While deciding on graphics and other upgrades around the facility, Derek Mason, the Vanderbilt staff, and DFO Jason Grooms decided on a few central themes that they wanted portrayed throughout the facility.
"The creative design and art work around our facility centers around two things," head coach Derek Mason explains. "The first of which is the steel metal riveting, and the steel sheets that you'll see, is to give you the blue collar feel of who we are."
"The second of which is the deep water feel. You'll see water throughout our facility, a nautical theme with ships on water. We want to make sure we take out opponents out to deep water. Deep water is a scary feeling when you're out there by yourself, for anyone that has ever been out to sea."
Grooms went on to explain that another aim of the graphics they ultimately decided on was to make the guys on their roster feel small, in a sense.
"You know, you're dealing with college football players so you've got guys that don't usually walk into a room and feel small. What we wanted to do was create graphics that were large enough, and stood out enough so that are guys, somewhat feel small when they walk into a room, and it kind of overwhelms them a bit with what they're seeing."
Overall, these are some pretty impressive changes, and a lot of thought went into each upgrade. Vanderbilt used 49degrees as their design consultant for the project.