Why is Alabama Building a New Basketball Practice Facility? Just a Minute

The Board of Trustees approved the creation of a new practice facility as an expansion to Coleman Coliseum last week.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats tosses the ball to a player during practice for the Crimson Tide Men s Basketball team Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring BamaCentral's Alabama beat writers. Multiple times a week, the writers will group up to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the video below as BamaCentral staff writers Blake Byler and Katie Windham discuss why Alabama basketball opted to construct a new practice facility and what kind of effects this will have on the future of a new basketball arena.

The UA System Board of Trustees announced plans to create a new practice facility for Alabama basketball on Thursday of last week, voting to approve the nearly $59 million project on Friday.

The facility will be an expansion on the southeast corner of Coleman Coliseum, branching off from the already existing practice facility. The project will build the new facility and weight room for the men's basketball team, while also renovating the existing facility for the women's basketball team to move into.

The project will also include new locker rooms, lounges, sports medicine spaces, film and team meeting rooms, and coach and staff spaces.

“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," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "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.”