division I programs in the country," said McClelland. "This undoubtedly gives us the ability to recruit the best student-athletes in the nation and it has allowed to bring in some of the talented players that we have within our programs at this time. Hopefully all of this will allow us to continue to compete at a high level across the board."

TSU's athletic facility renovations plans won't stop with the completion of the locker rooms as discussion are underway for additional improvements to structures located on campus.

"As we transition to creating one of the best collegiate game day environments in the country we're looking to add digital electronic scorer tables to our arena," said McClelland. "In addition we also have plans to enhance Alexander Durley Field which serves as our primary track and field facility by increasing the seating capacity to 10,000 and adding restrooms and concession stands for our fans."

To view the completed renovations to the men's and women's basketball locker rooms please visit the links to the photo galleries listed above.

By Andrew Roberts Sports Information Director W Sports
COURTESY TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION