The pictures of the new convocation center are awesome! Seating for 8600, the practice facility, the parking deck - all are well planned and opening soon! Can't wait!

Curious what pictures you're seeing. The construction album hasn't been updated for 4 months. The renderings show us a BIG building, and a boring one at that. My opinion: the exterior of this facility is the most unimaginative structure JMU has ever built. I'm not clamoring for architectural greatness, but it consists of three materials: two tones of tan brick, mismatched metal paneling, and plain glass. The inside will be fine I'm sure. Speaking of a 4 month gap in construction updates, charter wall members were sold on private updates on the facility construction, which to my knowledge has happened once since groundbreaking. I'm underwhelmed with the construction progress updates on this project and think JMU is missing out here.

A member of the Duke Club asked me Sunday night where I was going to choose seats in the new arena. I deferred the question but I missed a great opportunity to say I am waiting to decide about whether I will buy seats or not (not a question of where) until I have some sort of idea of what the goals and directions are for the Men's hoops program.

Glad you're excited (it's 8500 seats by the way). Also please don't call it the new convocation center; that is disingenuous to the generosity of Atlantic Union Bank.

(02-04-2020 10:23 AM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  Also please don't call it the new convocation center; that is disingenuous to the generosity of Atlantic Union Bank.

If nothing else, it's the start of a new era, and a new era deserves a new name.

I understand I am one of the few who has this opinion, but I think this is a huge waste of money. As much as I love and support the women's team, I doubt they will ever draw enough to even fill 2/3 of the arena. Unless there is a miracle in the next ten years, ditto for the men's team. I don't even think we could draw a concert that would seat that many folks. Call me a Debbie Downer, but I am not really looking forward to the new space. Parking will be farther away too.

I am not a construction genius, but I think for a fraction of the funds the Convocation Center could have been renovated and been a very nice place to play basketball.

Ticket sales must not be booming. I got a call one day last week from a young man in the ticket office asking if I planned to reserve seats for women's basketball. I verified with him that the deadline date was not until the middle of March and told him I would be reserving my seat well before that.

(02-04-2020 10:49 AM)DukeQuin Wrote:  

(02-04-2020 10:23 AM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  Also please don't call it the new convocation center; that is disingenuous to the generosity of Atlantic Union Bank.

If nothing else, it's the start of a new era, and a new era deserves a new name.

Agree. But it's only a new era if there's a new coach involved. If not, its the same broken product with a shiny new wrapper on it.

(02-04-2020 10:59 AM)LovethoseDukes Wrote:  I understand I am one of the few who has this opinion, but I think this is a huge waste of money. As much as I love and support the women's team, I doubt they will ever draw enough to even fill 2/3 of the arena. Unless there is a miracle in the next ten years, ditto for the men's team. I don't even think we could draw a concert that would seat that many folks. Call me a Debbie Downer, but I am not really looking forward to the new space. Parking will be farther away too.

I am not a construction genius, but I think for a fraction of the funds the Convocation Center could have been renovated and been a very nice place to play basketball.

Ticket sales must not be booming. I got a call one day last week from a young man in the ticket office asking if I planned to reserve seats for women's basketball. I verified with him that the deadline date was not until the middle of March and told him I would be reserving my seat well before that.

The existing convocation center will require 30M+ to renovate. I'm fully on board with building a better facility. The capacity isn't for basketball; JMU would have been fine with a 5.5K facility (no upper level) when it comes to hoops, but if you're building you might as well spend the extra 20 mil for a place to hold higher capacity events things like graduations, concerts, rallies, etc. Literally everything about the new place will be better than the old.

Noooooot sure where you get by thinking parking will be farther away; for the average person there is closer parking and a lot more of it.

(02-04-2020 10:59 AM)LovethoseDukes Wrote:  I understand I am one of the few who has this opinion, but I think this is a huge waste of money. As much as I love and support the women's team, I doubt they will ever draw enough to even fill 2/3 of the arena. Unless there is a miracle in the next ten years, ditto for the men's team. I don't even think we could draw a concert that would seat that many folks. Call me a Debbie Downer, but I am not really looking forward to the new space. Parking will be farther away too.

