Birmingham, Alabama
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Operations Center is the new home for the Blazers’ Football program. The state-of-the-art facility is specifically designed to maximize coaching time, physical performance, and recruitment.
Second floor spaces include a team auditorium, offensive and defensive meeting rooms, coaches offices, and multi-purpose room all designed to maximize team performance and coaching time. Team meeting rooms are equipped with full audio/visual to review game and practice footage quickly. Coaches offices feature writable surface walls throughout and have direct access to an expansive, covered outdoor viewing deck where coaches and recruiters can discuss and evaluate players during practices. The multi-purpose room can be set up for press conferences, banquets, and other football booster events.
Team spaces on the first floor are designed to maximize efficiency, with lockers, strength and conditioning and treatment areas, all with direct access to and from the covered outdoor field. Adjacent to the locker room are showers, barber shop, equipment rooms, a lounge with TVs and video gaming systems, and outdoor basketball court, provide players a place to call home. Physical performance is maximized with advanced strength and conditioning areas, treatment and tape room, a hydrotherapy room with two deep pools and a “fuel zone” to provide proper nutrition for athletes before, during and after training.
The most unique feature of this facility is the adjacent 80,000-square-foot Legacy Pavilion, which features a covered, open-air 100-yard turf field, allowing athletes to practice on a full-sized field during most weather conditions. The open pavilion creates a considerable temperature drop by blocking out radiant heat from the sun and allowing a breeze to circulate through the open sides, in addition to providing views of Red Mountain from the practice field. The facility also has an additional outdoor field with a film/observation tower behind the covered pavilion for more practice room.
