NATCHITOCHES - Installation of a new floor at Prather Coliseum is the highlight of Northwestern State's ongoing overall renovation of the venerable multi-purpose facility, the oldest Division I college basketball arena in Louisiana.

In the most extensive work done since the multi-purpose facility opened in 1964, the five-month $647,280 project to improve the coliseum includes replacing the honeycomb brick wall on both sides with industrial sheet metal and sound board, encapsulating the bricks behind the scoreboards and improving the entrance ramps.

Projected to finish in late August, the new floor creates extra seating for fans and additional practice space for the NSU basketball and volleyball teams.  A significant improvement is the addition of 500 new floor-level seats at the arena entrance for students and 300 courtside seats installed before the start of the basketball season.  

Additionally, new signage and redesigned banners highlighting NSU basketball history will be part of the upgrades.

"These renovations are a huge boost for our basketball and volleyball programs and that, in and of itself, excites me.  There is something to be said for enhancing one's daily 'work space' and that is what these renovations will do for our student-athletes and coaches," said director of athletics Greg Burke, who added that additional plans are in the works to provide updates to the outer concourse and lobby areas of Prather Coliseum.

"Also relevant is the fact that the 'fan experience' for our loyal supporters will certainly be enhanced by the upgrades at Prather Coliseum.  In fact, this makeover will be good in so many ways - recruiting, branding, and image, to name a few.  What tremendous momentum this provides for our athletic program as we enter the 2011-12 year," said Burke.

The NSU basketball coaches echoed the excitement.

"It's a tremendous upgrade," said Demons' basketball coach Mike McConathy, who will begin his 13th season at NSU this November. "We've enjoyed a great homecourt advantage in Prather Coliseum and this will make it even better for our fans, our students, and our players. We are very appreciative."

"Looking around the arena, it's amazing to see how much better it looks," said Lady Demon coach Jennifer Graf, entering her eighth year as head coach after starting her time at NSU as a player in 1996 and continuing as an assistant coach for four years until taking the head coaching post after the 2004 season. "Things we dreamed about improving have been addressed and the new court is going to be outstanding not only for games, but for practice and camps."

The facility is also home to Lady Demon volleyball along with hosting the annual Natchitoches/NSU Folk Festival, commencement exercises for NSU, Natchitoches Central High School and the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, job and health fairs, concerts and a wide range of other events and assemblies, including summer cheerleading and basketball camps and Boys and Girls State activities. It seats nearly 4,000 for basketball and over 5,000 for other activities and hosts about 500 events, including practice sessions, annually.

"We're very excited about the impact these improvements will have for our program," said second-year Lady Demon volleyball coach Hugh Hernesman. "Combined with the renovations to our locker room and new video room, we are confident that we are well positioned to continue attracting high caliber student-athletes to build NSU volleyball into an elite program in the Southland Conference."

The university will reduce cooling and heating costs through added efficiency of a new auxiliary chiller to be installed in September.

Work on the concession stands to be completed by Northwestern's Physical Plant include a complete renovation to the West side concourse and work done on the concession stand on the East side concourse. 

In the initial demolition of the old sport-court floor, extensive recycling was done resulting in significant ecological benefit, officials said.

Contractors on the project include Johnny Williams Plumbing of Bentley, Kojis Sign Company of Bunkie, H.W. Demolition of Haughton,  RDS Construction of Natchitoches and Gentry and Holder Floor Company of Shreveport. Gentry and Holder installed the original floor in Prather Coliseum 48 years ago.

Portions of the original floor are used in the "Builders of Tradition" display listing all Demon basketball alumni in the lobby of Prather Coliseum. The construction project uncovered additional portions of the original wooden surface which will be saved for future use as additional names of players, coaches and staff members from nearly a century of men's basketball are added to the display.

Architects are Sondal Associates and Newman, Marchive Partnership of Shreveport. Sondal Associates designed campus buildings including Varnado Hall, the old wing of the A.A. Fredericks Center for Creative and Performing Arts and East Caspari Hall.