The AJC's Jeff Schultz interviewed Damon Evans about the Georgia Basketball coaching search. Damon talked about his plan, his passion for hoops, the need for a quality coach and an end to excuses for losing (Image: Stegeman Coliseum after the next renovation. Click to enlarge).
“I’ve been thinking about building Georgia basketball for a long, long time — ever since I first got here,” he said. “We’ve had a few good stints, but that’s not enough. I’m looking at things from a business standpoint. When you stand back, you ask: What is not living up to its potential? What can give us more visibility and create more excitement on campus? Basketball hasn’t allowed us to do that.”Schultz framed the article around the fact that this is Damon's first major hire. That's a fact not at all lost on Damon.
“Not to discount any of the hires we’ve made here,” Evans said Tuesday, “but I understand the magnitude of this.”It's a helluva interview. Being able to articulate a vision for what success looks like AND having the financial power to make it happen are two things our hoops program has lacked to date. This is a very encouraging article.
PWD
30 comments:
You're right, PWD, it's an excellent interview, and I am really glad Evans mentioned the facilities thing and how irrelevant it really is.
Per Jeff Schulz's comparison, here's a pic of empty Cameron Indoor Stadium, basketball palace:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Cameron_Indoor_Stadium_interior.jpg
Anybody who is honest can see the place is an outmoded dump. Looks like a Division III gym.
Winning cures all ills.
Trying again...delete the space between 7 and 3.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7
3/Cameron_Indoor_Stadium_interior.jpg
As far as the renovation goes, the only thing that I would like to change in the seating area is put in a scoreboard that hangs down over the center of the court. Something like Tennessee's scoreboard would make the seating area look 10 times better.
+1 to Damon for "getting it".
-1 to whoever designed that Jetson facade for Stegeman. Ugh.. as if South Campus needed yet another architectural style thrown into the mix.
i like the facade better than the one now. It would update that nasty 60s latticework nicely. Now that UGA has built the annex to go with the Stegeman style, you sort of have to keep it somewhat intact.
its not as if UGA's campus has any architectural integrity to begin with. The SLC is the most lackluster building ever.
sometimes our athletic department totally amazes me. we spend how ever many millions of dollars for a practice facility -- state of the art, aesthetically beautifal -- and continue to play our games in that dump. WHY can't we build a new arena? stegman is the joke of the conference. even the arena in starksville is above it, albeit for moderate success stansbury's had there (ie he's got his success to fall back on). the point being, we will NEVER have a successful program playing in stegman. all i ask for is a trip to the tourney every 2 years, i expect nothing more and i'll accept nothing less. i'm tired of it honestly. get out of that dump and build a freaking arena. tell me the folks in columbia sc aren't excited with what they've got going on. they've got an arena maybe 6 years old? i'm certain some of their success (albeit recent) is attributed to the new digs.
Those who insist the Steg is a dump....I ask this.
Why? What makes it a dump?
the lights, the concessions, the atmosphere, the student seating section, SPIKE, the corridors, the architecture, EVERYTHING.
at least the stage is gone, though.
Anon 814....
Now you're making excuses.
The lighting is fine....watch games on TV...Georgia shows up as bright as any.
The atmosphere is all about winning. If you were at the GaFla game Harrick's last year, you know the potential is there.
Student section seating....Nicer than Sanford...which gets rocking a bit.
Everything else....recruits could not give a rat's ass about. Favors did not stand up and say, "I am going to Tech because I hate Spike and the corridors are small."
excuses?
i understand being loyal to your school, i was one of those who stormed the court in 89 when we beat shaq with kessler and green. (still had the stage though). i love uga and uga hoops.
but watch games at florida, south carolina (now), tennessee (thompson bowling was a barren facility, but pearl's got it going on) and tell me we're not lacking in the facility department. kentucky doesn't count, but in our division alone we've got a light years to go.
and i defy you to find me one person who actually digs spike.
Have you been to a game at the OConnell center?
If they were losing, it would be a dump...the bottom part is all pull out bleachers like in a high school gym, and the constant smell of Chlorine from the indoor pools really gets on your nerves after, oh, about 20 seconds.
