Perhaps no sport requires the physical infrastructure that swimming does. So what happens to a pool when a school cuts its swimming and diving program, as an increasing number of schools unfortunately have in recent years?
Boise State University, which cited budget issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic when eliminating its swimming and diving program in 2020, is now confronted with that question.
As reported by BoiseDev, Boise State's kinesiology annex pool, built in 1972, features five 25-meter lanes and a diving well. It has remained empty for the past four plus years.
According to records obtained by BoiseDev under the Idaho Public Records Act, Boise State hired a consultant in late 2020 to asses the pools’ condition and possible future uses for the space. The school indicated in a 2021 memo that bringing the pool up to code would cost around $3 million, while removing it could cost $1 million. That memo also looked at alternate uses for the pool space, but the two proposed uses for kinesiology and a third for the Boise State e-sports program failed to gain traction.
Boise State is currently weighing two options for the nearly 10,000 square feet of space near ExtraMile Arena — a new practice court, weight room and office space for the Boise State men's and women's basketball programs, or additional space for academics.
The space would be used primarily for basketball, with a secondary uses for volleyball, beach volleyball and gynastics. The proposal estimates the athletic department's plan could cost as much as $7 million, which would be paid for through donor funding, Dan Day of BoiseDev reported.
“Boise State is frantically trying to catch up to its conference peers, and match the experience that student-athletes are shown/promised at other institutions,” the athletics department wrote in its pitch, according to BoiseDev. “With the transfer portal, coaches must recruit, and consequently re-recruit athletes to their roster every semester. Providing a space for our basketball student-athletes to practice, train, and meet with coaches, in close proximity to their locker room, is imperative to foster long-term student-athlete satisfaction.”
The Boise State men’s and women’s teams primarily practice in the auxiliary gym attached to ExtraMile Arena, but that space is also shared with concerts and special events using the main arena. Locker rooms are located in the Arguinchona Basketball Complex, while offices for coaches are located across the parking lot in the Varsity Center building attached to the Broncos' football stadium. The department said moving the basketball offices to the pool area would allow a reconfiguration of office space across the department.
An alternative use of the pool space would entail conversion to a research lab.
“There is a grant proposal pending for that remodel; once a decision has been made by the granting agency, the university will determine the highest and best use of the space,” spokesperson Stephany Galbreaith wrote in an email to BoiseDev, adding it’s not uncommon for multiple departments to set their sights on available campus spaces. She said the university will go through a campus planning process to determine which idea will win out, Day reported.
