This Day in Dome History: June 17
6/17/2006 5:16:06 PM | Men's Basketball, Dome 25
BASKETBALL IN THE DOME AN AFTERTHOUGHT
Emily Sisson
Few people could imagine the Syracuse men’s basketball program playing its home games anywhere other than the Carrier Dome. It is amazing considering that in 1979, the intent was for Manley Field House to remain as the home for Orange men’s basketball. The move was a last-minute decision by Syracuse University Athletics department staff.
“The whole process of the Dome becoming a dome was a striking realization and a sudden announcement,” said retired athletics director Jake Crouthamel. “We didn’t know anything other than football would be an option until toward the end of construction when they asked us about the flooring options we wanted. Football had been the original goal for the stadium. We hadn’t planned on anything else.”
Orange head men’s basketball coach Jim Boehiem wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of leaving his home in Manley, where he had played as a walk-on and then began his coaching career.
“Jim went kicking and screaming,” Crouthamel recalled. “He didn’t want to leave the friendly atmosphere at Manley where spectators were loud and right on top of the action. Jim didn’t want to leave that great atmosphere. No one thought for a second we would see these kinds of crowds at the Dome.”
The basketball program made its debut in the Carrier Dome on November 29, 1980 by defeating Columbia, 108-81. A crowd of 15,685, nearly 6,000 more than the Manley Field House attendance record, turned out to support the Orange in the Dome. That same season, on February 14, 1981, Syracuse set the NCAA on-campus basketball attendance record when 26,257 fans watched the Orange men play Connecticut.
“Well, it was a big step,” Boeheim says now. “Manley had been a big home court advantage. The size and space of the Dome were big changes for us. It really took some getting used to. (It was) a little less noisy than what we were used to at Manley.”
The Dome has made the men’s basketball program much more accessible to the greater Syracuse community.
“The ability (of the Dome) to hold more than 30,000 people for a game has opened up the program to the whole community,” Boeheim said. “Whereas before only about 9,000 could watch in Manley. The game is open to so many more people now.”
The move to the Dome has made a huge impact on the basketball program.
“We’ve played off the Dome,” Crouthamel said. “We lead the nation in attendance on a regular basis for basketball. The Dome is a spotlight that has brought national attention and really helped with recruiting.”
