At Saint Joseph's University, diehard basketball fans like to say that "the Hawk will never die." For one year though, the Hawk will be forced to flap its wings outside of Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse - and quite possibly in the Palestra.
The 3,200-seat arena is slated to be part of a $25 million athletic facilities project that St. Joe's administrators hope will be finished by 2010. The university intends to add at least 1,000 seats to the current facility. The total seating, however, will depend on how many benches as opposed to chair-back seats are added.
The Hawks will have to play outside the Fieldhouse for one season while construction occurs, and where they will likely end up might be of particular interest to Penn students.
The St. Joe's men's basketball team intends to play at the Palestra in either the 2008-09 or 2009-10 season, depending on when construction starts.
While there are no definite plans in place, and negotiations are just beginning, St. Joe's officials say they do not expect any difficulties when working with Penn. They called the Palestra home for games against Drexel, George Washington and Princeton early in the 1989-90 as the roof of the Fieldhouse was being repaired.
"They have been a great partner for a long time," St. Joe's athletic director Don DiJulia said of Penn. "They are as flexible as possible."
DiJulia said that the excellent relationship between Penn and its Big 5 rival has not changed, even though the man in charge of the Quakers' program in 1989, then-Penn coach Fran Dunphy, left for Temple this year.
St. Joe's will work with new men's coach Glen Miller and women's coach Patrick Knapp, as well as the facilities and athletics staffs, on scheduling issues once it decides which season will be played in the Palestra.
DiJulia acknowledged that Penn typically plays Ivy League games on Friday and Saturday nights. He expects that St. Joe's will have to schedule several Saturday afternoon and Sunday games in deference to the Quakers. In addition, they will seek to arrange home-and-home agreements that can be played at the opponent's venue that season.
There are no indications currently for how Penn would conform its schedule, if at all, to accommodate the needs of St. Joe's basketball.
The facilities construction project was spurred by St. Joe's recent acquisition of the property of Episcopal Academy, which is right across the street from the university. The renovation of the Fieldhouse is part of a larger three-building complex that St. Joseph's plans to build in three phases through 2010.
St. Joe's considered building a new basketball venue, but for financial and sentimental reasons, it decided to improve the 57-year-old Fieldhouse instead. A new basketball facility could have cost $60 million. In addition to more seating, especially for students, amenities such as concessions and merchandise stands and meeting and group entertainment spaces will be built.
St. Joe's had 1,380 requests for 630 student ticket spots this year. The university considers the cozy Fieldhouse a great homecourt advantage and wants to expand its student base. Seats will in large part be added to the areas behind the basketball hoops.
The project also calls for adding a 17,700-square-foot practice center next to the Fieldhouse for the use of the men and women's basketball squads. Six other varsity programs and a variety of recreational and intramural sports will move to the newly acquired space while eight sports will reside in the newly renovated complex.