But they win...its cool to go to basketball...and no one knows anything about that.
Now, the concourses are nice.
never been, but the atmosphere is incredible on the tele.
the students do a great job with 1 side orange 1 side blue. electric atmosphere. i know the days of the m&m boys were'nt as electric as it is now, but it was impressive before they won their first title. (what was their center's name--i remember a taneyhillesque mullet)
the lighting seems 10 times better than our dump.
i'm just saying it would behoove us tremendously to play in a better facility.
while we're at it, build an indoor practice facility.
I've said that we are a sleeping basketball giant for years. Recruit from Albany, Macon, and Atlanta and you're pulling one of the best talent pools in the country - in those 3 cities. Certainly the right guy could add 2-3 each year from out of state.
Mix, blend, coach 'em = winner.
Anon,
We could spend $100 million and still not have the nicest arena in the SEC. So the strategic decision was made to invest in the nicest practice facility immediately upon Damon's arrival.
Kids spend more time in there than they do in the Arena anyway.
Also, we logistically had to build the practice facility first. If we were renovating the arena without a practice facility, where would the team practice?
The Ramsey Center isn't an option for men's and women's practices every day for 2 years....for a variety of contractual reasons between the athletic dept and university. So they had to build a practice facility first.
Lastly, you said...these things suck:
"the lights, the concessions, the atmosphere, the student seating section, SPIKE, the corridors, the architecture, EVERYTHING.
I've been inside every SEC arena except LSU (although Quinton has) and UF. And we're just not that far away IF you're talking about the inner bowl seating area.
The concourses, concessions, restrooms and facade are hideous. True. But no recruit ever picked GT over UGA because we have bars of soap in the restroom.
All of those areas will be renovated dramatically within 5 years. That's what the above graphic is about.
As for Spike.....lots of people like him. I personally don't care. But I also know that about half of the SEC teams have a Spike.
As for "atmosphere." That's not the facility's fault. That's the coach's fault.
If you were in Steg when Harrick and Tubby were rocking out, you know that concrete roof makes the crowd noise fall on the teams like THUNDER.
The problem is simply that we're not winning.
points taken, Westerdawg. my only time in the arena were Durham's years, particularly Kessler, Green, and yes, albeit briefly, Elmore Spencer (remember when he transfered to UNLV--talk about a disaster).
i know arkansas has their version of spike, which blows me away. i mean it's arkansas, 40 minutes of hell arkansas. why do they need a spike?
it's just difficult to see teams that struggled along with us rise above. and you blame the atmosphere on coaching (agreed), but when tubby and harrick had it going, it still looked like the games were being played in an unfinished basement. and i know recruits could care less about concessions, but the situation is laughable.
how many times are we going to renovate that joint? the cash spent could've built 2 arenas. understand the practice issue, Ramsey center was the first thing that came to my mind there. i just wish we would put more emphasis on hoops. talk is cheap. i've heard about renovating stegman so often i'm sick of it. i don't see it helping in the grand scheme of things, but i hope with every fiber of my being i'm wrong.
great blog!
I've been in the O'Connel center many times. It's not really that much better than Stegeman. In fact, it resembles Stegeman pretty closely in my opinion. I really have a hard time believing that Stegeman has anything to do with why we've had such a bad record over the years. I've just never heard that brought up as a factor.
I'll echo PWD's point about the Stegasoraus when Tub and Harrick had it rockin. Those were some fun days and the "inner" ring is aesthetically better now than it was then.
I'll add this....some of our own faithful, cough, cough, Dantzler, cough, cough....add to the problem with their CONSTANT reference to it as the Stegasaurus, etc.
As for the money spent...I think it has been spent decently. Those who remember the pre-Durham days when the closest seat was 50 feet from the court and elevated 6 feet can realize how horrible it was then.
Some of the money was spent simply on maintenance and air conditioning a building that in reality, and engineerlicly (yep, made up) has no business being air conditioned.
Imagine selling THAT to a recruit at a camp in mid-July.
in my opinion it's no different selling the steg to a recruit now . . .
