Drive by Scott Stadium these days and you'llspot a sea of empty seats, a green pasture begging for play and a scoreboard in need of a light-up.
With a 61,500 person capacity, 25 concession stands and 77 columns in Pergola Plaza, many fail to recognize the smaller parts that make up the whole of the Carl Smith Center.
But Scott Cornwell, stadium manager, cannot ignore those smaller details. Each day, Cornwell comes to work with a job to do -- run the stadium. It's his job to provide an environment in which the Cavaliers can enjoy a successful season.
"All we can do is provide a clean space for them to get done the things they need to do," he said.
His office is located on the first floor of Bryant Hall -- in the centerof the action. His office functions as the centerpiece of game day operations. Officials distribute over 80 walkie-talkies to event staff, and those individuals stay in constant communication to ensure games run smoothly.
Leaving Cornwell's office you walk through hallways adorned in white paint with a solid orange and blue stripe running throughout, making each spot look exactly like the next. Only labeled signs point unfamiliar visitors to the correct locations.
The press room is first on the agenda. Used for post-game press conferences with Football coach Al Groh, the room features six wooden tables that look like garage sale merchandise. The tables sit in front of one main platform, and it is here that jerseys cover the walls, honoring past Cavaliers who went on to play in the NFL.
During the week the room doubles as a study hall for all athletes except football and basketball players, and occasionally is the dining hall for press breakfasts with reporters from networks such as ESPN and ABC.
Progressing deeper into the depths of the stadium, you arrive at the biggest mystery for most fans -- the locker room. Simply stepping into the room is enough to take your breath away.
Instead of ragged pennants and rusty lockers, the Cavaliers have the privilege of dressing for games in a room resembling the office of a successful corporate executive rather than a college football team.
The floors are carpeted in blue with an orange pattern running throughout. Each player has his own locker, arranged according to numbers across the "W" shaped room.
The dark wooden lockers each are engraved with the
Virginia "V" and sabers, displaying the players' names. The majority also contains a golden plaque on the back side of the cubby as a tribute to past Cavalier players.
"I saw the locker rooms for the first time when I came for my official visit," freshman kicker Connor Hughes said. "They had a Cavalier jersey with my high school number on it, my name on the name plaque and game day stuff, like pants and socks lying out. I had to sit down and take my picture next to it all, so I'd have something to take home."
Approximately 20 shower heads and towel hangers line the walls, six stalls and sinks are positioned next to the showers and sparkling mirrors stand tall in this king-sized bathroom. It is easy to forget you're still in a locker room.
But there's more. Attached to the main locker room is the training room, fully equipped with taping stations, exam beds and a hydro room.
"Now that I get to use the locker room, I think that they are really nice," Hughes said. "I didn't really know what to expect, but the accommodations we are provided make it easy for us on game days."
Conditions for Cavalier opponents aren't nearly as posh.
The visiting team's locker rooms are much more sparse: black metal lockers divided into rows with masking tape name tags. The room resembles a middle school locker room.
Down the hall from the players' locker rooms, the coaches and referees also have mini locker rooms, displaying the same high-class decor.
"The coaches khakis are always freshly ironed and hanging up in their lockers for them," said third-year college student Ashley Brooks, a part-time assistant to Cornwell in the facilities department. "It's funny to see this done for grown men
like their moms ironed their clothes for them."
Packages of chewing gum also are placed in coaches' lockers before game days.
But those on the field aren't the only ones who receive royal treatment. The President's Box, which provides accommodations for up to 360 people -- including the Board of Visitors, state government officials and family and friends of University President John T.Casteen III -- features the best view in the stadium. The field spreads out below the windows, silver china awaits the arrival of catered food, and orange and blue toothpicks add the ultimate spirited touch.
Along with the President's Box, the stadium includes 56 other suites owned by both small businesses and major corporations including Pepsi, Budweiser and Adelphia, housed on the upper level of the stadium. Each is cleaned weekly and provides its users with the utmost in comfort and spectator enjoyment: leather couches, framed pictures of exciting moments in Cavalier football history, shiny wooden tables and 16 outside seats, each equipped with its own cup holder.
Many of the luxuries within the Carl Smith Center appeared just two years ago for the opening of the 2000 season. The three-year, $86 million project began with Carl Smith's $23 million gift to the University and employed 300 workers on an average day.
The expansion focused on increasing seating, adding eight new suites, completely re-doing the locker rooms and making them double their original size, as well as numerous other additions and renovations to improve the stadium's overall usability and luxury.
"I can't even remember what the locker rooms used to look like," Cornwell said. "Such a difference was made."
Overall, running the stadium on a day-to-day basis takes more work than most might think, especially since the expansion.
"It is a massive effort of cooperation between departments," said Brooks, who sees the day to day workings behind the scenes.
Another world exists in the bowels of the stadium, and it's one most never get to see. So as the Cavaliers charge on to the field next season in search of an ACC title, know it's the constant hard work of many individuals that allows fans to keep singing the "Good Ol' Song" over and over.
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