The Reveal: Texas A&M's state-of-the-art football facilities

Talk is supposed to be cheap.

It isn’t.

That became crystal clear on a Wednesday tour of the renovated Bright Complex to view Texas A&M’s new football facilities.

They’re plush. They’re state of the art. They provide the “wow factor” that is so vital nowadays to attract 18-year-olds with elite athletic ability.

There are about 100 HD TVs in the building. That does not include the micro-tile images of each player above their lockers. And those lockers … they’re what your wife dreams her closet could be like.

There’s the hot and cold tubs that are so swanky you’d expect a bikini-clad server (with a sarong, of course) to be delivering daiquiris with tiny umbrellas in them. Maybe that’s next.

There are meeting rooms with chairs more comfortable than your Lay Z boy. There’s the underwater treadmill, the barber chair, the spacious training room. The player’s lounge isn’t yet completed, but rest assured it will make quite an impression on A&M players and recruits.

“We wanted the ‘wow factor’ and I think we achieved that,” Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin said on Wednesday. “It’s also functional. It also speaks to the commitment from the University, but also to the player development — the Davis Center, the R.C. Slocum Nutrition Center, the locker room and now the training room area.

“It’s all about player development, player wellness, and I think you can see that. There’s a lot of bells and whistles in there, but there’s also a lot of things that are there to help maximize performance, whether it’s the meeting rooms or the training rooms and the locker room.”

The project cost $16.8 million. No tax money or SEC money was spent. The tab was picked up by generous donors.

So, what do they get out of the deal?

Well, the most generous might get their name on something. And there is a tax write-off. There is membership in the 12th Man Foundation. There is the satisfaction that comes from helping the alma mater.

Mostly, there is the feeling of being part of the process of building a dominant football team. That leads to triumph on Saturday.

And trash talking around the water cooler on Monday.

Well, look for Aggies to be talking tons of trash in the future. 

After all, what is needed to win a football national championship that Texas A&M doesn’t now have?

A&M has the facilities, the commitment, the fans, the recruiting base and the coaches to become a national power in the very near future.

When completed, the renovated Kyle Field will be as good as any college football venue in our great nation and better than most. It’s been called A&M’s megaphone to the world. That’s underselling it. It will be a good bullhorn to the world.

There is the indoor practice field. There is great fan support. A&M offers close-to-home proximity for the hundreds of talented high school football prospects our state annually produces.

Those prospects will come to A&M and see that stadium, that indoor facility, that locker room, that training room, those meeting rooms and that player’s lounge and will be extremely impressed.

They will likely get a tour of it all from Sumlin, who is such a smooth operator that every time he speaks Sade should be singing in the background.

“(The renovated Bright Complex) shows them that we care as coaches, our administration cares, the University cares,” Sumlin said. "And when you have something like this it also gives you an expectation. You treat someone first-class and you want first-class performance and first-class actions. To me, those go hand-in-hand.”

First-class facilities attract first-rate players.

First-rate performances lead to first-place finishes.

It might not be too long until A&M finishes first.

That will be something to talk about.