Well, again:
Look at all the McDonald's Americans going to Duke.
DUKE. Duke has a crappy, old, near high school facility. It has the toughest entrance requirements and curriculum of any school outside of the Ivy League. Yet, it is a player on the national scene and gets great recruits EVERY YEAR.
How? Why?
Basketball is NOT the same as football. Just STFU about the facilities, people. They are NOT the problem!
Concerning Cameron Indoor:
"Anybody who is honest can see the place is an outmoded dump. Looks like a Division III gym."
Cameron is like a pimped out Wrigley Field. Close, old confines (the bleachers underneath the Crazies are essentially a joke), but the rest of the building is beautiful, and their athletic building is top notch. They can get away with Cameron being tiny because it's Cameron. It's aged very well.
Count me as one of those who likes Spike. It's an amusing gimmick. Spike was big when the team was actually good, so I don't think he's taking anything away from the atmosphere.
I was at Georgia/Florida '03 when the students rushed the court. There's nothing wrong with the student section that winning can't fix. Though...I wish they'd switch sides so we didn't see the blue bloods posing as empty seats on TV all the time.
The O-dome looks awesome on TV because all you see is the student section. Pan the camera back and the arena design is a disaster. Way too much empty space all over.
I can live with the concourse if 1) the bathrooms weren't a joke and 2) the concessions didn't suck. They've made slight improvements with the food- it was even worse during the Harrick years- but there's still a long way to go.
rbubp---there's a history at cameron indoor. it is what it is, dump yes, also has it's charm though. charm meaning it's been the sight of countless big wins.
all i'm saying is stegman does NOTHING to enhance a program that is LIGHT years away from duke. all we here about in recruiting (football at least) is that facilities matter immensly. if that's the case in hoops (as it should be) then we're screwed. we'll never get over the hump. bring tubby back and i'll shut up about the steg. until then i'll gripe about this place until something's done or we make the tourney 2 years in a row.
Anon 9:09,
You need to get to the arena if you haven't been since the Durham days. Folks not attending games is the problem. Not the arena.
We've invested about $8-10 million in renovations. I was going back then, and it was disgusting.
Hell, I walked across that stage to graduate.
BTW -- to the person talking about it being air conditioned. The idea of not having that service to start with was dumb. I assume you were kidding. When I graduated in that facility in June '90 it was about 100 degrees in there.
The biggest problem with Steg historically were the stables out back until the late 90s AND the fact that the RODEO was in town during the Spring Signing Period.
Now....THAT....that was a facility problem.
The original building was heated and ventilated, it was not cooled. Atleast not the auditorium part of it anyway. It was converted over during the olympics to have cooling also. There are no problems cooling it from an engineerlicly standpoint.
The story I had always heard, whether myth or not, was that based on the arch, pitch, shape, whatever of the roof that in 1964 it could not be effectively air conditioned.
Hey, when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong.
Also reading back...yes it needs air conditioning, but I had always heard that when built it could not be air conditioned. What I wrote made no sense.
I was at the O-Dome last night for the South Carolina game. There were about 4,000 empty seats. They have very little lower level seating and lots of seats that don't directly face the court because the stands don't curve at all. The atmosphere was really lacking for a game that may have serious SEC East implications.
It is a little nicer than Stegeman as far as the concourses and concessions go (though the bathrooms are a huge hassle to get to if you're in the upper level), but the main difference is that they've had good teams since Donovan showed up.
Jeez, why won't people just lay off of Spike? For crying out loud, he's the only thing that brings a smile to your face when you go to the games these days.
And I might add, his field goal percentage is better than Albert Jackson's.
If Spike is the only thing bringing a smile to your face...
You haven't been paying attention to this year's crop of Dance Dawgs.
This facilities talk I find really humorous. Damon's absolutely spot on - the facilities really only go so far.
Have any of you ever been to Pauley Pavilion? It's about as fancy on the outside and inside as my high school basketball gym.
Winning and coaching is what makes the biggest difference. Not whether the concourses are freshly painted.
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