I am not a construction genius, but I think for a fraction of the funds the Convocation Center could have been renovated and been a very nice place to play basketball.

Ticket sales must not be booming. I got a call one day last week from a young man in the ticket office asking if I planned to reserve seats for women's basketball. I verified with him that the deadline date was not until the middle of March and told him I would be reserving my seat well before that.

I don't think you are being a Debbie Downer. I respect your opinion. I certainly think if the admin ever gets serious about hiring a legit head MBB coach, the new arena could be filled or near-filled. A substantial subset of the student population alone would fill a large portion of the arena by themselves if they were ever given a legit & consistent product to get behind. It's been done before though we have to rewind 30 years to find it unfortunately.

Now, I'll be a Debbie Downer for a moment. While it *could* happen, there really is no reason for any JMU fan to get optimistic that the admin will get the next HC hire right. As Dr. Philip McGraw likes to say... "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior". Our past behavior supports your comment. So, you're just a realist (about MBB) and I respect that.

(02-04-2020 11:14 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(02-04-2020 10:59 AM)LovethoseDukes Wrote:  I understand I am one of the few who has this opinion, but I think this is a huge waste of money. As much as I love and support the women's team, I doubt they will ever draw enough to even fill 2/3 of the arena. Unless there is a miracle in the next ten years, ditto for the men's team. I don't even think we could draw a concert that would seat that many folks. Call me a Debbie Downer, but I am not really looking forward to the new space. Parking will be farther away too.

I am not a construction genius, but I think for a fraction of the funds the Convocation Center could have been renovated and been a very nice place to play basketball.

Ticket sales must not be booming. I got a call one day last week from a young man in the ticket office asking if I planned to reserve seats for women's basketball. I verified with him that the deadline date was not until the middle of March and told him I would be reserving my seat well before that.

I don't think you are being a Debbie Downer. I respect your opinion. I certainly think if the admin ever gets serious about hiring a legit head MBB coach, the new arena could be filled or near-filled. A substantial subset of the student population alone would fill a large portion of the arena by themselves if they were ever given a legit & consistent product to get behind. It's been done before though we have to rewind 30 years to find it unfortunately.

Now, I'll be a Debbie Downer for a moment. While it *could* happen, there really is no reason for any JMU fan to get optimistic that the admin will get the next HC hire right. As Dr. Philip McGraw likes to say... "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior". Our past behavior supports your comment. So, you're just a realist (about MBB) and I respect that.

I HOPE they get it right, but history certainly is not in our favor.
There are 2 things to consider and I doubt they get even one of them right.
1. Salary. To bring in a coach, they are going to have to open their wallet. History indicates they have been very reluctant or refuse to do so. Perhaps the new arena puts pressure on them to finally pay up.
2. The right coach. Honestly this part concerns me more than the first one. I think it's entirely possible that they spend up for a guy but the guy is a bad fit. So the question is: who is the right coach? I believe the right coach is a guy with experience, a winning record and the consistency to win. I think the coach also needs to show that he wasn't just piggybacking on the previous coach's success. It needs to be success he was responsible for. I am in support of a lower division coach if he has checked all of those boxes.
What I am not in support of is an assistant coach with zero head coaching experience. That is a risk we cannot afford to take right now. We cannot take a chance on a guy that would have to learn on the job again.

(02-04-2020 11:07 AM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  

(02-04-2020 10:59 AM)LovethoseDukes Wrote:  I understand I am one of the few who has this opinion, but I think this is a huge waste of money. As much as I love and support the women's team, I doubt they will ever draw enough to even fill 2/3 of the arena. Unless there is a miracle in the next ten years, ditto for the men's team. I don't even think we could draw a concert that would seat that many folks. Call me a Debbie Downer, but I am not really looking forward to the new space. Parking will be farther away too.

