Purdue Responds to Locker Room Criticisms
Purdue released an official statement on the recent criticisms of its locker room by Harbaugh:
Purdue regards the welfare of all student-athletes as its No. 1 priority. We would fully support a conversation regarding a conference-wide set of guidelines for visiting football team accommodations because we have experienced less-than-ideal conditions on the road. There IS no place for gamesmanship when it comes to player care and safety.
The after-the-fact concerns expressed by Michigan are somewhat surprising because a member of its football staff conducted a walk-thru of our facilities with our athletics department staff at Ross-Ade Stadium on July 18.
Furthermore, to help teams prepare in advance, our visiting team manual highlights in bold type "there is no air conditioning in the (visiting) locker room," with accompanying Purdue Athletics staff contact information about how to request preferred temporary accommodations. We did not receive any such request.
Basic x-ray is available within our athletic footprint and more-sophisticated capabilities are located two blocks away, similar to the arrangements at many other schools. Our sports medicine staff members, in fact, have received numerous compliments from their Michigan counterparts regarding the care they received at Purdue.
From the sounds of other Purdue blogs, and writers. There are several older athletic and non-athletic facilities on Purdue's campus that do not have permanent A/C installed. Purdue instead opts the use temporary units/chillers during the warmer months the facilities are being used, and removes them during the fall. It seems strange/idiotic that a school with resources like Purdue does not just do a campus-wide upgrade of all their facilities.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:34 AM ^
There was probably a perfectly good x-ray machine in the stadium, and then one of the Purdue coaches angrily smashed it as part of some pre-game motivational exercise.
September 26th, 2017 at 9:10 AM ^
mid rant so it could be easily grabbed 15 seconds later as he wrapped up his manufactured pep talk.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:00 AM ^
Well played. You hammered down.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:34 AM ^
Purdue has basic X-ray facilities across the street from the stadium at Mackey Arena, but they opted to bring Speight the Student Health Center (?) because there is more equipment and medical staff there.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:41 AM ^
I'm okay with that, especially if the basic X-ray machine at the stadium couldn't take the picture that doctors wanted. But why didn't they move him in an ambulance, with a back/neck brace? From all accounts, he was transported in a passenger van without neck support. Seems fairly callous for a guy that needs a fancy X-ray of his head/neck area...
September 26th, 2017 at 7:50 AM ^
That is a good question
September 26th, 2017 at 8:25 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^
Head/neck injury, could they not get an ambulence there? It would have all the necessary equipment.
September 26th, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^
Yeah, they hauled a kid off the field in a stretcher and brace in the Houston/Tx Tech game.
The EMT's not securing him properly (he kept on lifting his head and turning it side to side) is another story.
September 26th, 2017 at 11:00 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 7:33 AM ^
Air conditioning was invented about 100 years ago. Why in the hell does their visiting locker room not have it? Especially when their home locker room, which I'm assuming is located in the same stadium, does.
I don't know what the current state of the visiting locker room is at Michigan Stadium, but we should spend some money and turn it into a damn palace. Make it as great as our home locker room. Just to remind the visiting players how shitty their own school is.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:36 AM ^
Well, it is northeast Indiana, after all.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:52 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 8:05 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 9:06 AM ^
Yeah, my bad. Oops.
September 26th, 2017 at 9:49 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 8:16 AM ^
A-a-ron!!!!
September 26th, 2017 at 7:38 AM ^
That response is dripping with 100% Pure Colombian PR Spin.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:41 AM ^
And a hell of a lot more defensiveness than Nick Holt's group showed on Saturday.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:51 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 7:46 AM ^
Harbaugh did say that this isn't all on Purdue, making it clear it was a league wide issue. And Urbane Meyer jumped on board without thinking too hard (for him). So there is clearly a problem with visiting facilities. Harbaugh even said that he would start with Michigan's own amenities for the visiting teams.
Yet, even the Detroit News leads Angelique's story with the headline: 'Harbaugh complains about locker room heat'. (Although, I see this morning that they've already changed that!)
September 26th, 2017 at 8:55 AM ^
Herbstreit also tweeted that visitor locker rooms overall in the B1G were horrible.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:52 AM ^
I honestly assumed it was deliberate. Purdue intentionally made sure the visitor's locker room had no AC as a way to give themselves any kind of an edge in the game.
If that wasn't true, it now looks like Purdue's athletic department is straight up incompetent.
