USD Magazine, Spring 1999

HOW THEY STACK UP With the opening of the 5,000-seat Jenny Craig Pavilion, USD will move to the front of the arena pack among the Division I West Coast Confer– ence's eight members. The facilities include: • Santa Clara's Toso Pavilion: Opened in 1975, seats 5,000. Home to the wee basketball tournament six times in the 1990s. • Portland's Chiles Center: Opened in 1984, seats 5,000. Annual home to Oregon's state high school wrestling and girls' basketball championships. • Conz:aga's Martin Centre (formerly the Kennedy Center): Refurbished in 1986, seats 5,000. Hosted the 1992 Olympic women's basketball team camp and high school basketball tournaments. • The University of San Francisco's War Memorial Cym: Opened in 1957, remodeled in 1997. Hosted NBA games. • Loyola Marymount's Cersten Pavlllon: Built in 1984, Seats 4,100. Hosted the 1984 Summer Olympic boxing events. (Construction is planned for an adjacent $21 million athletic complex for

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WCC in terms of attracting recruits. None of the three say, though, that such a sudden transition will create a sense of pres– sure on coaches or athletes. "A new arena doesn't solve everything," says Holland. "What it does do is open doors that are not available to us right now." Marpe says the arena will give her basketball players the "total Division I college atmosphere" that they sought when signing a college commitment out of high school. The longtime coach says a new sports medicine and training room is perhaps one of the most attractive features of the new arena, but more important, is the atmosphere that will be created by having a state-of-the-art training room, locker rooms and team rooms on the same floor level as the arena. "When you run out on to the floor before a game, you want that sense of the school," says Marpe. "The intangibles, like a band playing and a home crowd, those kinds of things." Both athletes and coaches alike agree improved facilities will take an already successful athletics program to the next level - the national level. "Can you imagine what it would look like with ESPN in town for a WCC or NCAA tournament here?" muses Iannacone with a grin. "Opening shots of the campus, down to the bay, to the beach and the sunset. How good is that going to look?"

intramural and recreational needs). • Saint Mary's McKean Pavilion: Opened in 1978, seats 3,500.

• Pepperdlne's Firestone Fieldhouse: Opened in 1973 and remodeled to seat 3,100.

PAVILION COMPLETES EXPERIENCE

Though completion of the athletics master plan is years away, current athletes are excited about construction of the Jenny Craig Pavilion and the promise it holds. Coaches say the pavil– ion will help the university land wee championship tourna– ments and NCAA regionals. The new arena also can play host to concerts, political debates or other events. "It's amazing just thinking about what the Craig Pavilion will do right away," says Ching, a senior business major. The coaches of the three sports immediately affected - men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball - say the new arena will immediately take their teams to the top of the

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