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The ACC’s home away from home will soon become UNCG’s full-time home.

The Spartans are leaving cozy (read: small, little, tiny) Fleming Gym and will play all their men’s basketball home games a mile away from campus at the bigger (read: huge, vast, cavernous) Greensboro Coliseum.
It’s a bold move.

When Linda Brady took over as UNCG’s 10th chancellor in August 2008, she set out to raise the profile of the athletics program as a way to raise the university’s profile.

“Athletics are important,” Brady said. “It’s a way that students continue to identify with the university after they leave. When I think of my goal for athletics, it’s not to build a (national powerhouse such as) Florida State or an Oklahoma. It’s to be more competitive and maintain our commitment to academic quality. ... The key is always finding that balance.”
In this case, the key is putting fannies in the seats.

Fleming has been UNCG’s on-campus home since 1989, two years before the Spartans moved from NCAA Division III to Division I. The gym seats about 1,800, and it wasn’t always crowded — especially last season when UNCG went 5-25, including 2-10 at home.

The Greensboro Coliseum is considerably bigger: 23,745 seats at capacity. The coliseum has needed every one of those seats in hosting a record 21 ACC Tournaments (and it’s scheduled to host it six of the next seven years).

For UNCG games, seating will be configured for 7,613, although that could grow. In its lone game at the coliseum last season, UNCG hosted Davidson and star guard Stephen Curry. The Spartans lost 75-54 but drew 11,687, selling tickets right up until tipoff.

In planning the move, financial models projected a worst-case scenario of a $60,412 loss and a best-case scenario of a $317,570 profit.
However the money shakes out, the move has changed the Spartans’ basketball program.

UNCG has 15 home games scheduled for the 2009-10 season — three more than most years. In addition to nine Southern Conference games, the Spartans also will host four ACC opponents eager to get the feel for the building — N.C. State, Wake Forest, Maryland and Clemson — plus East Carolina and Princeton.

“It’s fair to say none of these teams would come here to play us if not for the coliseum,” UNCG sports information director Mike Hirschman said.

It’s also fair to say that UNCG games will be on TV more.

“I know there’s been some interest from Raycom with us making this move,” Hirschman said, “and when you’re playing those caliber opponents, there’s also some interest from ESPNU. Let’s face it: We want to be on television as much as we can.”
Moving to the coliseum also has changed recruiting.

Kyle Randall of Ohio, who was rated No. 31 among the nation’s high school point guards last season, leads a strong, four-player recruiting class. They join a Spartan team that had no seniors last season.

“The Greensboro Coliseum is definitely a great place any player would want to play in,” Randall said when he signed in April. “That’s one of the reasons I chose UNCG — because I know they had a difficult season, and I wanted to help bring a little basketball fun back to the city.”

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com