Your facilities are shit.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:54 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 7:56 AM ^
If you need it in the home locker room, it's probably appropriate to have it in the visitor locker room. Maybe they'd be willing to switch locker rooms on a hot day for us if it doesn't matter.
September 26th, 2017 at 7:56 AM ^
next.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:02 AM ^
Did anyone else notice what a psycho act their DC Nick Holt had going on the sideline? Everytime the camera showed him he was losing his shit, swearing and seemed about ready for a brain aneurysm. Hope the B1G takes a close look at the footage of this game because the goonery by their Defense was definitely by design
September 26th, 2017 at 8:14 AM ^
I saw what would happen if Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence from Full Metal Jacket and Karl Childers from Slingblade (played by Billy Bob Thornton) were able to conceive and raise a baby.
That's what I saw.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:43 AM ^
I asked some friends via text "who's the 80s movie villain on the Purdue sideline?" I figured he must be the DC because of the timing of when he was shown, but still.
September 26th, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^
all you have to do now days is shave your head,open your eyes real big and scream alot and you are a bonafide tough guy. i got so tired of seeing him i started to wonder if michigan even had a def. coordinator.
September 26th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ^
Our DC is an defensive evil genius loved by his troops
Stark contrast to Purdue's Dr Rage and hence easy to miss
September 26th, 2017 at 8:04 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 8:14 AM ^
is adequate and rather roomy. I was working the youth camps this summer and was in there a few times. The showers and toilet areas are smaller than the home lockers but seem modern and clean(remember travel team =85, home team =115). The weather was just perfect for those two weekends so temps were just fine in both lockers. In general all rooms inthe bowels of Michigan stadium are cool, east side of the stadium with no afternoon sun. I was in the tunnel for the Man U v. Real Madrid game when temps were in the high 80's, the bathrooms, press room and officials rooms that ae adjacent to the visitors locker rooms were all very comfortable.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:07 AM ^
Thanks for your report. It confirms the inadequacy of Purdue's facilities and response.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:17 AM ^
with these:
September 26th, 2017 at 9:03 AM ^
There's a time and a place for vibrators, but I don't see how they're going to help here.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:53 AM ^
Only $7 at Walmart, maybe Purdue can swing that.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:18 AM ^
"we have the best facilities in the world!" -this guy
September 26th, 2017 at 9:13 AM ^
our offensive line will soon destroy them, while our quarterback leaps into their endzone from 50 yards away, crushing all the wolverines in his path!
September 26th, 2017 at 9:34 AM ^
you left out infidels.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:20 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 8:30 AM ^
What is this, 1988 when air conditioning was still considered an optional "feature" on cars? I'm shocked that such a prideful, prestigious university would basically cop out of their own responsibilities to have the forethought that A/C might be a good idea on a 90 degree day. That's a very childish response IMHO.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:31 AM ^
You don't need a walk-through by an opponent to know your facilities are shit. This statement is garbage. The school is a major university that takes in millions.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:33 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^
We can still love Harbaugh and not follow him blindly into every single battle.
Sounds like we already should have known about the lack of AC (both using past trips and the visitor guide -- wich I know no-one reads, but still), looked at the forecasted temperature for the game, and prepared with mobile AC units.
Yes -- of course Purdue should already have AC installed and should have had it for a long time, but, knowing they don't -- could have been prepared.
September 26th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^
This has probably been a problem for a long time, but usually it doesn't get this hot in September and Purdue is often hosting crappy MAC teams whose coaches don't have the platform and don't want to appear to be making excuses for losses. So finally it took Harbaugh's team being there on a 90-degree day for someone to finally say something about it. But he's obviously got a point--serious injuries or death from heat-related issues do happen from time-to-time in football.
And having only two toilets is just ridiculous. Again, MSU's players would just go out back and OSU's would use improvised coolers, so it falls to Harbaugh to speak up.
September 26th, 2017 at 11:09 AM ^
The idea - in 2017 - that we have to specially request air conditioning (not to mention a portable x-ray machine) is nuts.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:43 AM ^
Why would a visiting team have to request temp AC when its known a good week in advance that the temps are going to be high 80's? If player safety is truly their concern then that is ridiculous.
Now, if some Michigan Admin received this info and didn't do anything with it, bad on them too. Still no excuse for Purdue.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:43 AM ^
Purdue: "We are shocked that you say that because we clearly informed you in advance that are facilities are shit."
Yeah, great and on point response.