DiNardo said Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State and Michigan have the best overall setups in the league because all have stand-alone football complexes that function as a one-stop spot for players to practice, get dressed and meet. Michigan’s Schembechler Hall, DiNardo said, “needs to be freshened up.” UM regents in May approved a $14.8 million sports performance center project to update the facility that will be finished in winter 2018.
DiNardo said Nebraska’s facilities are “great” and similar to Wisconsin’s. NU’s only problem, DiNardo said, is that much of the football-centric stuff is housed inside the “pre-existing building” of Memorial Stadium. Wisconsin has the same setup.
“It doesn’t hurt them in recruiting,” DiNardo said. “If I’m a recruit and I walk into this beautiful weight room and I walk into this beautiful indoor facility, I don’t really understand that, when I come to school, I’ve got to go here, here and here. So it doesn’t hurt them getting 25. It hurts them with the 85. That’s the difference.”