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Title: We Have to Have a New Basketball Arena or We Could Lose Coach Oats Post by: Marshal Dillon on January 20, 2021, 08:24:43 PM If we stand pat or continue to make excuses for not building a new BB arena, I think we will lose Coach Oats in the very near future. If this year is typical of what he can accomplish, then he will be a hot commodity to go somewhere else. Coach K at Duke turns 74 in February. Coach Boeheim of Syracuse is 76, Coach Roy Williams of UNC is 70, but has not looked healthy the last 2-3 years. Coach Calipari is a mere kid at 61 but don’t see him leaving soon. Coach Oats is from Wisconsin so he could easily leave Alabama for a more desirable basketball location with better facilities and a proven fanbase like UNC or Duke. The one huge negative to keep him from going there is having to replace a legend, Williams or Coach K, and the insane fan expectations. The administration has to make some real decisions such as a large big pay raise for Coach Oats & a new facility. His current salary is $2.45 mil a year.
I will add some articles about this situation. What do you all think? :tinfoil: Title: Re: We Have to Have a New Basketball Arena or We could Lose Coach Oats Post by: Marshal Dillon on January 20, 2021, 08:43:21 PM Here is an article from February 2020 about Coleman Coliseum.
Quote The long-anticipated renovation of 52-year old Coleman Coliseum is moving back to the front burner of the Crimson Standard fundraising campaign, Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne said this week in an interview with AL.com. Quote When announced 18 months ago, Byrne said the best-case scenario would see work beginning after the 2021-22 season and new timelines were not available this week. Quote For Coleman, the process will not be a short one. Renderings of the renovated arena released in 2018 weren’t final plans but projections that included desired elements of a completed project. They depicted essentially a new facility built inside the original walls and arched roof of the building that opened in 1968. https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball/2020/02/coleman-coliseum-renovation-talks-underway-as-alabama-construction-moves-forward.html (https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball/2020/02/coleman-coliseum-renovation-talks-underway-as-alabama-construction-moves-forward.html) :dog: Title: Re: We Have to Have a New Basketball Arena or We could Lose Coach Oats Post by: Marshal Dillon on January 20, 2021, 09:19:41 PM Article from today. Be sure to read it, it’s outstanding.
Quote You know the arguments as well as I do by now, but some of them bear repeating. Coleman Coliseum was built in 1968, more as a regional civic complex than strictly a basketball facility. This 52-year old structure has since been home to concerts, lectures, graduations, rallies, and yes, basketball games. But its age shows, not only in the hangar-like unforgiving architecture, but its capacity. Coleman seats 15,383 people. That is not a sustainable number for attendance. Nearly every school that has built new facilities in the last decade has built for smaller capacity. Quote You know as well as I that Basketball has never been a priority at Alabama partially because the University has never made it one. Quote The first thing that happened when Avery Johnson arrived on campus was that he was sold a bill of goods regarding Coleman Coliseum — one that was never fulfilled. Anthony Grant butted heads with administration over the very thing as well. And, when Nate Oats was brought to Tuscaloosa, he was also given assurances about the fate of this arena. It would behoove us to keep our promises sooner rather than later — and perhaps even dramatically rethink plans for the facility. https://www.rollbamaroll.com/2021/1/20/22240295/greg-byrne-extend-coach-nate-oats-now-and-get-alabama-basketball-an-arena-sooner-rather-than-later (https://www.rollbamaroll.com/2021/1/20/22240295/greg-byrne-extend-coach-nate-oats-now-and-get-alabama-basketball-an-arena-sooner-rather-than-later) :popcorn2: Title: Re: We Have to Have a New Basketball Arena or We Could Lose Coach Oats Post by: ricky023 on January 20, 2021, 09:55:23 PM Wow I would think with all the money the program has that building a new facility would be priority #1! RTR!
Title: Re: We Have to Have a New Basketball Arena or We Could Lose Coach Oats Post by: Marshal Dillon on February 19, 2021, 07:29:48 PM I’m bringing this back up since I see some talk about Coleman Coliseum. Read the articles and tell me what you think. Will the total remodel be enough?
??? Title: Re: We Have to Have a New Basketball Arena or We Could Lose Coach Oats Post by: pmull on February 20, 2021, 07:40:47 AM I have to admit the image in the posted article look pretty good. They have a budget of $92M. That is a lot of money for a renovation. In 2011 Auburn built a new 9000 seat arena for $86M.
(https://www.al.com/resizer/pP3qsOq0TwN7yaoi8cNCtrSMGdE=/1280x0/smart/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-advancelocal.s3.amazonaws.com/public/4UVRH7GIHRHMVBVA6IQH3OS57Y.jpg) Title: Re: We Have to Have a New Basketball Arena or We Could Lose Coach Oats Post by: ricky023 on February 20, 2021, 09:10:32 AM We need a 15,000 seat arena with up to date poster type pictures. RTR!
Title: Re: We Have to Have a New Basketball Arena or We Could Lose Coach Oats Post by: roll tide roll on February 20, 2021, 11:28:21 AM The university does not need to build a new arena. They need to do extensive upgrades and modernizing of Coleman. Coleman is in a great location and the sheer size of the structure allows for changes within the existing footprint.
The Smith Center in Chapel Hill is 21,000+ and UNC was about to increase capacity prior to the Wuhan Red Death arriving on our shores. A smaller venue would be folly. I go to both Coleman and Smith Center every year. The facilities are very comparable. The biggest difference is the seating layout. Coleman's seats stretch back long and slow. The Smith projects sharply vertical. Coleman is a more comfortable seating arena. Our tickets at the Smith center are in the lower level and they are cramped as are all of the seats there. The atmosphere is different b/c of the way the seats in the upper decks are "close" to the court at Smith v. far away at Coleman. The exterior of the building, and the approach to Coleman, is more visually appealing than DSC (which looks like a brick cube on a hill surrounded by parking lots). $0.02 |