The Gophers’ locker room is shaped like a football. It measures 62 yards long and 32 yards wide. O’Brien said the lighting system has 1,600 possible combinations, indicating the Gophers’ post-game celebrations will be colorful and special.
“We have without a doubt the finest home team locker room in America today,” Brewster said. “Period. I really believe that.”
Among the features that he most appreciates is that there’s no physical separation in the vast room. No real corners, or partially obscured areas. “We are out in the open and that’s how I want it,” Brewster said. “Compartments within a locker room create cliques…We want no cliques. We want team.”
More than 10 years ago I visited an athletic department official who vaguely talked about building an outdoor football stadium across from Williams and Mariucci arenas. I dismissed the thought. Brewster is grateful others didn’t and built this stadium where once it was only a passing thought.
While Brewster’s goals are to win a Big Ten title and connect with Minnesota’s storied football past that includes five national championship teams, he’s not thinking about how TCF Bank Stadium impacts the dream of better days ahead. “It’s not what it does for the dream,” he said. “It is the dream, and now it’s reality. And that’s so exciting for the state of Minnesota. For all our fans, for our players that the dream of football being back on campus in a beautiful venue has been realized. … Very few times in life does a dream, a vision, a thought, exceed your expectations. This without question exceeds any and all expectations you could have had for it. It is amazing what they accomplished in building the stadium in taking every minute detail into consideration and making it happen.”
Brewster was asked what he can envision saying to his players about the stadium in the days ahead. The Gophers open practice on Monday. A public scrimmage on August 22 for season ticket holders only will provide a TCF Bank Stadium preview before the grand opening on September 12, the first game in the facility and an event that will draw national coverage.
Brewster said: “You know what? And it just jumps right out of my mouth. It’s such an honor and it’s such a privilege for us as coaches and for this football team to play in a stadium (like this), and understanding the magnitude of what it means. …Honor every minute that we’re in that stadium. And make certain that we do a great job of paying homage to those that were before us.”