Athletics director Scott Kilgallon chuckled as he looked at the pamphlet from the 1969 opening of McPhee Center. It described the gym floor as state of the art and long lasting. He agreed that it is long lasting – it’s still there, almost 40 years later – but not that it is still state of the art.
It’s time for change, Kilgallon said.
The university is working on a proposal that would fund, among other things, a new wood floor to replace the current “Tartan” flooring in McPhee.
The current floor has a thin layer of a material called “Tartan” over concrete. Troy Terhark, sport facility operation manager, said the floor has been resurfaced a few times.
Terhark said the users of the gym have been requesting, from the state, funding for a new floor for five to seven years because of the injuries it causes to athletes.
The project would cost around $1 million, with $350,000 for the floor, $190,000 for new partitions for the bleachers as well as the cost to remove the old floor, which is expensive because there is mercury in it, Terhark said.
The new floor would be spring loaded and raised 2.5 inches.
“It will look gorgeous,” Kilgallon said.
The university recently received $6.8 million for improvements to McPhee. The building is so old, Terhark said, that it needs to get back up to code. The money will go to building new ceilings and upgrading the heating and cooling; making it handicap accessible; and updating security and emergency systems.
“It’s fortunate and unfortunate at the same time,” Terhark said of the future improvements.
That project is up to bid for contractors right now and will begin in the winter. Kilgallon said the project will be phased to interrupt as few activities as possible.
Originally, Terhark said the new flooring was included in the current project, but did not receive funding from the state. He said immediately after it was rejected, the university started working on another proposal. Terhark and Kilgallon had no timetable for when the project could receive funding. In the first proposal, Kilgallon hoped to have the floor completed by Fall 2008.
Currently, the athletics department, university recreation and the kinesiology department use the gym. Most notably, the women’s volleyball team plays its home games on the floor.
Senior and volleyball player Heather Harnell expressed concern with the floor. She said it is in rough shape and worries about possible injuries. She also said other members of the volleyball team, as well as the women’s basketball team, have those same concerns.
Kilgallon described the floor as “a granite-top pool table.” He said a new floor would protect users from injury and, from an athletic standpoint, would help coaches recruit athletes.
“The key to this project is that the building is so old.”