Alabama’s upcoming basketball practice facility is slated to cost $58.674 million, as per project data presented to the university’s board of trustees. New bond sales will cover $36.9 million, with the remaining $21.7 million funded by $1.7 million in reserve funds and $20 million in Crimson Standard gifts.
The project will add a 48,800 square-foot expansion to the current practice facility, which is attached to the southern end of Coleman Coliseum. The new space will be used for men’s basketball, with 19,000 existing square feet to be renovated for use by the women’s basketball team, which currently trains in Foster Auditorium.
As a program, we spend a majority of our time in the practice gym, the weight room and studying film, so the potential for us to have a new and expanded space for our student-athletes to develop is big for our program,” men’s basketball coach Nate Oats said in a statement. “We have tremendous support from our administration, which has played a role in our success, and I want to thank the Board of Trustees, Interim Chancellor Trant and President Bell as well as Greg Byrne and Shane Lyons for bringing this forward. I’d also like to thank our donors and fans for all they do for us.”
The renovation will include “new sports medicine spaces, film and team meeting rooms, locker rooms, lounges and coaches staff areas for men and women,” along with the new practice facility and weight room for the men, according to a presentation given the trustees.
Each team will have a dedicated practice gym and weight room space, which is where our programs spend the majority of their time, meaning this project will have an incredible impact on both of our basketball programs,” athletics director Greg Byrne told the trustees. “Coach Oats and Coach [Kristy] Curry are extremely supportive of this plan as a positive and valuable next step for their respective teams and they’ve both expressed this is the highest priority at this time, and the facility will meet an immediate need as we continue to work toward long-term priorities for our basketball programs.
No architectural renderings for the new facility, which will extend southeast of the current Coleman Coliseum footprint, were shown to the trustees. Byrne said construction will begin this fall for the project and “after the start of the ’26 calendar year, hopefully during that season, both teams will able to be in their practice areas and locker room space and weight room space and fully operational at that point.”
The project will not affect Coleman Coliseum itself, and plans remain stalled for a new basketball arena to be built.
“Understandably the fans on a day-to-day basis, when they interact with the basketball program here on our campus, they go to Coleman Coliseum — that’s what they see,” Byrne told the trustees. “Both our young men and young women with both programs spend 90 percent of their time in the practice gym and the weight room as far as their basketball development part of their life. This will be a very positive addition for Coach Oats, for Coach Curry and our basketball programs going forward.”
The finance committee on Thursday approved the bond sale for the practice facility and other projects, while the physical properties committee voted to approve the construction plan. The full board of trustees will vote on the items Friday morning.
