Facilities

[Blunt Pony]

Much has been made of facilities and if they are needing upgrades, remodels or blown up and started over. Many have said "look at Cameron and look at Georgetown" etc. The difference there is those places ooze with history. Walking around Cameron, you can feel and look at the history of great teams and players. Like it or not, we do not have a rich history to fall back on so the facilities do become very important. You can get away with older facilities if the history is there, but if you have old facilities with little history then that is a bad combination for recruiting and building programs.

For the record, I have always liked Moody. I think we just need some upgrades to the facility and then put in the first class practice facility. I understand that this is the direction that the school is taking and I agree with it. I just hope that they do not half [deleted] the practice facility. It needs to be first rate!

[abezontar]

Well, at least we know it won't be a metal building like TCU's UP/HP won't allow it. In fact they had to pass a special ordinance to allow us to have the temporary football offices as long as we have. They were supposed to have alrady been torn down.

[Water Pony]

Renovating Moody and adding a practice court makes sense. The expense is large, but manageable. Keeps the intimacy, while upgrading the experience.

Also, I am starting a vigil on Perkins Natatorium. Timing is good to address that as well. Alums and friends are committed to changing the status quo.

With Westcott getting a face-lift, we will have some pretty nice facilities now that the Recreation Center has been finished.

Last wish, more intramural fields[/quote]

[PK]

Like it or not, we do not have a rich history to fall back on so the facilities do become very important.

Don't know when you graduated, but you might want to do a little research before you label SMU with not having a rich history to our basketball program and Moody Coliseum. Granted the last 18 years have not been great, but we have had a number of great teams and coaches during the overall life of Moody...not to mention conference titles and NCAA appearances.

[Blunt Pony]

Like it or not, we do not have a rich history to fall back on so the facilities do become very important.

Don't know when you graduated, but you might want to do a little research before you label SMU with not having a rich history to our basketball program and Moody Coliseum. Granted the last 18 years have not been great, but we have had a number of great teams and coaches during the overall life of Moody...not to mention conference titles and NCAA appearances.

Thanks for the condecending remark PK, but it does not take a historian to see that we do NOT have a "Rich" history in basketball. All you need to do is look in the rafters at the conference titles and retired jersies to see that this is true. I know we have had good teams and players in the past, but the point is our history does not outshine the deteriorating facilities. I am trying to be objective here and am obviously not only an alum but still a fan.

By the way I was a student the last time we were in the NCAA''s in 1993.

[Hoop Fan]

easy boys, its all relative. Relative to Duke and UNC and some others, we have no history to speak of. Relative to many others, we do have a respectable past, its just a distant past with no bridge to the present really.

[Blunt Pony]

easy boys, its all relative. Relative to Duke and UNC and some others, we have no history to speak of. Relative to many others, we do have a respectable past, its just a distant past with no bridge to the present really.

Thank you Hoop, I am not bashing the history we have, just saying it cannot stand on it's own to draw in talent. We need to embrace our history AND realize our old facilities do not have the "charm" that a storied programs facilities do.

[Hoop Fan]

yep, I cant believe anybody would question the need for a facility renovation/upgrade to Moody. All it takes is having been there to know. Maybe some people don't realize what the newer generation facilities look like (and by that I mean within the last 20 years). Even high school. People need not go far for a point a reference. Just go down to Ellis Davis Fieldhouse down at I35 and I20.

Facilities aren't everything, but its a real sore spot for the bball coaches at SMU and it has been for some time. We're sending them to a gun fight with a dull old pocket knive.

[Bergermeister]

The basketball facility may not have "charm"... whatever that is... but it's a dadgum good place to watch a basketball game (the seating configuration is ideal) and I love going there. We need a new floor, a SOTA scoreboard, and a practical and aesthetically correct seating arrangement behind the benches. The big bucks need to go into the practice facility, offices and first class dressing rooms and meeting rooms. All offices need to be taken out of Moody and put in the new facility: "Your Name Here" Athletic Offices and Practice Centre.

[Hoop Fan]

I agree Berger, its shouldn't be hard. On the other hand, other than repainting the floor once or twice, I cant see that Moody has been touched since at least Jimmy Carter was president.

[Hoop Fan]

The scoreboard is an absolute joke. Doesnt it still just say "Home" and "Away"? Does it even say SMU on the main part of the scoreboard? I guess if old school and retro are in, we've got it. Not many gyms have had that touch since the 60's.

[McClown27]

With the current horrible fan support for a pretty mediocre season, the administration would be crazy to build the program more facilities. The Frats and Sororities will continue to throw their parties on game nights, and no one will go.

I would be all for the spending a lot on the basketball program, I just think they have to show the administration more than investigations and an empty Moody. Without a turn in the program the new facilities would be a meaningless expense.

And PK is right, Jon Koncak was/is awesome!!

[abezontar]

But now you are into the whole chicken and the egg thing, and an argument that Hoop Fan has made repeatedly. Dement called for new facilities back when he was hired, they didn't give him anything. He won, and some good seasons an NIT berth and should have gotten to the NCAA with one of the Sasser teams. He also got some increased attendance out of the students during the Sasser and Davis years, certainly far better student attendance than we have now. How did the administration reward him? They didn't other than to not fire him at that particular time. The administration did nothing to try to boost the program or market it when it was doing better and then when it started to slide it seemed as though the admin didn't care, if they didn't, why should the fans and it spiraled downwards. If you want to get fans back, renovate Moody, it will get them back at least for it's opening season, then you have to do whatever it takes in the interim to make sure that the team that greets them is stellar so that they come back to see the new arena and also happen to see a great winning bball team. Then the fan base will start to grow again.

Really, in Tubbs defense the facilities should have already been here before he was even hired.

[Hoop Fan]

thank you Abe, total common sense. Exactly right about Dement and where we are today. McClown is trying to live up to his name with posts like that.

[Blunt Pony]

The basketball facility may not have "charm"... whatever that is... but it's a dadgum good place to watch a basketball game (the seating configuration is ideal) and I love going there. We need a new floor, a SOTA scoreboard, and a practical and aesthetically correct seating arrangement behind the benches. The big bucks need to go into the practice facility, offices and first class dressing rooms and meeting rooms. All offices need to be taken out of Moody and put in the new facility: "Your Name Here" Athletic Offices and Practice Centre.

Charm may not have been the right word. I do think it has charm. I guess the reference is that if you go through the locker room and tunnel at Notre Dame stadium it may be old but it reeks of history. You do not want to erase the history for the sake of modernization. I agree that you upgrade the areas you mention, yet maintain the feel of the Old Moody.

The practice facility on the other hand needs to incorporate all of the modern amenities and style. This is where we can take advantage of technology and space we need while maintaining the history of Moody.