Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse won’t be ready in time for start of winter sports seasons
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After sitting through a nearly two-month construction delay on Duquesne University’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, athletic director Dave Harper said Monday that the $45 million facility won’t be ready for at least the first part volleyball season nor the start of the basketball season in November.
“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “We lost … essentially two months.”
Construction resumed May 5 after it had stopped March 20 under Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown orders because of covid-19 concerns. The field house that sits on the site of A.J. Palumbo Center on Forbes Avenue was scheduled for completion in time for the start of the winter seasons.
“We were on a good pace. Things were going very well,” Harper said. “This delay, not only does it add days, we just have some logistical challenges as it relates to getting supplies to the work site.
“What we’re going to try to do is have a couple months of work under our belt in these circumstances and, then, try to figure out the best date that we would get in there, assuming we’re playing games.”
Harper said P.J. Dick, the construction firm running the project, has been diligent in following safety and health concerns.
“The productivity level is nowhere near what it normally would be, due to the conditions,” Harper said. “Workers have to follow all the safety-check protocols, the health questionnaires, have to check in on site. There are requirements whenever they leave the work site and come back. P.J. Dick is being, obviously, very, very careful to make sure the workers are protected in the process. Their health is paramount.
“It’s really a very fluid situation. It’s not typical construction as we once knew it.”
The bottom line for Duquesne’s winter sports teams is they might play a second consecutive season without a home court. Harper declined to speculate on the possibility of opening Cooper Fieldhouse in time for an Atlantic 10 game in January.
“The good thing is we’ve been through this once before, and we’ll have contingency plans just like we had before,” Harper said.
This will benefit LaRoche!! ? https://t.co/tbyIF6ng4r
— Hermie Carmichael (@CoachCarLRC) May 11, 2020
Duquesne’s basketball and volleyball teams played at PPG Paints Arena, Robert Morris and La Roche during the 2019-2020 seasons.
“We made it work one year,” said men’s basketball coach Keith Dambrot, who led the Dukes (21-9) to only their third 20-victory season in 48 years. “We’ll just have to make it work again, if we have to.”
Meanwhile, building an appropriate schedule under the current circumstances is tricky business.
“We do have games planned at neutral sites out of state,” Harper said. “We’re trying to finalize a couple games that would have us playing some teams on the road as we’re trying to build a nonconference schedule that can get us in the talk for postseason, be in NIT or NCAA.”
The other complication is the possibility of NCAA seasons being altered if the pandemic has not subsided to satisfy health officials.
“At this point in time, we’re planning on going ahead (with the seasons) as planned,” Harper said. “But like anything else, you have to have contingency plans. It could be delayed. It could be interrupted. It could be re-positioned on the calendar. I think all those things are in play.
“To speculate on anything right now, I’d be inaccurate, probably, and it wouldn’t be a good thing to do because we’re just letting data and information come in on a weekly basis that will form our future decision-making.”
Harper said NCAA and A-10 officials may have more information by the end of next month.
“Of course, right now, no one has the answers.”
Cooper Fieldhouse is intended to be the centerpiece in the resurgence of Duquesne men’s basketball. Harper said he tries not to be frustrated by the delay.
“To say that you’re not frustrated, I’d be lying,” he said. “But at the same time, you go through stages of you’re frustrated and it dampens your enthusiasm, but now we’re back to work.
“I think there’s a bigger picture here. We want to make sure we do things the right way. We set out to do this project at a very, very high level, and this situation is not going to have us do anything to cut corners or short it.”