Boy, this Sun Dome renovation project is just rolling along smoothly, isn't it? First the issue with the Board of Trustees and the financing plan, then the men's basketball team having to play the entire season off campus, then the volleyball team getting stuffed into the Campus Recreation Center, and now this, from Greg Auman's chat earlier today:
Comment From Harborbull
When do you think the renovations for the sundome will be completed?May? USF is still finalizing plans and, despite everyone asking, still hasn't supplied any renderings of what it might look like. I think the project is still in demolition mode, but it's hard to imagine it being done anywhere near fast enough to play a game there this season. Looks like the women's team will join volleyball in the Rec Center for its four nonconference home games, then go to UT for Big East games, with a couple of doubleheaders with the men at Times Forum.
I'm sorry, are we in Division III or something? Playing actual basketball games that count in the standings in the goddamn Campus Recreation Center? And I assume this means games will be in the Upper Gym since the Lower Gym doesn't have any bleachers.
It's bad enough that the basketball teams had to practice in there in past years. Even worse that the volleyball team will have to play games in the old, 1960s-era Upper Gym. (I can't wait until the low ceilings interfere with a dig.) But now we're going to put one of the basketball teams in there, even if it's only for a few games? What an embarrassment. Not only will the women's team be practicing in a nicer facility than this, but there are high school gyms all around Tampa that are in better shape and have better amenities than the Upper Gym. This is bush league stuff, and who knows what kind of Title IX implications this might have, since it's pretty clear that USF doesn't think all that much of those rules.
And what happened to The Corral, exactly? Why is that completely unavailable to any sports? Are we going to get some kind of explanation from Bill McGillis about this, or is he going to ignore all the "procedural delays" and malfunctions happening on his pet project while he keeps trying to impress people with tweets about $500 an hour cranes? (Speaking of which, when do the cost overruns start? With how well this project is moving along, you have to figure those are coming down the road.)
Jose Fernandez has to be even more furious than we are (to say nothing of Claire Lessinger), and rightly so. This is ridiculous. And really nice of USF to let the news just seep out quietly as if no one was going to notice that two of our most prominent women's sports are playing on intramural courts.
P.S. How can you be six months into a renovation project and still not have any final plans to show anyone what it's going to look like when it's done? There's an "opportunity for you to get better" right there.