by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“For all intents and purposes, the hotel is our home for a week and it’s an extension of FSU,” is how Florida State University Assistant Athletics Director Chuck Morris described what the football team, its coaching staff and university administrators are experiencing this week at the Omni.
It’s usually where corporate, civic and private groups hold meetings and other events. This week, as part of the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl, the Omni has been transformed into a topflight college football facility. The ballroom is the locker room. Smaller meeting rooms have become training areas and places for coaches to watch video of team practices and scout West Virginia.
“The more we can accomplish here at the hotel, the more efficient we can be. For instance, while the offense is having breakfast the defense can be dressing for practice,” said Morris.
The plan to temporarily transplant Florida State’s entire football operation was set in motion as soon as it was announced the Seminoles were coming to Jacksonville. Morris said that since it’s FSU’s 28th consecutive bowl game and the second time the team has been invited to the Gator Bowl since the Jan. 1, 2005 game he already had his playbook ready and filled with contacts at the Omni, where the team also had its headquarters for its last post-season appearance in Jacksonville.
Morris checked in Christmas Eve, followed by 110 players, 20 coaches and staff and about 40 student assistants two days later.
“Everything at the hotel was so well organized we were able to practice two hours after we arrived,” said Morris, who admitted making things run so smoothly can sometimes be a challenge.
“A football team is not easy to deal with,” he added. “We’re not like IBM.”
Dave Desalvo, Omni director of sales and marketing, commented that hosting a football team for a bowl game isn’t that much different than other groups who occupy about 80 percent of the rooms and most of the meeting space.
“Some groups have exhibits, some groups have locker rooms,” he said.
The hotel’s signature four-diamond service also comes into play. Head coach Bobby Bowden and his family checked in along with the players and staff. They were greeted by a specially-decorated garnet and gold Christmas tree in their suite, said Conference Services Manager Bryan Ayer.
The Omni staff coordinates every minute of the day with the team, from transportation to the practice site to every meal from the snack that was served when the players arrived to the post-game banquet.
“We realize they are away from home during the holidays so we make sure everything is as it should be,” said Ayer.
The big story surrounding this year’s Gator Bowl hasn’t been lost on Morris. who pointed out, “This is not a normal game in terms of magnitude. We’re elated to be here and be able to be part of coach Bowden’s last game. To be in Jacksonville at the Gator Bowl and staying at the Omni makes it even better.
“We just have one thing left to do – win the game.”
Florida State University Assistant Athletics Director Chuck Morris in the team’s training room away from home.
Perhaps the most conventional use of a meeting room at the Omni this week, this is where the coaches made their final preparations for the game.
It’s not all work and no play this week for the players, who have access to a temporary arcade set up for them at the Omni.
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