Sports facility additions are ‘the next step to elevate the university’

With the groundbreaking of a $66 million sports arena, track complex and soccer fields project beginning in May, the University of South Dakota is looking to make vast improvements to its athletics department.

The project will connect a sports science lab and a basketball/volleyball arena to the DakotaDome, and is estimated to be completed ahead of the 2016-17 academic year, according to the university’s athletic department.

Construction was set for May 12, but has been moved to an undecided date due to the finalization of contracts, said David Herbster, athletic director for USD.

“It’s the next step as we continue to elevate the university as a whole,” Herbster said. “It’s the next phase of the university’s life, much the same as when USD broke ground for the business school, student union, Coyote Village and the Wellness Center.”

The 6,000-person seating basketball/volleyball arena addition is expected to lure recruits, who previously only saw volleyball matches tucked above student seating in the DakotaDome.

Basketball will now have an arena-style court and crowd area, not a court placed in the middle of the track inside the DakotaDome. Premium seating in the arena will include 60 court-side seats and 180 club seats.

Herbster said USD and the athletics department is ready to move onward.

“This will allow our teams to expand and have those dedicated areas for the team year-round that we don’t have now,” Herbster said. “For basketball, it will feel like you’re actually in a basketball arena. For volleyball, we’ll be able to seat more than 350 people to come watch a match — those things feed off each other.”

Craig Smith, who previously coached men’s basketball at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and will enter his first year as head men’s basketball coach for USD for the upcoming season, said he saw the effect of a new basketball arena at UNL and expects the new sports complex to add another dimension to the USD’s recruiting.

“The new arena is a symbol of where we are going,” Smith said. “It’s a sign of our commitment to Division I athletics and our commitment to excellence.”

Aside from the arena, however, is the track and soccer complex. The new outdoor track area will feature an NCAA-certified nine-lane track with areas for shot put, discus, pole vault, long jump, triple jump and more events.

The Coyotes have never claimed an outdoor Summit League conference title. USD is scheduled to host the 2016 Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The soccer fields will include one practice and one competition field and bleacher seating for 1,000 attendees.

The sports science lab, which will house many university programs including kinesiology and sports science, occupational therapy, sports medicine and physical therapy, will connect the basketball/volleyball arena with the DakotaDome.

After being established about three years ago, Andrew Shim, chair of the Kinesiology and Sports Science department, said the department is happy to accept their new home.

The department started with 40 students and in under five years has grown to just under 300 students today. Shim said he was asked to make a big growth in the program in five years, and he’s proud to say it took less time.

“This division has developed enough respect over a short period of time to be considered a moving part of USD,” Shim said. “It’s not just honorable, but it is also encouraging and highly appreciated.”