Iowa aims for $40 million-plus expansion of Carver-Hawkeye Arena

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By Steve Batterson | Saturday, May 3, 2008 7:00 PM CDT | () comments

Todd Lickliter’s introduction to the antiquated North Gym at the Iowa Field House came in late January.

One day before Lickliter’s Iowa basketball team hosted Penn State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, another event chased the Hawkeyes off of their home court and into facilities that typically house intramural volleyball games these days.

“We made do, but it wasn’t exactly ideal,’’ Lickliter said.

In recent seasons, University of Iowa teams have held practices as early as 7 a.m., as late as 10 p.m. or traveled across campus and even across town to find an open gym at a more convenient hour.

The Hawkeyes men’s and women’s basketball teams and volleyball team share one court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for games and practices throughout the school year. Wrestling and some gymnastics events are also held on the arena’s main floor, which also hosts concerts, graduations, conventions and other events.

At Iowa, the basketball and volleyball programs also share weight-training facilities at the arena with 18 other intercollegiate programs.

“We get our work in, but it’s not the best situation,’’ Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder said. “It takes a lot of coordination to make everything work.”

That’s one reason Iowa director of athletics Gary Barta will present a renovation plan to the Iowa Board of Regents later this year, a project that will carry an estimated pricetag of $40 million-$45 million.

The Regents gave Iowa approval in December, 2006, to begin the planning process for renovations at the

25-year-old arena that will include the addition of a practice facility.

In the interim, officials have been looking for options that will address the day-to-day needs of the programs that use the facility and improve the fan experience when they attend games.

Barta has said providing additional practice and weight-training space is his top priority.

Club seating and club areas will likely be a part of the plan, as will easier access to lower-level seats. Suites will not be included because of the way the seating bowl at 25-year-old Carver-Hawkeye Arena is configured.

Separate practice facilities for Big Ten basketball programs are nothing new.

Minnesota is the only school in the 11-team conference that does not either have a practice facility or has one in the planning stages and Gophers coach Tubby Smith has made no secret that he views upgraded facilities as a necessity for his program as it moves forward.

“There is no question that facilities do help grow programs and as importantly, they show a commitment from the institution to the sport,’’ Smith said. “We’ve had to find off-campus sites for our players to shoot at on their own because they haven’t been able to access Williams Arena at a time that works with their academic schedule.’’

Lickliter said the availability of practice space impacts not only his team as it prepares for games, but impedes individual development by players.

“There’s things we would like to do and ways we would like to structure our time — things we could prioritize better — if we had another facility,” Lickliter said.

“With another facility, it would be open and accessible if a player wanted to come in during his free time and work on his shooting. Now, that’s not always possible.”

Seth Gorney just completed his senior season on the Iowa basketball team.

He said he understands the need for additional practice space after participating in 7 a.m. workouts on Mondays during the second semester this season because of class and arena scheduling conflicts.

“I don’t think I even knew there was local news on television at 5:45 in the morning,’’ Gorney said. “Those aren’t my normal hours, but that’s when I got up to get to practice on time.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s the way it works. You talk to players at other schools, they’ve got places to go and workout. That would be a lot better than crawling out of bed that early. I don’t know if makes a difference in wins or losses — I’d never use that as an excuse — but it would be nice to have a practice gym of our own. That would be good for everybody.”

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.