Main gym gets makeover as Comets logo takes center court

For the first time in school history, the main court in the Activity Center is getting a makeover to include the Comets logo, different paint stains and a revitalized surface.

The plans for the renovations started a year ago when Athletic Director Bill Petitt and the rest of the athletic department staff began looking at working on the floor. They collaborated with Recreational Sports, which maintains the Activity Center and decided this summer would be the best time to move forward with the project.

The athletic department spent the spring semester considering different designs and turned in its final draft in March. The new court, which was designed by Associate Athletic Director Bruce Unrue, features a large orange and green Comets logo at half court that extends nearly to the three-point arc on each side of the court. A darker wood stain fills in the area within the arc, while lighter wood with an NCAA logo fills in the paint underneath the basket.

The university’s official logo adorns each end of the court, and a dark green line with “UTDCOMETS.COM” painted in white letters fills out the baseline.

The process to paint the court, which took about a week, started with crews sanding down the entire floor. Afterwards, they lined the floor with tape and began painting and adding different layers. When all the painting was complete, the gym was closed for another week to allow time for the paint to cure and settle. Petitt said the total cost for the project was about $20,000.

“It’s just a process to get it all done,” Petitt said.

The gym opened for use again on June 3.

Other schools in the ASC, such as UT Tyler, Louisiana College and Sul Ross State, already have high quality paint jobs on their courts. Although Petitt said that was not a deciding factor in updating UTD’s courts, Dapo Ogunfetimi, a senior guard for the men’s basketball team, admitted he and his teammates were envious of the courts at other schools.

“Since I was a freshman, we’ve been begging for a half court logo, and they finally got it for us,” he said. “It takes a while to get stuff done, but we’re happy when it gets done.”

Petitt said the new floor is part of a series of renovations the athletic department plans to bring to its facilities, including putting a backstop at the softball field, building an open-air press box at the baseball field and upgrading the locker rooms.

Petitt added that the players and coaches seemed pleased with the changes made to the court, which also include changes from Recreational Sports such as improved lights.

“The coaches like it, we showed it to them about a month ago,” he said. “Everybody’s excited about the new look. … It will really make it look sharp.”