Round 2 of Facilities Improvement Started

NT91 · February 11, 2017

Is baseball dead at NT?

NorthTexan95 · February 11, 2017

2 hours ago, NT91 said:

Is baseball dead at NT?

If having no baseball team means baseball is dead then yes. How far off the rebirth is can be hard to say. I could see it being a decade away if things don't go well. It could be a couple of years if a big donor steps up. I would guess it would be closer to 10 years than 1 year but that's completely a guess. No inside info at all.*

*I reserve to right to be completely wrong and ignorant about what I'm talking about.

Edited February 11, 2017 by NorthTexan95

outoftown · February 11, 2017

10 minutes ago, NorthTexan95 said:

If having to baseball team means baseball is dead then yes. How far off the rebirth is can be hard to say. I could see it being a decade away if things don't go well. It could be a couple of years if a big donor steps up. I would guess it would be closer to 10 years than 1 year but that's completely a guess. No inside info at all.*

*I reserve to right to be completely wrong and ignorant about what I'm talking about.

That is a plus one on the merrits of the footnote alone.

oldguystudent · February 11, 2017

55 minutes ago, NT91 said:

Is baseball dead at NT?

If it means anything, I've pretty much given up hope on it and tend to not think about it at all anymore.

UNTLifer · February 11, 2017

Missed the boat when the Goldfield's were willing to foot the bill. I understand RV crapped that relationship, but I wonder if someone from the new staff has reached out to them.

Army of Dad · February 11, 2017

1 hour ago, oldguystudent said:

If it means anything, I've pretty much given up hope on it and tend to not think about it at all anymore.

Probably the healthiest attitude to have towards UNT athletics in general.

MCMLXXX · February 11, 2017

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Missed the boat when the Goldfield's were willing to foot the bill. I understand RV crapped that relationship, but I wonder if someone from the new staff has reached out to them.

Al lives in Florida with his new wife. He attended at least one game last year and was introduced to Wren. He harbors no ill feelings towards RV.

KRAM1 · February 11, 2017

4 hours ago, NT91 said:

Is baseball dead at NT?

For the time being it is being "delayed" until these other projects and upgrades are completed. See my previous post regarding Dr. Smatresk's comments. It mentions what he said about baseball.

Harry · February 11, 2017

4 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

For the time being it is being "delayed" until these other projects and upgrades are completed. See my previous post regarding Dr. Smatresk's comments. It mentions what he said about baseball.

Thank you for the updates Kram.

Aquila_Viridis · February 11, 2017

The way other large public universities have constructed new BB arenas, the Pit has to be a significant negative factor in BB recruiting, and probably in other recruiting, even competing just for good students. It is not modern and has been terrible looking even since it was modern. With my kids I toured many universities. When good students go around they see all the facilities and there is a higher expectation now.

Ryan Munthe · February 12, 2017

7 hours ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

The way other large public universities have constructed new BB arenas, the Pit has to be a significant negative factor in BB recruiting, and probably in other recruiting, even competing just for good students. It is not modern and has been terrible looking even since it was modern. With my kids I toured many universities. When good students go around they see all the facilities and there is a higher expectation now.

Absolutely. It without a doubt will continue to hurt recruiting. It is the first place a lot of our students go as well...not a good introduction, IMO. Hell, 7 years ago I walked in and thought it was a dump.

It's built bizarrely where the steps are the actual structure of the facility, so I really don't think we would be able to renovate it and it be worthwhile.

If we insist we need to keep it for the university, OK. Build our BB team a 6-8K arena with luxury boxes and, well, lighting.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Ryan Munthe

GMG24 · February 12, 2017

On 2/10/2017 at 9:47 PM, Army of Dad said:

The Super Pit is a fine place to watch basketball. The biggest problem is the product on the floor over the last 4 or 5 seasons...

I challenge you to attend a game at any of the 3 local universities UTA, SMU, TCU and tell me how we fair just in those 4. SMU seating is WAAAAY to tight, but you forget about it with all of the really cool upgrades they did. It is also SUPER steep at the top, we could have a really really cool set up at the PIT, including some really cool suites if done right. I agree that would be the next step once we get the product on the floor fixed first.

TreeFiddy · February 12, 2017

It would be kind of cool to see a design that replaces the sideline upper deck with suites and replaces the press box with something else.

KRAM1 · February 12, 2017

Just FYI, and something that no one else has mentioned....the existing Super Pit has some handicapped accessibility issues as well.

BTG_Fan1 · February 13, 2017

3 hours ago, KRAM1 said:

Just FYI, and something that no one else has mentioned....the existing Super Pit has some handicapped accessibility issues as well.

This is one of the biggest problems with the SuperPit, it wasn't ADA complaint. I know that they have only 1 handicap enterance to the stadium, and only a few seats/areas for them to sit as well. Issues like this are a just one of many, as to why they are looking forward towards a new SuperPit.

UNTFan23 · February 13, 2017

2 hours ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

This is one of the biggest problems with the SuperPit, it wasn't ADA complaint. I know that they have only 1 handicap enterance to the stadium, and only a few seats/areas for them to sit as well. Issues like this are a just one of many, as to why they are looking forward towards a new SuperPit.

Code requirements were different back in the early 70s. For one, there wasn't the Americans for Disabilities Act, which didn't come into law until 1990.

DeepGreen · February 13, 2017

Is it possible that the Super Pit must be upgraded to conform to ADA requirements? Being a state facility?

