With new facilities rising and renovations ongoing, UNCW improvements become more visible to athletes, fans, donors

[LISTEN: Episode 47 of Alex Riley's The Beat & The Beard UNCW podcast]

Kristy Norton laughs when she recalls the cramped quarters.

Six years ago, she took over UNCW softball and stressed the importance of increasing the program’s staff from two to four. She got what she wished for – just not a place to put them.

For the last three years, the coaches have shared a small trailer down the left field side of Boseman Field. That makes the sprawling office space inside the new stadium all the more rewarding.

“Could you dream (it would happen)? Yes, you could dream it. But did you know it was going to come to fruition? You could only cross your fingers,” Norton said with a smile. “Being in the trailer for three years, we were happy we had somewhere to work. But being in a solid, formidable space is pretty awesome.”

The rebuild of Boseman Field is down to landscaping, fencing and walkway installation with the season just a few weeks away. The nearly $2 million stadium project is the final piece of a five-year improvement plan Norton envisioned when she started.

The new stadium is just one of many projects around campus aimed at improving or maintaining UNCW’s athletic facilities. And the work doesn’t appear to be slowing.

Making it better

The whiteboard in Marcus Attles’ office is filled with lists. Every UNCW sport is accounted for, each with needs to make things better. Every time he erases something, it’s an accomplishment.

When Attles accepted the director of facilities and event management position at UNCW in 2014, he knew the school had older facilities. That can present challenges. Attles opted to view things a different way.

“We’re not asked to just kind of keep the wheels in motion or keep the balls in the air, we’re allowed to look at the opportunity and create and be innovative. We can make our own way, which has been a welcome change,” Attles said.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as resurfacing the tennis courts or installing monitors inside Trask Coliseum that provide information to keep fans and students connected. An effort to open up the entrance way at Brooks Field by removing shrubbery and installing a new ticket booth is underway. Branding efforts with the school’s new logo continue around campus.

And, sometimes, new construction is necessary. The softball stadium is almost finished and work continues on the new indoor practice facility for baseball and softball.

Attles and his staff of eight work to fix, improve and maintain year-round. He and athletic director Jimmy Bass meet with coaches to recognize needs and what can be done to help make things better.

“This is such a unique opportunity. I love the challenge here of being able to see a blank canvas and take bits and pieces from different places I’ve been and apply it here. The future is definitely bright here,” Attles said.

A bigger plan

The “what ifs” are fun to talk about for Bass.

A new basketball arena. A new baseball stadium. A basketball excellence center with a hall of fame and museum. These are just some of the long term projects being bandied about.

One day, some or maybe even all of those could come to fruition. Something he refuses to let remain a “what if” is an outdoor fieldhouse that would service track & field, cross country, soccer and others.

“One of our priorities is trying to find how we can build an outdoor fieldhouse that will serve the everyday needs of our student-athletes,” Bass said. “We’ve got a lot of visions for a lot of stuff that we feel like this university deserves, our student-athletes deserve and we think if we keep working hard we can find some alumni, some fans, some parents, some folks who have the financial resources to help make these visions a reality.”

That facility is the next major item on UNCW’s athletic wish list. Along with office space and storage, the building would give several programs locker rooms they either don’t have or are forced to share.

The key is making those facilities work within the school’s budget. That’s why something like the indoor practice facility took years to get off the ground.

The idea began in 2006, but baseball coach Mark Scalf didn’t accept the first donation until three years ago. It took time to raise the $2.3 million to complete the project. Construction is expected to wrap up this spring.

Many premiere baseball programs around the country have had similar buildings for several years to beat the elements and practice year-round. Now, UNCW finds itself on pace with them.

“I think people in the area and in the community and on campus understand where our program is, they understand what’s happening across the country, kind of in the arms race with facilities,” Scalf said. “Bottom line for me, from a facilities standpoint, I wanted to put ourselves in a position where we took care of players first and with this facility, the playing surface, our outdoor cages, our fieldhouse, we’ve pretty much done that.”

-- Reporter Alex Riley can be reached at 910-343-2034 or Alex.Riley@StarNewsOnline.com.