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Mens basketball locker rooms cost approximately $5 million

The renovation added a full movie theater, new HD TVs and wall graphics, game tables, a new dining area for the athletes and staff and a wall of every Nike Air Jordan shoe ever made in Carolina Blue.

Clint Gwaltney, senior associate athletic director for Smith Center operations, said he worked to oversee the locker room project, which took about six months to complete and cost approximately $5 million.

“The locker room hadn’t been touched in about 15 years; it was time to make the space more functioning and more up to date with modern technology,” he said.

The project was budgeted for an estimated $4.2 million, according to the UNC Facilities Services website.

Gwaltney said the renovation team worked to add space to the new locker room and change the flow to ensure it would serve the student-athletes’ needs as best as possible.

“I think everyone was really excited about what the end result was going to be,” Gwaltney said.

Maria Vanderford, senior student manager for the basketball team, said with the new locker room, there is much more individual space, as well as space for them to hang out, do homework and eat.

Sophomore forward Luke Maye said he is looking forward to starting off the season in the new locker room — his favorite part being the addition of the lounge areas.

“It is a lot nicer and bigger,” he said. “We are all excited to have a new locker room.”

The players’ new lockers also have their own outlets and safes as well as special fans and filters to get rid of the smell of sweat.

Emily Brickner, junior student manager for the basketball team, said the bigger lockers and addition of space is helpful for her job as a manager.

“It makes cleaning the locker room a lot easier, and the guys are less likely to leave things on the ground,” she said.

Brickner said Coach Roy Williams stressed the point that the players must be respectful of the new space because of how much money went into the renovations.

The coaches’ locker room and managers’ locker room were also renovated, giving them each more space and storage. Marble countertops and new showers were installed in the restrooms.

Vanderford said while the renovation process was hard on the athletes and staff, forcing them to use the smaller visiting team locker rooms, it was worth it.

“In this day and age where UNC is competing with other basketball powerhouses such as Kentucky and Kansas, a locker room renovation was greatly needed,” she said. “Now UNC’s locker rooms and facilities equally compare, if not surpass, those of other schools.”

university@dailytarheel.com

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