Sep 5, 2008
Chapel Hill, N.C. — Like a used car, Carmichael Auditorium needed repairs a few thousand miles ago.
Finally, North Carolina decided to make them.
For about the next year and a half, Carmichael will undergo major renovations aimed at turning the lovable jalopy into a modern, hot-rod arena. The major changes include adding two wings to the building, upgrading the front lobby, revamping the sound system and even installing air conditioning.
Right now, the building – so familiar to long-time Carolina fans as the home of many of Dean Smith’s best teams - is being gutted for the new look.
“What we want to do is create a first-class facility there that not only athletic events but University events can be held,” UNC Athletics Director Dick Baddour said. “We don’t have an auditorium or an arena anywhere else on campus that sits that number of folks, so this we feel like will be a tremendous venue for the campus.”
Baddour envisions Carmichael as a location for events such as performances, meetings, convocations and graduations of UNC’s professional schools like the law and dental schools, which “would require more space than Memorial Hall has, but you wouldn’t need as much space as you have in the Smith Center.”
All the teams that normally call Carmichael Auditorium home will relocate to the Smith Center until Carmichael’s renovations conclude.
That means that men’s basketball, women’s basketball, wrestling, volleyball and gymnastics all currently live under one voluminous roof – just like in the old days, before the men’s hoops team moved into the Smith Center in 1986.
The women’s basketball program stands to benefit greatly from the renovations.
“It’s about a $30 million project,” coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “And when it finishes, we will be the only women’s basketball team in the country with their own state-of-the-art arena.”
Hatchell said that a school’s athletic facilities factor heavily into the recruiting game, and she felt that Carmichael “was hurting us some with recruiting. We had some great teams, but our facility wasn’t really up to par with everybody that we were competing against.”
Carmichael, which opened in 1965, “needed some tender loving care” – and Hatchell wasn’t alone in thinking that.
Baddour said that talk of refurbishing Carmichael began as many as eight years ago and intensified three years ago, after a student fees increase.
In its current condition, Carmichael would not suffice for its envisioned future uses. “It’s not air-conditioned. Never has been, but it’s going to be. That’s huge,” Baddour said. “And the sound-system is horrible. Always has been.”
As for the building’s additions, Baddour said: “One wing will house women’s basketball, and the other will add office space for the coaches that are in that facility. We’re bringing out the very front of it, creating a bigger lobby and a nicer reception area for people to come in.”
Willie Scroggs, UNC’s Senior Associate Athletic Director of Facilities, said the two wings will add about 30,000 square feet of office space to the building and give it a symmetrical look.
“A project of this size, I wish I could say it would be finished by October the 8th of 2009. It’s a moving target,” Scroggs said. “So we don’t have an exact date. Hopefully we’ll just miss one season of competition for women’s basketball and volleyball, and that’s our hope and desire right now.”
A lot of people likely share that hope and desire. According to Baddour, “We’ve got close to a scheduling nightmare going on … and it’s going to inconvenience everybody.”
Baddour said that the construction affects men’s and women’s soccer because they play at Fetzer Field (adjacent to Carmichael), and fences surrounding Carmichael restrict the entranceways to Fetzer. Baddour said that’s one of the reasons UNC is not charging admission to soccer events this year.
But both Hatchell and Baddour said everyone understands why it is necessary to make the changes.
“We’re going through a time of inconvenience,” Baddour said. “But everyone looks beyond that to the product we’re going to have a year and a half from now. So that will be well worth it.”
Both Baddour and Hatchell emphasized that they wish to preserve Carmichael’s atmosphere.
“We think it’s a great size for women’s basketball,” Baddour said, “where our fans are right on the court – it gets loud as all get-out in there – and everything that we are doing will enhance that, not only for our players but particularly for the fan experience.”
And Hatchell – who said, “Carmichael will never lose its charm” – thinks that, if anything, the in-game experience will be better because individual seats replaced bleachers in the lower part of the arena. Carmichael used to seat 10,000 people, but will now fill to capacity at around 8,000 fans.
“It will still be loud and crazy and a tremendous home court advantage when we play there,” she said.
As for playing in the Smith Center, Hatchell said, “It’s sort of bittersweet. Yes, we’re playing in a great arena, but we’re not at our warm and fuzzies of Carmichael – cause Carmichael for us creates warm and fuzzies.”
Hatchell said that the Tar Heels might sacrifice some home court advantage while in the Smith Center, where 8,000 people don’t fill even half the stadium. “But hey,” she said, “We’re going to get it back, and we’ll have probably the best women’s basketball facility in the country.”
And, eventually, the used car will leave the shop looking like new – and as warm and fuzzy as ever.
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