SLIPPERY ROCK — Going undefeated while winning the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship last season, Slippery Rock University fielded one of the top Division II football teams in the country last year.

The Rock may have put together one of the top football facilities in Division II as well.

“When you consider the new turf on our field, revamped locker room, athletic training room and improved weight room, I think our facilities are among the top 20 nationally in Division II, for sure,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said.

Jerry Bejbl, a 1963 Rock graduate who played running back and defensive back on conference championship teams, has donated $50,000 — spread out over the next five years — for improvements to the weight room.

Bejbl funded the construction of the weight room in 1998. The facility is called the Jerry Bejbl Weight Training Center and is used by all SRU athletic teams.

“Jerry met his wife, Kathleen, here,” Lutz said. “He was originally a teacher when he left school, then started his own business and was extremely successful.

“This is a guy who never forgot where he came from, who has always given back to this program. We would not be a national level football program without his support.”

Bejbl now lives in DeKalb, Ill., and still comes back for SRU football games.

Former SRU strength and conditioning coach Terry Grossetti now holds that position at Youngstown State. Head trainer Scott Morrison took on the added position of strength coach — for all Rock sports — in May of 2018.

Morrison has been working on the upgrades in the weight training center.

“We have equipment in there we haven't had before,” Morrison said.

Among the additions are two Wenning belt squats — which support athletes doing squats despite back soreness — a Reverse Hyper, which strengthens the back and hamstrings, Earthquake Bars and muli-grip bars.

Earthquake Bars strengthen “access” muscles while multi-grip bars lessen the strain on the shoulder area and are popular for quarterbacks to work out with.

“We want to build up and strengthen muscles you can't see in the mirror,” Morrison said.

SRU also has a laser 40 — a more accurate measuring tool for the 40-yard dash — and power sleds, which hold various weights for players to push.

“Scott is making our athletes bigger, stronger and faster,” Lutz enthused. “That's showing up on the field.

“The times we're getting with the laser 40 are as accurate as the times being recorded at the NFL Combine.”

Linemen push 300 pounds on the sleds, running backs-linebackers 200 pounds, skilled players 100 to 125 pounds.

“Our offense wants to snap the ball every eight to 10 seconds and a play usually goes on for that long,” Morrison said. “So we push the sleds for eight to 10 seconds, take a 10-second break, then do it again. We do eight to 10 reps to simulate an offensive possession.”

The history of the SRU football program is documented on the walls of the weight training center. The three SRU football players to have their uniform numbers retired — Bejbl, Jim McElhaney and Brandon Fusco — are featured. So are Rock individual record holders and individual weioght room record holders and season-highs.

Action photographs of former Rock greats are hung on the walls in the hallway connecting the locker room to the weight facility.

It's all about motivation.

“You definitely get a feel for the tradition and history in here,” Butler graduate and SRU offensive lineman Sam Enslen said. “It makes me want to add to that history.

“You walk into a room like this ... You can't help but want to work.”

Though the SRU football season has been shifted to spring, players are shuttling in and out of the weight room now.

And when prospective recruits come on campus?

“You only get one chance to make that first impression,” Lutz said. “Kids want to know two things: What can you do for me scholarship-wise and what kind of facilities do you have?

“We've got the latter part covered, for sure.”