When looking at schools, it is essential to pay attention to the athletic facilities that they have to offer. This is a key piece of the recruitment process because this will be your home for the next four-plus years. D3 might not be known for top-notch facilities, but there are some real gems even if you don't want to go D1. Here are our top five D3 locker rooms.
5. Carson-Newman University
Carson-Newman's men's basketball locker room has ample open space, with handcrafted locker room doors, leather couches, and several big-screen TVs. Plus, there's the Eagle mural as well as past pictures of all the returning letter winners staring you right in the face as you enter. Carson-Newman gets serious style points for this nice locker room, which was funded through private donations.
Related: Rate your Coaches, Facilities, and Campus Visits
4. Dickinson College's Durden Athletic Center
I think Dickinson's College will be thanking alumni Sam Rose and his wife, Julie Walters for years to come. They gifted six million dollars to the school so they could build the 25,000-square foot Durden Center, a two-story training facility complete with locker rooms, weight rooms, laundry and equipment rooms, and a sports medicine facility. The Durden Canter marked the first time lacrosse facilities had been renovated at Dickinson since the 1960's, bringing a much-needed refresh to these facilities that also honors the 1958 national championship-winning lacrosse team that Rose played for.
Related: Rate Dickinson College
3. Johns Hopkins University Lacrosse
The Johns Hopkins women's and men's lacrosse locker rooms come with all the perks. They boast a theater that seats 50 athletes, a conference room, training room and an academic center. There is also a beautiful patio that overlooks the well-manicured field. The rooms were funded by major donors David Cordish, Dennis and David Townsend, Joe Cowan and alumnus Ralph O'Connor.
2. Hamilton College Hockey
Robert V. Delaney '79 and his wife Pamela Craig provided the lead funding for this $3.2 million facility that includes four team rooms for fall, winter and spring sports teams It also is home to a satellite sports medicine room, laundry room, and an equipment enclosure.
Related: 16 D3 Recruiting Tips With Former Union Women's Soccer Goalkeeper, Katie Piechnik
1. Benedictine University Football
Over thirty years ago, Benedictine University had the vision to create a facility that would give their student athletes a place to develop academically, athletically, and socially. In 2010, the Dan and Ida Rice Foundation granted the University $500,000 in two equal installments. Benedictine was then challenged by the foundation to raise an additional $1 million to assist the renovation project. Present day, the facilities are complete with classrooms, coaches offices, a weight room, and more.
If you want to play sports at the D3 level and want to have access to elite facilities, just know that those two wants are not mutually exclusive. D1 might be known for its flashy facilities, but D3 has a lot to offer prospective athletes as well.
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* Originally published on March 3, 2023, by Emily Goff
