Gazette-Times reporter

Oregon State doesn’t need a new, $200 million basketball arena.

And the Beavers certainly don’t have a major benefactor like Nike CEO Phil Knight, who this past Saturday announced a $100 million endowment donation to the Oregon athletic department to help fund a replacement for decaying McArthur Court.

So OSU will renovate venerable but aging Gill Coliseum the old-fashioned way: On a pay-as-you go basis, with contributions from the entire Beaver Nation, not from one or a handful of deep-pocketed boosters.

Athletic director Bob De Carolis announced the “Legendary Gill” makeover plan in his Aug. 10 Athletic Director’s Report on the athletic department’s official Web site.

“As we approach Gill’s 60th anniversary, it’s time — some would say it’s long overdue — to give this iconic symbol of Beaver athletics a major facelift,” De Carolis wrote.

“Although the clear trend in college sports is to build new arenas, we’re not moving away from our history and heritage. Gill is part of our DNA. It’s seen sweat-streaked faces and clamoring crowds; heard shouts of joy and furies of frustration; and it embodies our tradition, pride and perseverance.”

Phase I will cost approximately $3.5 million, funded by a 25-percent surcharge on season- and single-game tickets for men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling, volleyball and gymnastics, which use Gill Coliseum as their home venue.

The building’s faded outer shell will be sandblasted, sealed and repainted. An elevator will be added, other handicapped accesses will be upgraded and all windows and doors will be replaced.

Also, some trees and bushes will be removed and the adjacent area will be landscaped. The hardscape on adjoining plazas will be redone, and banners and other graphic elements will be added.

“That’s an asset, no doubt there,” men’s basketball coach Jay John said. “Gill Coliseum is the final piece to all the changes that have taken place to the overall athletic complex.”

Phase II will include a new women’s basketball locker room, a new media room, and a state-of-the-art sports medicine center for training, rehab and cardiovascular facilities. About half of the necessary $3.5-to-$4 million for Phase II has already been raised from private sources.

“It will really help us from a recruiting standpoint,” in a conference where virtually every other member has a new, renovated, or proposed new venue for basketball games/practice, women’s basketball coach LaVonda Wagner said.

“It shows the athletes who have a choice of other Pac-10 schools that we have the same resources and support to be successful. It helps.

“Facilities do matter. We have to hustle here to be successful and a locker room is part of the picture.”

The Oregon Legislature last year approved a $20 million bond issue to renovate the building.

Subsequent projects will proceed piecemeal, as funds become available.

“We hope to start sometime next summer,” De Carolis said in an interview last week, after the new Gill Annex is completed in the spring, 2008, and the extensive Horner Museum collection currently in the coliseum basement is moved to the Benton County Historical Society’s new storage building in Philomath.

“We don’t know how we’re going to start it,” De Carolis said, because the plans have not been finalized. “We’re not sure what the progression will be.”

The equipment room, Stewart weight room and several other areas in the west side of the basement will be temporarily relocated during construction, said John Cheney, the assistant athletic director of facilities and operations.

The proposed facelift will be the latest in a series of recent makeovers to the 58-year-old building, which opened for the 1949-50 season.

The arena bowl has been steadily upgraded with new paint, seats and banners over the past five years or so; the scoreboards were renovated earlier this summer. Many of the main-floor coaching and administrative offices have been refurbished. The men’s locker room was redone last year, and the main-floor hallways were overhauled in 2005-06.

“When we fixed the hallways, the mood was uplifted,” John said, noting that it was now light enough to see someone at the other end of the hallway, which often wasn’t possible in the past because it was so dark.

“It improved the mindset and spirits of everybody. When you see something pretty, it can be a real lift.”

PAC-10 FACILITIES

Recent/proposed facility enhancements at other Pac-10 basketball venues:

ARIZONA: Proposed new practice facility.

ARIZONA STATE: New locker rooms.

CALIFORNIA: The $57.5 million Haas Pavilion opened in 1999.

OREGON: Proposed new $200 million arena.

STANFORD: Maples Pavilion underwent a $26 million renovation in 2004.

UCLA: Pauley Pavilion is about to be overhauled.

USC: New Galen Center opened in 2006-07.

WASHINGTON: Bank of America Arena opened in 2001; includes separate practice court.

WASHINGTON STATE: Separate practice facility/renovated locker rooms.