‘I think it’s the best in the country’: Hurricanes men’s and women’s basketball teams enjoying new, ‘elite’ training center

Miami Hurricanes women’s basketball coach Katie Meier said opposing coaches would often use two topics against Miami on the recruiting trail: housing and training facilities.

Miami upgraded their dorms, and now the basketball teams have an updated training center, called the Susan and Stephen Symons Training Center, attached to their practice courts next to the Watsco Center. It opened this offseason.

“Now it’s an elite training area,” Meier said, “and you don’t go there if you just have a problem. This new facility is huge for us. It’s huge for our philosophy, as well.”

The men’s and women’s basketball programs share the facility, which includes a weight room, nutrition bar, recovery area and office space for UM staff.

“Athletes spend a lot of time in the training room doing prehab and rehab, in the weight room getting stronger and developing much more stamina, and we’re seeing that,” UM men’s coach Jim Larrañaga said.

At the nutrition bar, players can get protein shakes, healthy snacks and small meals like cereal.

“There’s a lot of stuff to choose from,” Hurricanes forward Norchad Omier said.

New Miami guard Matthew Cleveland, who transferred from Florida State, said the facility was one of the best he has seen.

A look at the new lab

Check out the Susan and Stephen Symons Training Center connected to the practice court pic.twitter.com/EzOGaYe6kq

— Miami Hurricanes (@MiamiHurricanes) August 22, 2023

“That’s one of the nicest facilities I’ve seen in college sports, in general,” Cleveland said. “It’s been really helpful for me, just the nutrition center, weight room, training room. I think it’s the best in the country.”

Guard Ja’Leah Williams said the new training area’s amenities are not the only perk. It is bigger and brighter than the old weight room, and she said that has improved the team’s mood when players are working out.

“It’s brighter in there,” Williams said. “Our old weight room, it was a little dark and it was like a little collapsed, but now it’s wider and the light brings the atmosphere. It’s always good vibes in there. We’re always (excited), the speakers are booming, and I’m always on the aux (cord for music), of course.”

In the age of the transfer portal, coaches have to retain their own players in addition to recruiting new ones. Meier said the new facility gives her more ammo when it comes to doing both.

“Recruiting and retention have become the two biggest things a head coach has to worry about, with their players, with their staff,” Meier said. “Recruit them and then retain them. Those are two things. That’s it. Quality control throughout the process, but recruit and retain. And this facility helps both tremendously.”

There is one small downside to the new facility, though. Williams said that because the new weight room is right next to practice courts, it means she has less time to chat with her teammates as they go from weightlifting to practice.

“I think it’s a little too close to the gym and to the coaches because now we don’t have that time to walk and talk,” Williams said. “Like we have to go from the weights to the practice gym, it’s just doors. But it’s convenient.”