Vanderbilt athletics made two announcements on Wednesday. The program’s Strategic Plan for Athletics was outlined in a 17-page PDF posted on the university’s official website. The athletic department also announced that the football team’s locker rooms will be renovated.

Vandy247 shared some insight on the locker room renovations:

A source told Vandy247 that the entire locker room within the McGugin Center will be new and that it will include similar amenities to what other programs have recently added. Lockers will have individual ventilation and charging stations, and the seats will recline. … The team will still cross Jess Neely Drive to Vanderbilt Stadium during the Star Walk.

The strategic athletic plan, which began under former athletic director Malcolm Turner and completed by interim AD Candice Story Lee, has five strategic focus areas with various initiatives in each area:

  1. Academic and Personal Development: Use our athletics platform as a model for the commitment to academic and personal development espoused by Vanderbilt University.
  2. Athletic Excellence: Optimize the ability of our student-athletes to win and consistently compete for championships across our entire sports portfolio.
  3. Stakeholder Engagement: Actively work with our partners across the university, alumni and the Nashville community through regular communication, outreach and engagement.
  4. Fan Experience: Raise the prominence of the Vanderbilt Athletics brand and deepen our community impact by delivering an engaging fan experience.
  5. Financial Performance: Increase self-generated funding by creating revenue streams and improving existing ones.

The outline mentions facilities in the athletic excellence focus area:

TRAINING FACILITIES

  • Provide the requisite training, development and sports performance facilities
    (as determined by the Master Facility Plan).

COMPETITION FACILITIES

  • Build or renovate competition venues (as determined by the Master FacilityPlan) to achieve the standard needed for impact.

“Our vision for athletics will allow us to grow forward as a community and focus on making the Vanderbilt Way come alive in all we do,” Lee said in a press release. “We’ve charted a new course that embodies the university’s shared commitment to collaboration and excellence, reflecting input from our campus community and our dedicated Commodore Nation.”

Commodores head coach Derek Mason tweeted about the announcements.

“Commodore Football is on that grind in 2020. Vanderbilt is committed to upgrading the student-athlete experience. Today is the first step to a very bright future,” Mason wrote.

The Strategic Plan outline can be viewed here.