The U brought out the construction hats, shovels and neon orange vests as some of the university’s biggest figures were featured in a ground-breaking ceremony Monday, May 5 for a new basketball facility. The 80,000-square-foot facility will cost roughly $36 million and should be completed by next summer.
The ceremony included Jon and Karen Huntsman, whose names will be featured on the building, as well as U President David Pershing, athletic director Chris Hill, men’s head coach Larry Krystkowiak, women’s head coach Anthony Levrets and current basketball players Jordan Loveridge and Taryn Wicijowski.
Jon Huntsman, the key benefactor of the project, spoke highly of the facility .
“We think with this completion, there will be no finer facility in the United States of America then the University of Utah’s new basketball facility,” he said.
One reason Huntsman believes the facility will be great is because Hill and Kyrstkowiak studied the best facilities the nation has to offer. Krystkowiak feels that in addition to the way things are run in both basketball programs at the U, the new basketball facility is a draw for incoming recruits.
Not only does it help bring in top-level talent, but Krystkowiak also thinks this new facility will set the bar for the rest of the league.
In the facility, there will be two gymnasiums, a sports medicine center, a strength and conditioning center, locker rooms, film rooms, a nutrition center, lounge areas, a media center and offices for the men’s and women’s coaching staffs. Another big part of the building will be the hall of fame and legacy hall areas.
Levrets, who spoke after Krystkowiak, poked a little fun at the men’s basketball coach, saying he took 11 minutes for his speech instead of the allotted time of three to five minutes. After that, Levrets continued to talk of the facility.
“I hate to call it a building,” he said. “We are talking about it to the kids that we are talking to as our new home.”
As excited as the coaches are, the players are just as, if not more, excited. Wicijowski spoke of how she had two ACL tears in her career and how she rehabbed the second one at the Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center, which opened last August. She praised the newer equipment, such as the underwater treadmills.
The new facility will not only provide state-of-the-art technology but will serve as something of a home for the teams.
“I’ll be coming out here many days to see what kind of progress they make,” Hill said. “Not as much [Krystkowiak], ’cause he waters the lawn and cuts everything. They’ll probably think he’s building his own house.”
After everyone finished speaking, they took to the shovels to officially break the ground. Once the ground was broken, Hill, Krystkowiak and Levrets took turns using a construction vehicle to take down a part of HPER East.
The Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Basketball Center is scheduled to be completed by next July.
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