Anonymous Player Survey: Best and Worst Road Locker Rooms

There’s a lot to digest in this edition of Open For Business. We have executive orders from the President, major realignment news, and the ACC taking shots at the Big 12. 

But we start with the Big 12 anonymous player survey and the players’ picks for best and worst road locker rooms.

I talked with nearly 30 players in Frisco to get candid responses on everything from who they think will win the league to the toughest place to play, the best quarterback, wild portal offers, and more.

The facilities arms race isn’t quite what it used to be, but I was still fascinated to hear what the players had to say about their favorite facilities to use on the road. 

We had a pretty clear answer on what the best road locker room in the league is. And the winner is…Baylor’s McLane Stadium.

Baylor – 8
Utah – 4
BYU – 1
Oklahoma State – 1
Houston – 1

“The best is Baylor because it’s huge.”

“(Baylor’s) is really nice and really big. I don't even need it to be updated, but make sure it’s spacious so people can fit in there.”

“Houston’s is really spacious. It’s big as hell, actually.”

“Does (AT&T Stadium) Dallas count?”

The players were much more split on which Big 12 stadium has the worst road locker room. Eight different schools received at least one vote. 

And the players’ least favorite road locker room is…West Virginia’s Milan Puskar Stadium. 

West Virginia – 3
UCF – 2
Texas Tech – 2
Colorado – 2
Oklahoma State – 1
Arizona State – 1
Houston – 1
Kansas – 1

“West Virginia is the worst. That locker room is tiny. That locker room was probably made in the nineties.”

“At West Virginia, to get taped and all that stuff, you have to go outside.”

“West Virginia has big lockers, but it's just weird. They have big lockers, but it's just not roomy in there.” 

“Colorado's is just kind of small, so trying to maneuver in there was bad. We're all packed in really tight.”

“Arizona State's locker room is terrible.”

“We were so scrunched in at UCF.”

“I remember OU’s sucked, but they’re gone.”

“Most colleges, they try to get in your head, try to make it small and all that. I'm just like, they ain't really doing anything.”

What You Need to Know

• President Trump signed an executive order called Saving College Sports that outlaws third-party pay-for-play payments to college athletes, unless they have a legitimate business purpose and are deemed to be at fair market value. It also directs the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to deem college athletes amateurs and not employees. 

• This is basically just reinforcing the outcome of the House settlement, though Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger says this won’t be nearly as impactful as potential congressional legislation would be. 

• If this does go on to truly limit pay-for-play payments from boosters, it would affect Texas Tech more than any other school in the league, but we have a long way to go before determining the actual outcome. 

• North Carolina is considered “at the front of the pack” of a group of ACC schools looking to leave the ACC for the SEC, according to Inside Carolina. If/when that happens, second-tier ACC brands may be in play for the Big 12.

• Fox’s Joel Klatt says you should sell stock in one Big 12 team that won double-digit games last year. 

• SMU Head Coach Rhett Lashlee took a major shot at the Big 12 from the podium at ACC media days this week.

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