Two months ago, at the conclusion of Alabama’s basketball season, we wrote an editorial regarding the future of Coleman Coliseum. The 50-year old edifice, originally envisioned as more of a multi-use facility than a true basketball arena, may be the most hated structure on the University of Alabama campus.
This cavernous, dark 15,368-seat warehouse from 1968 occupies some of the best real estate on campus. And, next to the other capital improvements, including its freshly-built neighbor at the New Joe, it is a study in contrasts: contrasts made all the starker by Coleman’s gloomy interior, institutionalized exterior, vending and concessions from the Civil Rights era.