Customization and branding are huge factors in the modern weight room. When it comes to customization, Samson Equipment’s reputation for being able to achieve desired results at a high level was a major reason why Riley Allen chose Samson to partner with on this project.
Riley Allen feels so grateful to be home.
He first moved to Oxford, Miss. at the age of 11. He grew up there. Graduated high school, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees there. Now, after a handful of other stops, he found himself finishing his fourth season on staff for his alma mater, as the assistant coordinator of strength and conditioning for men’s basketball at the University of Mississippi.
You’d think anyone would be thrilled to work in Oxford, which ESPN ranked as the top college town in the United States last year. But being part of a community you’ve grown to love since childhood, getting to compete in the SEC and being surrounded by family of both the biological and Ole Miss variety — well it just means that much more to Allen.
Understandably then, Allen was both excited and humbled by the opportunity to spearhead a complete renovation of the Rebels’ weight room for men’s hoops and golf, which Allen also trains. Over a year of planning and preparation was complicated by the pandemic, but last fall, his dream for an updated space to train some of the best athletes in the country finally became a reality.
Despite an already impressive list of programs and mentors on his resume, this was Allen’s first opportunity to design a room. And while it was by all accounts a smashing success, there were lessons to learn along the way.
“I’ve been to a lot of great programs really quickly in my career and worked under some really good head strength and conditioning coaches,” Allen says. “The biggest thing I learned putting the new weight room together was the level of detail involved in branding.”
The challenges at Ole Miss were magnified by having three different brands they wanted to represent in the best possible light. Giving his athletes a reminder of the program they have the honor to play for (Ole Miss), the hyper-competitive conference they are a part of (the SEC) and one of their biggest sponsors (Nike) were all critically important in the design.
Allen says Samson “created 3-D renderings for us to be able to show our donors something professional and multi-dimensional in front of them, and then they were able to change those renderings on the fly.” With so many brands being invested in the process, Samson’s constant communication and ability to help everyone visualize the finished product was paramount to the success of the project.
Beyond branding, Allen says Samson handled their bumper plates, flooring installation and even coordinated incorporating all non-Samson equipment. The team at Samson lead the way on all the logistics, staying out in front of the challenges of the pandemic.
“Samson worked hand-in-hand with EliteForm to get that installed on all of our racks, which has moved the needle in terms of bar velocity and power output training,” Allen says. “They worked hand-in-hand with Keiser to implement the installation of our Keiser machines in the room. All these things didn’t come directly from Samson, yet they handled all of them for me. All these details really moved the needle for our athlete experience.”
In fairness, Allen had a pre-existing relationship with Samson from his time at New Mexico State. The strong rapport with the Las Cruces-based supplier was certainly a factor. But Allen says they weren’t given the project. He took multiple bids, and they earned it.
In hindsight, there’s no secret as to why that decision paid off. Samson, and specifically VP of operations Brian Schroeder, picked up the phone — any time day or night. They were proactive about communication to help avoid pitfalls before they happened. Put simply, “Brian wasn’t just the equipment guy for our racks, he was basically our project manager,” Allen says.
That’s a far cry from chasing a supplier down, and it’s precisely why more and more programs should be giving Samson Equipment a look when it’s time to plan out their dream weight room.
For more information on the recent Ole Miss install, or to learn more about all of Samson Equipment’s Professional Weight Room Solutions check out the link below.
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Samson Equipment provides customized, professional weight room solutions from premium grade materials, to deliver a long lasting, yet affordable product with over 40 years of experience.
