CORVALLIS -- The front doors of the Valley Football Center were unlocked on Saturday. Any foot-shuffling rube could have slipped inside the place, walked straight into Oregon State's football-operations building -- unannounced -- and stood nose-to-nose with Terry Baker's Heisman Trophy.

In fact, I did exactly that.

Three seconds later, tap on the shoulder. The fingers belonged to Beavers football coach Gary Andersen, who happened to be wearing shorts, a pair of sneakers, a T-shirt and a sun visor on a rainy, 53-degree Oregon day.

What? You were expecting security?

"Come with me," Andersen says, "you need to see this."

The Beavers coach walked me through the football operations center, past the space that used to be coach Mike Riley's office, through the hardly recognizable hallways once traversed by Dennis Erickson. Andersen pointed to the graduate-assistants offices and the player's lounge, complete with a patio overlooking the stadium and pool tables with Beavers' logo in the center of the felt.

He led me through the training room, then the coaches' locker room, and an offensive-player meeting room that could double as an IMAX theater built with extra-wide custom chairs. On one side, the football-only weight room. On another, a pair of custom recovery-pools. Near the end of one hallway, the closed doors to OSU's "virtual-reality room."

Along the way, Oregon State's coach passed players in the locker room. Lots of players. Beavers such as 317-pound defensive tackle Kalani Vakameilalo, who was headed to the outdoor practice field to work on footwork with a couple of fellow lineman. No coaches. Just a small gathering of players working through drills in the rain together on a Saturday afternoon.

"No doubt," Andersen said, "we're looking for kids who want to be part of something bigger than themselves."

The coach used that "No doubt..." phrase a dozen or so times during the 30-minute walk through the $42 million expansion and renovation project.

"No doubt..."

When I marveled at how cool the old-fashioned swivel chair in the player barbershop was.

"No doubt..."

When I told him kids would love that he'd put the hometown of each player along with name and jersey number on the front of the locker door.

"No doubt..."

When I wondered aloud if he needed to get home to help his wife, Stacey, who was busy making sure everything there was perfect. Later that evening Andersen and his wife planned to host a small private gathering in their home for a handful of select OSU donors.

What soon became clear is that when Andersen tapped me and said, "Come with me, you need to see this," he had something specific in mind. He was showing me the building, but also, taking me to a destination. Past the mannequins showing off the Beavers' uniform combinations, beyond the player-artwork on the walls, the 53-year old football coach slipped down a hallway to renovated part of the building and swung open the doors.

"This is our 'Beyond Football' room," he said.

Apple desktop computer stations -- 27-inch, 5K retina displays. Grease boards with formulas scribbled on them. This was the place, the football coach explained, where players come to talk about (and explore) what they wanted to do with their lives beyond football.

Andersen is proud of this room. He won't talk about it, but I imagine he brings all his recruits here. Just six days earlier, Lake Oswego High quarterback Jake Dukart said he toured the facility along with his father, Derek. The dual-sport high school junior announced on social media this week that he's de-committed from his Arizona State baseball scholarship offer and had received his first football offer -- from Andersen's program.

The move ignited a frenzy. Dukart's telephone blew up with interest. It also demonstrated that when Andersen sees a player he likes, he's not afraid to do something about it.

"The visit blew me away," Jake told The Oregonian.

Me, too, kid.

The Beavers were a modest 4-8 last season. OSU beat Oregon in the Civil War. A couple of months later, University President Dr. Ed Ray jumped, full-throttle into the "Gary Andersen business" by hiring Scott Barnes from Pitt. He's Andersen's former athletic director at Utah State. I'll bet he's seen the "Beyond Football" room, too.

"I just love this room, and our players do, too," Andersen said as he stood in the doorway.

At the height of Oregon State's football success (the 2001 Fiesta Bowl throttling of Notre Dame) the Beavers season-ticket sales reached 26,000, per an OSU source. It might have been more but the stadium inventory wasn't there before the "Raising Reser" expansion. Up-and-down seasons during the Riley tenure eroded the season-ticket sales to about 19,000 by the time Andersen was hired.

About 9,000 seats are allotted for students each game. Another 10,000 or so are typically held for single-game ticket sales. Reser Stadium capacity is 45,674. That leaves Andersen and Barnes not only with football games to win but with 7,500 or so season-ticket opportunities. Win enough games and the sales take care of themselves, right?

It's why the momentum that Andersen has captured feels so interesting. The 2017 roster will have more talent than he's ever had at Oregon State. His defensive players are physical. His offense has wrecking-ball running back Ryan Nall back. Oregon State hasn't played in a bowl game since the 2013 Hawaii Bowl. And even as Andersen doesn't bring it up on his tour the expectation that he will reach a bowl game in his third season has already materialized.

Pat Casey's baseball program is on fire. Women's basketball coach Scott Rueck is coming off another deep NCAA Tournament run, and on Saturday, Rueck was holed up in his office across the street from Andersen, working, too. But here was Andersen, walking through the building like he can't wait for the season opener, passing Beavers players who can't wait for the season themselves.

The improvements weren't only to the football building.

There was some good poetry at work in the Valley Football Center on Saturday. Because as Andersen passed his defensive tackle in the locker room he turned and asked a question.

"Is your back sore?" Andersen asked Vakameilalo.

The player shot back, "Sore, coach?"

"You know," Andersen said, smiling, "from carrying all your teammates."

Turns out OSU's coach took 90 of his players on an outing on Friday evening. He was looking for a team building exercise. Something competitive. Something fun. And so the coach picked one.

Bowling.

Go figure.

-- @JohnCanzanoBFT