I am not a construction genius, but I think for a fraction of the funds the Convocation Center could have been renovated and been a very nice place to play basketball.

Ticket sales must not be booming. I got a call one day last week from a young man in the ticket office asking if I planned to reserve seats for women's basketball. I verified with him that the deadline date was not until the middle of March and told him I would be reserving my seat well before that.

The existing convocation center will require 30M+ to renovate. I'm fully on board with building a better facility. The capacity isn't for basketball; JMU would have been fine with a 5.5K facility (no upper level) when it comes to hoops, but if you're building you might as well spend the extra 20 mil for a place to hold higher capacity events things like graduations, concerts, rallies, etc. Literally everything about the new place will be better than the old.

Noooooot sure where you get by thinking parking will be farther away; for the average person there is closer parking and a lot more of it.

I was thinking about parking for WBB and current R lot right next to the Convo. I do admit I have not driven into the East Campus Parking Deck to see how far away from the new arena it is, but we also have not heard anything about where reserved parking will be in the new area. I would agree with you if we are talking about MBB games - that parking will be much closer than most folks can get right now.

Can we please correct the title of this thread?

W&M released their latest renderings for upgrades...

https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2020/wm-...center.php

What I like about their new digs is the solid/blank wall behind one of their baskets...not sure why JMU went with the wall on the sideline. There are more seats behind the baskets. But you lose that seating for concerts/stage set up b/c no one wants to sit behind the stage. If JMU would have created a horseshoe, the capacity would have been larger for non-basketball events. As for basketball, wouldn't it be more advantageous to have sideline seating and a wall behind the basket vs. a big wall on the sideline? JPJ is a good example of the horseshoe/wall behind the basket. I've been to basketball games and concerts and the layout makes a lot more sense than what JMU went with!

(02-04-2020 01:00 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  Can we please correct the title of this thread?

+1

jmudukes forgot to press the "Post Thread" button 18 months ago.

(02-04-2020 01:13 PM)DukedoG06 Wrote:  W&M released their latest renderings for upgrades...

https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2020/wm-...center.php

What I like about their new digs is the solid/blank wall behind one of their baskets...not sure why JMU went with the wall on the sideline. There are more seats behind the baskets. But you lose that seating for concerts/stage set up b/c no one wants to sit behind the stage. If JMU would have created a horseshoe, the capacity would have been larger for non-basketball events. As for basketball, wouldn't it be more advantageous to have sideline seating and a wall behind the basket vs. a big wall on the sideline? JPJ is a good example of the horseshoe/wall behind the basket. I've been to basketball games and concerts and the layout makes a lot more sense than what JMU went with!

I agree 100%. The blank wall on a sideline makes zero sense.

I was under the impression “the wall” was JMU’s way of building an arena with space for more suites (without initially building the suites).

(02-04-2020 07:16 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  I was under the impression “the wall” was JMU’s way of building an arena with space for more suites (without initially building the suites).

That's what I thought as well. And, we are going to make Bitchmond pay for it.

(02-04-2020 01:13 PM)DukedoG06 Wrote:  W&M released their latest renderings for upgrades...

https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2020/wm-...center.php

What I like about their new digs is the solid/blank wall behind one of their baskets...not sure why JMU went with the wall on the sideline. There are more seats behind the baskets. But you lose that seating for concerts/stage set up b/c no one wants to sit behind the stage. If JMU would have created a horseshoe, the capacity would have been larger for non-basketball events. As for basketball, wouldn't it be more advantageous to have sideline seating and a wall behind the basket vs. a big wall on the sideline? JPJ is a good example of the horseshoe/wall behind the basket. I've been to basketball games and concerts and the layout makes a lot more sense than what JMU went with!

