An obstacle to the King Library site would be it’s proximity to Hall Auditorium and Harrison Hall. If you could tear down Hall as well you would have a great spot but I just don’t see that happening so you would be working within a pretty tight footprint. Maybe at that site the building is diagonal to align it with the slant walk.
You could absolutely move the contents of King to a modernized library facility.
I wonder if Roudebush is on the list of potential sites?
Build the new arena wherever the donor wants to build the arena. Period.
Millett Hall was built in 1968, Since that time, Miami:
(1976) Built the Goggin Ice Arena
“For Love. For Honor” capital campaign that had an athletic component that helped build the new “Goggin”, a new field hockey complex, a new baseball complex (McKie Field), a new softball complex and provided the McVicker Football Complex additions and considerable renovations to Yager Stadium. The Love and Honor Campaign provided NO support for Millett Hall or the Men’s Basketball Program. ZERO dollars were earmarked during this campaign for Millett Hall or Men’s/Women’s Basketball (or Volleyball).
(3) “Graduating Champions” all sports capital campaign that AD Sayler suggested was a: "once-in-a-generation effort that will create and name the signature athletic facilities that will be cornerstones of today’s and tomorrow’s athletic success”. There was a “small” $4M component for basketball but ultimately the ONCE IN A GENERATION effort involved ZERO component for M/W Basketball and Volleyball.
Grab the cash. Tear down a building and build it!
The library at Marshall burned down. They lost all four books, and two weren’t even colored in. Not sure if has been replaced.
True, he/she who has the gold makes the rules. And maybe that’s the right call. I personally can’t wait to see basketball consistently back in the show.
But, I really do wonder if not building it on north campus cannibalizes football support. Look at all the investment in the student performance center and indoor football facility as well as for football since Chuck arrived. What message does that send to football if the logic is “we had to build it uptown to ensure more people will go.”Last I checked, Yager was a longer walk than Millett.
Thus, here’s to the 8 Mile Creek casino/arena/floating barge/sponsored by Rumpke!
The former library is now a “ Biscuit World” franchise location.
I’m sorry, but just because some big swinging dick has a vanity project he wants to fund on campus doesn’t mean the university, faculty, students, and alumni should have no say in the matter. Donors/alumni who truly love the university don’t extort the institution. The alleged “built here or else” feels just like that, and if that’s the case I’ll take the “or else”.
My job puts me in the field of economic development and community engagement is essential. The community should have a say, regardless of who’s putting up the money and where it’s going. I would require the donor to engage in listening sessions with the community, have them structured, but have a good give and take. The most successful projects, projects that everyone can be proud of, include intensive community engagement
Don’t delete your posts. It ruins the show.
YEEESSSSSSSSS!
I would encourage a series of focus groups with various stakeholders rather than an open hearing that could become a loud posturing session.
I thought I was done posting on this thread, but talking about building things underneath the proposed building remined me that at the Friday night Lindenwood hockey game I was told that the plans include 2 practice gyms built underneath the facility ( kind of like the one underneath Millett and a 1500 seat volleyball Arena attached on one side. They want to keep the facility open for all kinds of other activities when there is not a game scheduled and still have a place for the three teams to practice.
If we’re going to have listening sessions, can we get the Board, Pres, AD and athletic staff all in there and do some overall athletic open sessions?
I never checked out a book from King during my time at Miami, but I regularly went to use the study spaces, group meeting spaces, etc… King got absolutely packed frequently (and still does I’m sure) with folks doing the same. The library has already adjusted to the modern age, it’s not just some unused stacks of books that can be shoved to some basement.
IMO, football has it’s own set of circumstances that makes it’s current location exactly where it should be. It’s not too far away from campus, and with only a handful of games a year during a better weather period, it makes the long walk possible. And being further out allows space for out of towners, tailgating, and an event atmosphere. I don’t worry about football at all when talking about his basketball arena.
I forget which high school, (Looking through famous Indiana high school gyms I’m thinking Connersville, but am unsure. May also be Muncie or Boonville all looked similar) but I went to an Indiana high school game long ago where you walked into the front doors and all seating/court was below the ground level. It was a massive bowl with seating for probably 4,000. If it can be done by a high school they could do something similar at Miami. It’d have to be a bit bigger for practice courts, bigger locker rooms, etc., but if height is a concern I do hope they think of a way to go down as well.
As long as they put it on campus, I really don’t care where it goes. This is frankly way too long overdue for me to care about its exact placement.
Miami needs to put the new arena on campus, in whatever location will attract the most students, fans, and top recruits. We should not lose sleep over slightly changing the aesthetic of campus when for all intensive purposes Miami has been in decline for 20 years. The basketball donor clearly has a vision, and now is the time for bold action.
In 2005, Miami’s USNWR ranking was #67, today it stands at #136. When I attended Miami, students chose our school over Michigan, Illinois, and UNC. Today, we compete with directional universities and Cincinnati. Our decline should not be acceptable to anyone on this chat board or other alums. A competitive basketball team (and a tournament run) will attract positive advertisement, donations, more student applications, and hopefully halt our school’s decline. We should all support a first class basketball facility in a prime campus location.
Call me crazy, but I don’t think a new basketball arena (wherever it is located) is going to move the needle on our USNWR ranking much.
Right on, Bash. The placement of a new basketball arena on campus will not have any direct impact on our national academic standing.
I don’t agree that we’ve been “in decline” for 20 years, either just because of the USNWR rankings. The Annapolis Group and other well-respected consortia caution about putting too much emphasis on the constantly manipulated national rankings.
Infrastructure at Miami has been improved and new facilities have been added during the past 20 years. And new programs have been added reflecting an increasing emphasis on STEM and the medical field. We are still a top notch public University that caters primarily to undergraduate students. Our international footprint was dampened by COVID-19 but is showing some signs of improvement. Recruitment of a more diverse freshman class remains a challenge, partially due to our exurban setting.
One of our most attractive features has always been our aesthetic beauty. I would strongly oppose placing any type of edifice along Slant Walk, in Bishop Circle or in what is now apparently called Central Campus - between the Sundial and McCracken. .
While I agree with the first portion of your post, I don’t think basketball (or football) will do a damned thing to reverse it. The so called Flutie Effect is fool’s gold. Schools improve their academic reputation by investing directly in academics. What’s Toledo’s sustained football success done for it? They’re a basket case with declining enrollment and closed down programs. Hell, they were even recently seriously discussing selling off their medical school for needed funds.