Joe Perkins Natatorium: Holding Water for 55 Yrs.

[Water Pony]

Converted from a gymnasium into our Natatorium in 1959 ..... and counting

[Charleston Pony]

so...is there even a plan if the funding was there?

[Water Pony]

so...is there even a plan if the funding was there?

During the last ten years, the Plan A has been to raze Perkins and replace it with a Georgian architecture themed Natatorium on the same site. It would be a long course (50m x 25 yards with no separate diving well) indoor pool. It would be expensive due to that specific location with the extra cost for the high end architecture, which is necessary on Bishop Blvd.

Plan B is a location off the primary campus, which would have the advantage of lower land cost and construction costs.

Plan C is discontinuing Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving, since the current Perkins Natatorium will need to be torn down at some point. Status quo can not last long.

[Charleston Pony]

so I suppose I will have to buy a Mega Millions ticket for tomorrow night...only way I'm going to help save swimming & diving at SMU. I'm assuming a new natatorium would be part of the "Olympics sports complex" I've heard some talk of on the east side of I-75 and that's going to take a chunk of change

[Water Pony]

so I suppose I will have to buy a Mega Millions ticket for tomorrow night...only way I'm going to help save swimming & diving at SMU. I'm assuming a new natatorium would be part of the "Olympics sports complex" I've heard some talk of on the east side of I-75 and that's going to take a chunk of change

Across North Central (I-75) Expressway is more than acceptable, if that is what it takes to get construction started. Perhaps an Indoor field house or Practice Facility (IPF) could be co-located with an aquatic center? Kill two (much needed) birds with one stone with lots of ca$h. Let me know if you win the Mega Millions, CP? I'll buy half the ticket.

[mustangxc]

I think that aside from the revenue sports we really do need to relocate all other teams to the other side of central. Put a swimming complex with indoor and outdoor polls, an indoor and outdoor track, soccer fields, and baseball and softball fields (in the future) all together and build some more graduate dorms around that area.

[fifty]

Is there room for all that anywhere mustangxc?

[mustangxc]

We will have to buy land. I think it has to be more reasonably priced on the other side of Central.

[BigT3x]

so I suppose I will have to buy a Mega Millions ticket for tomorrow night...only way I'm going to help save swimming & diving at SMU. I'm assuming a new natatorium would be part of the "Olympics sports complex" I've heard some talk of on the east side of I-75 and that's going to take a chunk of change

Across North Central (I-75) Expressway is more than acceptable, if that is what it takes to get construction started. Perhaps an Indoor field house or Practice Facility (IPF) could be co-located with an aquatic center? Kill two (much needed) birds with one stone with lots of ca$h. Let me know if you win the Mega Millions, CP? I'll buy half the ticket.

Central is not an interstate. It's US-75.

[Water Pony]

Thanks for the clarification. I always call it North Central Expressway.

BTW, is it safe to build a long course pool over it

[Pony147]

Thanks for the clarification. I always call it North Central Expressway.

BTW, is it safe to build a long course pool over it

Heard chatter from a very reliable source that they are going to raze the natatorium very soon and build a new swimming and diving complex on "East Campus" (I guess that's what they call their land east of 75 now)

[mustangxc]

Ironic that swimming and diving will get a new facility not as a reward, but to push them to the other side and use their current centrally located real estate to build something else.

[Pony147]

To play devil's advocate: where else are they going to put it? Perkins is cramped. Leveling it and building a new one on top of it would have the same problem. By putting it on the other side of 75, I'm sure the facility will be much larger

[mustangxc]

I am not complaining. I agree that it makes sense to move swimming to the other side of Central. In fact I advocate building a major sports complex there and add Track, Indoor track, soccer and potentially baseball and softbal in the future. I simply think that it is funny that swimming will finally get its due not because of swimming, but because they want the land that Perkins is on for something else.

[Water Pony]

Charleston Pony, Pony147 and MustangXC,

I thank you for bringing attention to the Natatorium dilemma, which needs resolution in the very near term. It may be ironic that Swimming & Diving may have to give up its Bishop Blvd. location, but the status quo has been worse for 10-20 years, while our Men's and Women's Teams have had to recruit, team and compete in a facility, Joe Perkins Natatorium, that is literally falling apart and lacks the minimum size a competitive pool requires, e.g. only six lanes by 25 yards.

When my coach, Red Barr, created and led our dominant program, the pool was adequate but hardly sufficient for the workout schedules we had, i.e. 3 different afternoon sessions to accommodate 50+ Men. Red hated to cut anyone. If you wanted to be on the team, were willing to train and had the right attitude, you could swam in practice and in competitive meets where we were clearly the dominate team. Even our All-American divers had to literally squeeze their time and bodies between our swim sessions (still true by the way.)

By adding the Women's program in the seventies, the bad situation became more than difficult. Men's team were cut in size to accommodate both the necessity of longer workouts and share pool time with the Women.

Remember, through the 60s', 70's and 80's, SMU Men and, then the Women, were Top 10 teams (often Top Five). National Champions and Olympic Swimmers were common on the Hilltop. Today, we struggle to be Top 30 and our current peers are not traditional top flight Swim programs.

If there is a decision to move east of 75, it would a minor loss when compared to actually changing the status quo and gaining a competitive aquatic center for Men and Women Teams, where we could once again host national and regional competition and be draw for future recruits. Even the loss of connecting the new Natatorium to the current A.R. Barr Outdoor Pool, thereby creating a great swim complex, would be acceptable though not ideal.

Thank again for the positive vibes for the Mustang Swimming & Diving. Go Mu Sigma Delta!

(BTW, as for above rumor, the possibility of such a move is real.)