(02-04-2020 06:36 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(02-04-2020 01:13 PM)DukedoG06 Wrote:  W&M released their latest renderings for upgrades...

https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2020/wm-...center.php

What I like about their new digs is the solid/blank wall behind one of their baskets...not sure why JMU went with the wall on the sideline. There are more seats behind the baskets. But you lose that seating for concerts/stage set up b/c no one wants to sit behind the stage. If JMU would have created a horseshoe, the capacity would have been larger for non-basketball events. As for basketball, wouldn't it be more advantageous to have sideline seating and a wall behind the basket vs. a big wall on the sideline? JPJ is a good example of the horseshoe/wall behind the basket. I've been to basketball games and concerts and the layout makes a lot more sense than what JMU went with!

I agree 100%. The blank wall on a sideline makes zero sense.

(02-04-2020 07:16 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  I was under the impression “the wall” was JMU’s way of building an arena with space for more suites (without initially building the suites).

I wish the DNR would have asked about the configuration. It's an unusual design and a departure from recently constructed arenas of that size. It was a logical question to follow up on.

(02-04-2020 07:26 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(02-04-2020 07:16 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  I was under the impression “the wall” was JMU’s way of building an arena with space for more suites (without initially building the suites).

That's what I thought as well. And, we are going to make Bitchmond pay for it.

Paid by renowned Drunkard Emeritus Jim Miller’s estate.

(02-04-2020 10:23 AM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  Curious what pictures you're seeing. The construction album hasn't been updated for 4 months. The renderings show us a BIG building, and a boring one at that. My opinion: the exterior of this facility is the most unimaginative structure JMU has ever built. I'm not clamoring for architectural greatness, but it consists of three materials: two tones of tan brick, mismatched metal paneling, and plain glass. The inside will be fine I'm sure. Speaking of a 4 month gap in construction updates, charter wall members were sold on private updates on the facility construction, which to my knowledge has happened once since groundbreaking. I'm underwhelmed with the construction progress updates on this project and think JMU is missing out here.

A member of the Duke Club asked me Sunday night where I was going to choose seats in the new arena. I deferred the question but I missed a great opportunity to say I am waiting to decide about whether I will buy seats or not (not a question of where) until I have some sort of idea of what the goals and directions are for the Men's hoops program.

Glad you're excited (it's 8500 seats by the way). Also please don't call it the new convocation center; that is disingenuous to the generosity of Atlantic Union Bank.

I always thought that entire side of campus was kind of ugly but I don't really care about the exterior of the basketball facility. The interior is a million times more important. I think about the college basketball stadiums around the country that I like the most and I don't even know what the outside of most of them look like.

(02-04-2020 10:59 AM)LovethoseDukes Wrote:  I understand I am one of the few who has this opinion, but I think this is a huge waste of money. As much as I love and support the women's team, I doubt they will ever draw enough to even fill 2/3 of the arena. Unless there is a miracle in the next ten years, ditto for the men's team. I don't even think we could draw a concert that would seat that many folks. Call me a Debbie Downer, but I am not really looking forward to the new space. Parking will be farther away too.

I am not a construction genius, but I think for a fraction of the funds the Convocation Center could have been renovated and been a very nice place to play basketball.

Ticket sales must not be booming. I got a call one day last week from a young man in the ticket office asking if I planned to reserve seats for women's basketball. I verified with him that the deadline date was not until the middle of March and told him I would be reserving my seat well before that.

I think that a renovation to the Convo instead of a new arena would pretty much be a tapout on MBB and at best just praying we can get lucky at some point without putting in the effort. Facilities are important for recruiting and recruiting advantages are important for attracting good coaches, obviously recruiting is directly important for a successful program as well.

If JMU finds the coach that can turn the program around, preferably with this very next hire, then this arena will leave some room to grow but won't be some huge overkill. Especially if we're then able to move to a conference with more exciting opponents than William & Mary and Delaware. I also don't think landing concerts that can fill it is that unrealistic either. The last concert I went to at JMU was Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa, that one sold out instantly and would've easily filled this new arena.