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Changes on the way for Maryland’s historic Cole Field House?

Cole Field House

baltimoresun.com

From 1955 to 2002 Cole Field House served as the home building for both Maryland basketball programs, with the teams moving to their current home (the Xfinity Center) after the conclusion of the 2001-02 season. Since then the school has used Cole Field House in a variety of ways, and according to a report Friday the school could be considering more changes for the historic building.

According to Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun, with the football program needing an indoor practice facility Cole Field House could be converted into one. This is only up for consideration at this time, with the school needing to not only finalize plans should they take this course of action but also get said plans approved by the school’s Board of Regents.

Former men’s basketball coach Gary Williams alluded to the possibility of Cole’s conversion after taking on a new fundraising role in September.

“If we go there, it keeps it in athletics as long as it’s called Cole Field House,” Williams said at the time. “People know Cole Field House — people who’ve been a part of basketball, not just Maryland basketball. Right now, nobody has heard much of Cole since we moved out to Comcast Center [in 2002]. That would bring Cole back into the mix.”

According to the report if Maryland were to go reconfigure Cole the school would do so while preserving the history of the building, which hosted a historic Final Four in 1966 (Texas Western’s win over Kentucky). Maryland also held its annual Maryland Madness event at Cole last year, celebrating the tradition begun by former head coach Lefty Driesell in 1971.

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