Don Owen: Debut of new arena in 2008 revealed NKU’s impressive growth with memorable visit from powerful Louisville
The roads in Highland Heights were jammed with vehicles headed to The Bank of Kentucky Center. Unless you were on the pass list, parking on campus was a nightmare after 5 p.m. Why? Folks from all over the region were gathering to see NKU play host to the University of Louisville in the first-ever college basketball event in the new facility.
Yes, the same basketball program that began its existence without a home floor in 1971 was welcoming legendary head coach Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals to open NKU’s new 9,400-seat arena.
But it really happened. A raucous crowd of 8,408 — most of them wearing the black and gold of NKU — supplied a unified roar for much of the exhibition game and helped make Louisville’s visit uncomfortable. Yes, the Cardinals pulled out an 84-69 victory after trailing by four points midway through the second half. NKU still competed at the NCAA Division II level, so the result against a perennial Division I powerhouse wasn’t a surprise.
Just the fact Louisville visited Highland Heights for a basketball doubleheader (the NKU women met the Lady Cardinals prior to the men’s contest) to open The Bank of Kentucky Center was quite an accomplishment.
But few know the backstory of what happened in the days and weeks before the game. Nor are they aware that a concert featuring country music singer Alan Jackson was held in The Bank of Kentucky Center less than 24 hours before NKU met Louisville. I’m not joking.
And only I know what went on for the sports information office during that entire fall leading up to the opener in the new arena.
Almost 15 years later, I now laugh at the memories such as:
•The staff meetings in which everyone was alerted by marketing folks that “We know the Louisville game will be a sellout,” while also heavily promoting ticket sales to the public. It was actually good strategy. Those messages encouraged NKU staffers to tell people they better purchase tickets or possibly miss out on the Louisville game. Not a bad marketing ploy at all.
•The contentious relationship with SMG, the company that ran The Bank of Kentucky Center at that time. In those days, I jokingly said SMG stood for “Sadly Mismanaged Group” due to the never-ending dramas that occurred in the facility. To be fair, there was plenty of blame for the drama — SMG, the athletics department (myself included) and top-level NKU administrators. At times, the tense atmosphere was a circus. Literally.
•The fact NKU’s volleyball team was playing at home that same afternoon as the Louisville doubleheader. Ever try to be at two places at the same time? Yep, it’s impossible. I was in The Bank of Kentucky Center all day and didn’t see a second of the volleyball. And guess what? The volleyball match in Regents Hall that afternoon featured two nationally ranked teams — No. 25 NKU and No. 22 Lewis. Naturally, it went five sets and didn’t end until almost 5 p.m. The problem? Well, the NKU vs. Louisville women’s basketball game was set to begin at 5:30 p.m. Sigh.
But I digress. Let’s get back to the NKU vs. Louisville game, and the night before the Norse and Cardinals squared off in The Bank of Kentucky Center.
At that point, I walked back to my office, reviewed my media list and laughed at the irony that Alan Jackson had thwarted my preparation for the biggest moment in NKU home basketball history. I’d never liked country music in the first place. At that moment I really despised it.
Before I headed home around 2 a.m., I drove over to Regents Hall and dropped off some materials. Despite the late hour, another administrator was still in the office in Regents Hall. He asked me how the conversion from concert setup to basketball court was going in The Bank of Kentucky Center. My expression, I’m certain, answered that question before I ever said a word.
I rested for a few hours at home and headed back to NKU around 10 a.m. The Bank of Kentucky Center court and tables were finally in place. The amount of media requests for that evening still amazes me, especially from Louisville. Fortunately, we had plenty of seats to accommodate every media request. It also helped that Louisville featured one of the best SIDs in the history of the profession in Kenny Klein.
Also a great gentleman, Kenny had helped me out several times during the fall in preparation for the game. He handled the Louisville media that evening like an all-star and made my life easier during a stress-filled event.
The state-of-the-art scoreboard and clock operated much differently than the ancient device in Regents Hall. The public address system was a completely different animal than Regents Hall. And our statistics operation had to be handled in a new fashion, both technology-wise and logistically.
Despite those challenges, the game crew responded with an all-star performance. They made it appear as if they had been working inside The Bank of Kentucky Center for years when it was actually the first time most had even been in the facility with everything totally set up for live-game action.
It made me think back to all those compliments NKU received from Great Lakes Valley Conference officials for years, that the game crew in Highland Heights was by far the best they worked with each season. The NKU game crew proved it once again on Nov. 8, 2008, despite an intense atmosphere, a big-time opponent and a Hall of Fame coach screaming loudly as his team fell behind the Norse in the second half.
The game crew deserved triple-pay that evening for a lot of reasons.
The NKU student section absolutely made its presence known to the Louisville bench that evening with a deafening roar after each Norse basket. It was unreal. The student section generated a tremendous amount of energy and I’m certain the NKU players fed off it, especially when a big run in the second half forced Louisville to call a timeout. That was one of the most electrifying moments in Norse basketball history.
By the time we wrapped everything up in the SID office after the postgame press conference, it was about midnight. I was completely exhausted and still had work to do. Welcome to my world in those days. But it was well worth it when I remember the night of Nov. 8, 2008.
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