UNT Coliseum

"Super Pit" redirects here. For the gold mine in Kalgoorlie, Australia, see Super Pit gold mine.
UNT Coliseum
"The Super Pit"
Location 801 North Texas Blvd
Denton, Texas 76201 USA
Owner University of North Texas
Operator University of North Texas
Capacity 10,500
Construction
Broke ground March 1971
Opened March 27, 1973[1]
Construction cost $7.5 million[2]
($40 million in 2016 dollars[3])
Architect Clutts & Parker, Inc.[4]
General contractor Manhattan Construction Company[2]
Tenants
UNT Athletics (1973–present)
The UNT Coliseum in 2015
UNT Coliseum, Interior 2016

The UNT Coliseum is a 10,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in Denton, Texas, United States built in 1973. Despite being home to the North Texas Mean Green men's and women's basketball teams, the athletic department rents the building from the University of North Texas. For non-athletic functions, the arena is known as the Coliseum and for athletic functions the arena is known as the Super Pit, a nickname derived from its proximity to the former home of the Mean Green basketball teams, the Ken Bahnsen Gym, nicknamed the Snake Pit. It is the largest basketball arena in Conference USA.

History

The arena opened in 1973 and has undergone very few changes since its opening, mainly due to the unusual physical construction of the building in which the lower concourse is supported by beams underneath the walkways that run the length of the building as well as the media section being placed at half court on the West side of the arena.[5] Due to the prior home of the Mean Green being famous for noise, the Coliseum was designed specifically to retain noise and as such, the Mean Green have maintained a high winning percentage at the facility. In recent years upgrades, however, have been few and fair in between with the exception of the seats being repainted green from their original color of brown and the stadium's sound and video boards undergoing a massive renovation with the introduction of 4 center-hung LED scoreboards.

Despite the building's main usage as the home of the Mean Green, over the years it has hosted many famous concerts, notably Pearl Jam in 1993[6] and J. Cole in 2014.[7] In addition to concerts, the arena routinely holds area graduations, festivals, cheer, dance and gymnastic competitions and has hosted the 1988 Southland Conference Tournament. It was also highly lauded upon completion, holding first and second round games of the 1976 NCAA Basketball Tournaments.[8] North Texas has compiled a winning percentage of over .640 at the Pit. During the 1975-1983 era under men’s coach Bill Blakeley, North Texas, playing primarily as an independent, recorded three twenty-win seasons, its first-ever top-20 ranking, the four biggest crowds in Super Pit history and memorable wins over Texas, Kansas State and a sell-out crowd against SMU, which to this date, is the highest-attended basketball game at the arena.[8]

Due to the facility's age, the current UNT administration is looking into large-scale renovations of the aging facility, citing the notoriously poor lighting and need for improved infrastructure.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Wives Set For Banquet". Denton Record-Chronicle. March 27, 1973. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Coliseum Beaming". The North Texan. June 1972. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  3. ↑ Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Architectural Rendering of the Coliseum #2". University of North Texas. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  5. ↑ "The Yucca".
  6. ↑
  7. ↑
  8. 1 2 "The Super Pit". University of North Texas Athletics. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  9. ↑

External links

Coordinates: 33°12′30″N 97°9′14″W / 33.20833°N 97.15389°W / 33.20833; -97.15389

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