Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546494
16 SEPT. 12, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE A t some point, walking into Jack and Kathy Shields Family Hall will get old for Marcus Freeman. But on Aug. 25, when a re- porter asked Freeman about what Notre Dame's new football operations facility can do for his players, the fifth-year head coach shook his head in apparent disbe- lief. "It's unbelievable" was the best he could do before gathering his thoughts and diving into a longer answer. "Every time I walk in there, I'm in awe," Freeman said. "It's unbelievable, and credit to the people that invested money and time to get our players that place they deserve." From the outside looking in, it's obvi- ous why Freeman feels that way. A look inside Shields Hall will quickly leave one's jaw on the floor. Everything about Notre Dame's brand- new football operations building fits the "spaceship" trope that fans associate with the sport's facility arms race. The leather seats in the practice locker room look as nice as the swankiest seats on a private jet. The hallways are littered with odes to Notre Dame's past and present, from monuments to historic achieve- ments to Freeman mantras like "Choose Hard." Also inside are a mural of Jeremi- yah Love sprinting with the football out- side the performance center and mono- grammed weight racks that light up. Former Notre Dame wide receiver Golden Tate asked on social media if he could come back for his final year of eligibility, saying the building looked like "its own indoor town." But while the flashy elements look great for the camera (and for recruits), Shields Hall has several practical up- grades over the Guglielmino Athlet- ics Complex that will directly affect the players in ways that improve Notre Dame's chances to win a national cham- pionship. Chief operating officer Ron Powlus, whom Freeman credited by name for helping make Shields Hall hap- pen, dove into that in an interview with Blue & Gold Illustrated this summer. "From the beginning, we were really in the mode of 'form follows function,'" Powlus said. "We wanted the building to be set up in a way that was efficient for them, which supported them in the way they would use it on a daily basis." TRAINING, RECOVERY AND NUTRITION In 2026, recovery is more than grab- bing a foam roller. "We tend to the student-athlete needs in a little bit different way now than we did in 2005," Powlus said. "While the Gug has been a fine facility, it was time to expand the capabilities of what the football program could do to support our football student-athletes." Notre Dame has invested heavily in sports science. They have tons of data — and they've hired several different people to produce that data — that tells them how to maximize recovery. For any type of pain or soreness an athlete might be feeling, there's a different way to treat it. That's never been more important in college football than it is right now because the Irish hope to play 15 or 16 games each season. Shields Hall's training and recovery room reflects that. It includes several UNIQUE TO NOTRE DAME Shields Hall looks 'unbelievable,' but the practical upgrades set the Irish's new football operations building apart Shields Family Hall encompasses 162,032 square feet and includes an advanced training room, a standalone sports medicine facility, a next-gen equipment center with body scanning tech, an all-team auditorium, media studios, academic support spaces and a full player nutrition area. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS