From helmets to jerseys to footballs and more, Dana Marquez and his team are behind the equipment that helps make an Auburn football game come to life.

In the days leading up to a contest at Jordan-Hare Stadium and for those at away locations, Marquez and his team are busy at work starting at the break of dawn—whether it be the intricate placing of 14 decals on each player’s helmet, buffing potential game balls to perfection or literally doing tons of laundry to keep uniforms looking and smelling their best. It’s a behind-the-scenes role Marquez has held since 2006—a job of very prominent results on the big stage of college football.

“The big thing you have to learn about equipment and gameday is it never starts on gameday,” said Marquez, Auburn’s associate athletic director of equipment operations. “For us, it’s always Sunday after the following game. And, one, it starts with laundry—lots and lots of laundry. About 24 hours’ worth and then meeting with the staff … there’s a small army behind this.”

On Marquez’s staff are eight full-time equipment workers, a full-time mail and freight employee and 15 student managers just for football. Marquez's responsibilities include coordinating equipment and overseeing the purchasing, fitting, inventory and maintenance needs for the 21-varsity teams along with providing guidance to other areas in the Athletic Department. Marquez, who came to Auburn after serving as the director of equipment operations at the University of California, Berkeley, also oversees the Athletic Department's contract with Under Armour.

To quickly see how involved Marquez’s role is in the many facets of football gameday, just take a pregame walk on Pat Dye Field with him for a few minutes. One second, he’s catching practice field goals from Anders Carlson and gripping game balls to ensure their readiness prior to kickoff. Seconds later, he’s fist bumping an offensive lineman and tugging on his jersey, making sure no midriff is showing (a requirement for games that the officiating crew would enforce). Then, as players pass by, he checks helmets and inspects shoulder pads. Marquez also tests larger equipment that fires off footballs high in the air to mimic a kickoff. He jogs 50 yards away and catches a few footballs seamlessly after they launch to the sky. 

“So, pregame for me is the best time of my day. That’s when I get to interact with the players,” he said, noting that he has a lot of fun joking with the team while also making sure they’re prepared from an equipment standpoint. 

Gameday is a fun occasion because much of the work has already occurred in terms of preparation – making sure all is in place as it should be and that backup plans are ready just in case.

“If we have a good day, a bad day—there are complete differences,” Marquez said. “A bad day can definitely ruin it completely—with headsets going down, or equipment breaking, things like that. But when it’s a good day, it [gameday] is like a three-hour vacation for us. It’s really not worrying about anything, that we’ve taken care of every little thing and we’re prepared for the game and it’s just a good opportunity for us to enjoy the team playing and hopefully we come out with the win.”

The preparation work to get to that point is intense. Marquez notes that for his crew all games are considered away games because they devote the same amount of energy into
readying and moving equipment from Auburn’s athletics complex to Jordan-Hare Stadium as would be the case in traveling as far away as a Dallas home opener.

Bottom line: Marquez must be ready for almost anything.

“If someone notices that we have messed up … you’ll notice it pretty quickly,” he said. “If our communication system goes out, we have to shut down our system. You see, that affects the entire team. Our head coach, obviously Gus, the defensive coordinators, our booth, everything shuts down. You never want to be put in that situation. So, missing a piece of equipment, if it’s a knee brace or a pair of shoes that a player specifically likes, those are types of things that can go wrong. I mean you really want to make sure that you’re double-checking weather 
all day long … and being prepared for all the little things that might happen. So, for us, it’s really trying to be proactive—making sure that those little things that might could happen don’t happen.”

Off the field, Marquez and his crew keep very busy—cleaning 4.1 million pounds of laundry a year not only for the football team but for several other athletics teams as well. Equestrian uniforms must be washed using a special code that launches just the right mixture of cleaning products to fit the proper PH balance for the team’s horses. As for clothing, there’s also the coaching staff to take care of, with Marquez’ crew making sure to provide four outfits per game for sideline staff members.  Each coach has his name displayed inside the shirt collar to expedite Marquez’ inventory process.

Marquez and his crew spend about 45 minutes per helmet adhering decals—including the stripes down the center. He makes sure 122 helmets are ready for a game, and he has an additional 24 available in an emergency trunk.  A buffer device is used on new footballs to help smooth them out and break them in.  A total of 190 footballs are brought to a game—with 24 being turned in to officials who then select just six for game play. The detail of needed equipment includes a rubber-banded ball of marker pens that head coach Gus Malzahn uses during games and even the gum that Malzahn chews (Original Double Bubble is his favorite).

A key to being prepared is always having a backup. Marquez must have 124 pairs of shoes ready for a game, plus a backup of 150 pairs. One new addition this year was launching navy-blue cleats and navy-blue socks at some home games.

“So, that gives us a little switch around, doesn’t change our base uniform all that much. It does give us a different look,” Marquez said, adding that it takes tiers of approval for any such tweaks and he doesn’t foresee any major changes coming to the traditional Auburn football uniform anytime soon. 

Speaking to how important his preparation can be for a game, Marquez points to an example from the 2010 national championship game. He said the location for that game in Arizona was actually thick with humidity, causing the field to be soaking wet and slick.

“And NCAA rules say we were only allowed three-quarter-of-an-inch spikes,” he said. ”So, you know, we can’t go like in the NFL and make the spikes taller and longer and give you the advantage. You really have to play with what you have. And understanding that and knowing that the turf is going to be chunks coming out and you’re going to have to clean out your cleats and things like that, this was a great advantage for Auburn in that game. For us, we had cleat cleaners there. Found out that Oregon did not. So, I was pretty happy with the result of that game.”

Most notably, Marquez received attention at the 2013 Iron Bowl for his efforts using a sewing machine on the sideline to quickly make repairs to Ladarious Owens’ jersey. Marquez was ready to provide a backup jersey, but with it being Owens’ senior year Owens asked if he could keep his original, albeit torn, gameday jersey on. Marquez sprang into action to make it so, opening shop on the sideline with the sewing machine and quickly fixing the tear. Just a few years ago, Marquez also developed a lightweight shoulder pad system that doesn't retain moisture and deflects energy to reduce impact.

“We need to be innovative in the technology that’s been given to us to protect our student athlete,” he said of his team’s mission. “Obviously, servicing our student athlete is the majority of our job, and then branding Auburn on gameday is kind of the headway and the advertisement of our brand. We always want to make sure that we’re innovative and ahead of the game. If it’s with shoulder pad technology, if it’s with 3-D mapping of helmets now, just being on top of the technology for impact. Just not for football, but that goes for every one of our sports.”