Edited February 13, 2017 by DeepGreen

TheWestie · February 13, 2017

On 2/10/2017 at 8:03 PM, BTG_Fan1 said:

If you look at ground level entry doors that are towards the Pohl Rec center, you can see that they had to cut an access door/panel on left hand side for them to run wiring for generators at times.

Dude, no.

If you're talking about the access hatch next to the giant loading doors at the North ramp that is for cabling for broadcast trucks. When games are televised, the production company that produces the broadcast runs their own cabling between the cameras and mics out to their production and transmission truck, where the producers and editors cut the broadcast together live. Miles of cabling running to semi trailers which are powered by rental generators are a common sight at every broadcast college basketball and football game, NFL, NBA, MLB, awards show, etc.

CFP_National_Championship_2015_ESPN_bexe

TV production crews use generators so they can have their own source of power in case something happens at the stadium, like say an earthquake during the World Series or half the power in the Superdome going out and other reasons including not having to pay the arena owner for using their electricity.

Edited February 13, 2017 by TheWestie

FirefightnRick · February 13, 2017

1 hour ago, DeepGreen said:

Is it possible that the Super Pit must be upgraded to conform to ADA requirements?

Yes...but apparently only if you want to host a Quarterly Meeting in it.

Rick

Edited February 13, 2017 by FirefightnRick

Army of Dad · February 13, 2017

15 hours ago, GMG24 said:

I challenge you to attend a game at any of the 3 local universities UTA, SMU, TCU and tell me how we fair just in those 4. SMU seating is WAAAAY to tight, but you forget about it with all of the really cool upgrades they did. It is also SUPER steep at the top, we could have a really really cool set up at the PIT, including some really cool suites if done right. I agree that would be the next step once we get the product on the floor fixed first.

I've seen games at SMU and the old theater stage thing at UTA. I'd have seen the new stadium, but since we stopped being competitive in MBB about 5 years ago I stopped going to road games.

Did you get a chance to attend any home games later in JJ's tenure? I don't think the students at the TT game felt like they were missing out on anything because of the stadium.

GMG24 · February 13, 2017

5 hours ago, Army of Dad said:

I've seen games at SMU and the old theater stage thing at UTA. I'd have seen the new stadium, but since we stopped being competitive in MBB about 5 years ago I stopped going to road games.

Did you get a chance to attend any home games later in JJ's tenure? I don't think the students at the TT game felt like they were missing out on anything because of the stadium.

I did, sat directly across from the bench in the upper deck with my GF at the time, now my wife. Had a blast watching Josh White give them fits. I don't disagree that the pit can be a fun place if you're winning. I just think it can be even better with upgrades.

DT 90 · February 13, 2017

21 hours ago, GMG24 said:

I challenge you to attend a game at any of the 3 local universities UTA, SMU, TCU and tell me how we fair just in those 4. SMU seating is WAAAAY to tight, but you forget about it with all of the really cool upgrades they did. It is also SUPER steep at the top, we could have a really really cool set up at the PIT, including some really cool suites if done right. I agree that would be the next step once we get the product on the floor fixed first.

Have you ever been to Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas? It is truly a barn with bleachers. I have seen rodeo arenas that have better facilities than that place. Doesn't seem to hold them back from recruiting top tier recruits.

UNTLifer · February 13, 2017

5 minutes ago, DT 90 said:

Have you ever been to Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas? It is truly a barn with bleachers. I have seen rodeo arenas that have better facilities than that place. Doesn't seem to hold them back from recruiting top tier recruits.

Exactly. I really don't think the Super Pit is a problem for recruiting. Heck, Benford's one success has been recruiting talent. Quirky old gyms are fun and add to the home court advantage. Back 100 years ago when I played, one of our home courts' floors had some "dead" areas. We structured our defense to funnel the opposition to those areas thus creating turnovers. We loved it. The Super Pit is far from an old, quirky gym.

The original Pit is a great example. Players want to play were they can win.

Edited February 13, 2017 by UNTLifer

Ryan Munthe · February 13, 2017

46 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Exactly. I really don't think the Super Pit is a problem for recruiting. Heck, Benford's one success has been recruiting talent. Quirky old gyms are fun and add to the home court advantage. Back 100 years ago when I played, one of our home courts' floors had some "dead" areas. We structured our defense to funnel the opposition to those areas thus creating turnovers. We loved it. The Super Pit is far from an old, quirky gym.

The original Pit is a great example. Players want to play were they can win.

Yes, but the original Pit is fun and quirky. It is weird, in that it literally was a Pit. I would love to see a game there. The Super Pit is just a big, old, dark arena that is lucky to ever be 50% full for a basketball game.

Everyone talks about the attendance from the Johnny Jones days...we averaged about 5.5K at our best...games were incredibly fun, no doubt, but just sayin'...they'd be more fun in a less dingy and more intimate environment.

Edited February 13, 2017 by Ryan Munthe

GMG24 · February 13, 2017

52 minutes ago, DT 90 said:

Have you ever been to Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas? It is truly a barn with bleachers. I have seen rodeo arenas that have better facilities than that place. Doesn't seem to hold them back from recruiting top tier recruits.

Come on, Kansas compared to UNT? Look ladies and gents, I am simply pointing out the interior of the Pit could use a big boost. Even inside of Allen Field House it feels like a brand new arena because of lighting, special effects, and screens. The hanging scoreboard over center court and some of the lighting they've done is a start but there is plenty more that can be done to make the inside of the Pit come to life.