PULLMAN , Wash. – Washington State football has a new place to call home inside the Cougar Football Complex.
The Cougars recently unveiled their renovated locker room, giving the team a more open space with upgraded lighting, technology and areas designed to bring players together.
Washington State athletic director Jon Haarlow says the finished product exceeded what the program originally imagined.
“I feel like it turned out better than we initially thought that it could. The way that they’ve opened it up, the lighting, the technology refresh.”
The project was funded entirely through private donations, with nearly 70 donors contributing about $3.5 million.
For Haarlow, the investment was about more than simply making the locker room look better. He says the goal was to create an environment where players can spend more time together throughout the day.
“Guys spend so much time here recovering, recouping, preparing, and I think putting an environment like this where they can get amped up and also relax, you couldn’t have asked for it to be better.”
The new layout opens up the space and creates more of a central gathering area for the team.
Haarlow says that was one of the biggest changes from the old locker room.
“It makes more of a community center than what it was. The team can spend more time around each other versus kind of parceled out like they had been previously, and again, couldn’t turn out any better than that.”
And the room isn’t designed to stay quiet.
New lighting and technology can transform the atmosphere when the Cougars are getting ready for a game, giving players another way to build energy before they take the field.
“As you saw earlier, pulsing lights. We’ve got the coug light lit up above us here. You’ve got the glowing colors all around. What a space to get hyped up for the game from coach and run out there.”
With the renovation now complete, the Cougars have a new space to prepare, recover and build chemistry as they get ready for the 2026 season.
And Haarlow believes that environment can make a difference once the lights come on.
“The whole idea is for us to create chaos, like a home-field advantage energy that the team can thrive on, that the fans can thrive on.”
WSU opens the 2026 season Sept. 6 against Washington in Seattle.
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