The WVU Coliseum is a 14,000-seat multi-purpose arena located on the Evansdale campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The circular arena features a poured concrete roof. It was built with state funds and replaced the WVU Fieldhouse, which seated 6,000.
History
The Coliseum, which opened in 1970, has more than 10.5 million cubic feet (300,000 m3) of space. It is home to West Virginia University Mountaineers sports teams, including the men's and women's basketball teams, men's wrestling, and women's volleyball and gymnastics. There is also a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) weight room located in the lower level of the Coliseum. The arena has nearly 100 offices, 13 lecture and seminar rooms, a dance studio, safety lab, racquetball and squash courts, and the Jerry West Mountaineer Room, which holds nearly 150 people for meetings. The arena also has more than 1,000 individual locker units in various dressing rooms available for students and staff.
The Coliseum has been used for music concerts but the concrete roof has poor sound distribution properties, so other venues in town are more appropriate for this purpose. The arena was actually designed with poor acoustics; the designers cupped the ceiling so that crowd noise generated at basketball games would be directed back to the floor. The seating at the venue was also designed for optimized viewing during sporting events, making the setup for concerts to be not as optimal as other large arenas.
During the 1998-99 season, the Jerry West Lounge, named for WVU and NBA Hall-of-Famer Jerry West, was formally dedicated. A display showcasing the highlights of the Mountaineer great flanks the entrance to the lounge. In November 2005, the University announced that a life size bronze statue of West would adorn the Blue Gate entrance of the Coliseum, and the statue has since been installed there. West's number is retired and a sign hangs over the seating section formerly designated Section 44 (now Section 236, after renovation) with "Jerry West 44" written on it. Hot Rod Hundley's number 33 also is retired and hangs from the walls. On February 29, 2020, the number 44 was retired again in honor of Rod Thorn, who had worn the number immediately after West; Thorn's sign hangs over Section 226.
In 2004, the Coliseum underwent an upgrade which included renovations to the men's and women's locker rooms, construction of a player's lounge and team video theater, expansion of the equipment and athletic training rooms, refurbishment of the Coliseum roof, and construction of a club seating area in the main arena complete with a private space for concessions, hospitality area, and rest rooms under the lower level seats.
In 2008, the Coliseum received a new video scoreboard, a new public address system, a new lighting system, two LED ribbon boards, and a new floor design. WVU Athletic Director Ed Pastilong also announced the construction of a new $20–$22 million practice facility to be built adjacent to the Coliseum.
In 2016, the concourse area of the Coliseum underwent major renovation to enhance the fan experience, widening the concourse for better traffic flow, adding new concession areas (including self-serve options), and more than doubling the building's restroom capacity. During the summer of 2020, the arena's original 1970-era seats were replaced. The re-seating project did not change the Coliseum's seating capacity. The arena also received a new video scoreboard, with a larger display area and higher resolution than the previous scoreboard.
WVU Coliseum interior 2022
In 2019, the playing surface was refinished and repainted. The look is the sixth court design in the Coliseum since opening in 1970.[6] The previous court design was installed in 2009, but was repainted in 2012 when West Virginia University changed conferences from the Big East to the Big 12 in 2012.[7] The new court returns to the theme of West Virginia's historic courts with a primarily blue color scheme, and the design coincides with WVU's school-wide Nike rebranding efforts.[6]
