TCU’s snow room is tip of the iceberg at $50 million wellness/restoration center
TCU’s new snow room took the internet by storm earlier in the season, yet it might not be the most impressive new amenity in the Simpson Family Restoration Center built for Horned Frog athletes.
The center provides state-of-the-art recovery options with the snow room, saunas, specialized massage chairs, infrared therapy and more.
The snow room is set at 7 degrees and snows from Sunday to Friday. TCU deputy athletic director for student services Gretchen Bouton explained its appeal over other recovery options.
“The snow room is used as an alternative to cryotherapy or cold plunge and offers a less aggressive approach by using cooled air at a temperature of 7 degrees,” she said. “Guests are encouraged to spend eight to 10 minutes inside for optimal benefit. The snow room was born from multiple site visits to various universities as well as [architecture firm] Populous’ home office in Kansas City where we first saw it.”
The center is one of four facilities built or renovated in the $50 million Athletics Human Performance Center project, with the principal donation from Bob, Gary and Aliz Simpson.
“Multiple passionate TCU supporters contributed to the project overall,” Bouton said.
The snow room is one of only a few located in North America, and TCU’s is the first on a college campus.
Athletes will often rotate twice between the snow room and the sauna, spending eight to 10 minutes in the cold before spending 15 minutes in the heat, allowing athletes to feel an 183 degree temperature swing as they recover.
The center also has hydrotherapy chairs where athletes can lie as a jet of water, similar but much stronger than the jets in a jacuzzi, massages them. The jets can go full body or focus on a particular spot, and can vary in intensity.
They also have chairs adjacent to the hydrotherapy chairs where athletes can study, do homework, study film or meditate with calming videos and music playing on a screen in front of them with footage from famous locations and sights from all around the world.
The Perryman Family Infrared Room uses full-body red light therapy to help athletes recover by spurring on the body’s natural healing process through the stimulation of the mitochondria within cells and accelerating the production of ATP (cellular energy).
It improves blood flow, reduces inflammation and helps tissue repair and can also target specific injuries and maladies on the body through its adjustable settings.
The Ronald and Kay Clinkscale Student-Athlete Wellness Lounge serves as an alternative to cold plunges. Athletes walk through a shower reminiscent of a car wash to clean off before getting in a 3-foot-6-inch pool, where they can either walk or head toward the bench in the pool to sit.
Bouton said the center has allowed athletes on various TCU teams to build relationships.
“It’s been an incredible culture-setting piece for TCU,” she said. “Our athletes, coaches and staff love the new modalities, but it’s also a space where all of our rosters converge and overlap, creating new connections across teams that otherwise would never interact. It’s been fun to see those new relationships develop.”
Men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon said amenities like this help TCU athletics.
“I did [the snow room] one time. ... It’s unique and stands out,” Dixon said. “It looks good. I think it’s a nice thing to show recruits.”
One of Dixon’s new players, Providence transfer guard Jayden Pierre, agreed with his coach, saying facilities played a role in him coming to Fort Worth.
“It’s definitely something that’s been important,” he said. “You need it to recover and be able to perform at a high level. You need the time and the space to go there, and after hard practices, after hard games, road stretch, maybe you played a lot of minutes, to just come back here and center yourself and get your body best prepared as you can for the next game. It’s definitely huge.”
Bouton said the center sends a message about TCU’s commitment to athletics.
“It says that TCU is serious about being a leader in every area of collegiate athletics,” she said. “Our athletes have the opportunity to take care of their bodies in elite ways, better than many professional organizations. So, if you have aspirations to compete at the highest level, to take care of your body at the highest level, and earn a world-class degree, TCU is the place for you.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2025 at 4:30 AM.
