Pat Farmer is thankful for Carmelo Anthony.

On the surface, this might not make sense. There is no obvious reason why the SU women’s soccer coach, who was coaching Tennessee Tech when Anthony was at Syracuse, would be in debt of gratitude to an NBA star. But when you start connecting the dots, the association becomes clear.

Anthony donated $3 million to help build a new basketball practice facility. This created a butterfly effect throughout many of SU’s sports team.

Because of the weather in Syracuse for most of the school year and the dearth of indoor facilities, teams are forced to split time between Manley Field House and the Carrier Dome. Add in the fact that Manley has a hardwood floor – which doesn’t facilitate the field sports – and the logjam at the Carrier Dome becomes accented. You’d have an easier time scheduling a trip to Cuba than finding free time in the Carrier Dome in February.

This new basketball facility – the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center – changes everything. Once the ‘Melo Center is built, FieldTurf will be installed in Manley Field House, making it a multipurpose training facility.

‘So now, all of a sudden, exponentially, you increase all of your practice opportunities,’ Director of Athletics Daryl Gross said. ‘All of our teams now have a place to practice. You don’t have to bus all the way up to the Dome and do all of those things. Now, (Syracuse quarterback Andrew) Robinson in the spring time, if it’s still snowing or whatever, he can go out and practice and throw the ball in this field house.’

In 2005, The Daily Orange devoted an article to the sheer amazement of a grounds crew having the softball field ready. The date was April 1.

Farmer said during the months when teams cannot practice outside, they’re each assigned two-hour slots at the Carrier Dome. The problem is the Carrier Dome can’t coordinate with the Registrar’s Office, so the two-hour slot sometimes falls when the athletes have class.

Plus, the teams cannot even work on a full field. Attend a lacrosse practice in February and they play only 70 yards or so because the basketball court is laid down in the West endzone.

‘We don’t need a full field,’ Farmer said, ‘but that scheduling gets tight.’

Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim is entering his 32nd year as head coach and has been involved with SU since 1962. He’s seen SU sports even before the Carrier Dome was built, and this move is something he’s considered for some time.

‘There’s always been kind of a thought process with me that we needed our own practice facility over the last few years,’ Boeheim said. ‘Short of building a $30 million building – we have a $30 million building – if we can get a practice facility, now Manley can be converted into a very, very fine indoor practice facility for a host of other sports.’

And that just touches on the logistical problems solved. It doesn’t even get into the recruiting boost.

All the talk yesterday was about how the new basketball facility will help with the team’s recruiting. In the arms race that is college facilities, Syracuse was like Switzerland. They couldn’t compete with Kentucky’s $30 million Joe Craft Center or other new facilities at places like Florida, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Even Baylor has a new 42,990-square-foot practice facility.

Women’s basketball coach Quentin Hillsman said he keeps a picture of the facility in his suitcase with him when he goes recruiting.

But other sports’ recruiting will improve, too. The new Manley Field House training facility will enhance the recruiting for the other sports.

‘We can walk from our office 50 feet and say, ‘Look, there’s an indoor venue right here,” Farmer said.

The caveat is the athletic department still must raise funds for the Manley renovations.

‘We never stop fundraising,’ Gross said. If you needed evidence, he spent the first two minutes and 45 seconds of the groundbreaking ceremonies issuing ‘thank yous’ to the members in the crowd.

The effort is important. Basketball is imperative to a successful athletic department and much of the national reputation for Syracuse athletics comes from men’s basketball and football. But whenever Gross has an audience, he talks about all the sports at Syracuse. Even though there’s a group of swimming supporters who might not believe that, the ‘Melo Center will indisputably have a residual effect on the SU field sports.

‘I don’t think any of the coaches said, ‘Let’s build a basketball facility,” Farmer said. ‘But you got to hand it to (Gross). … He had a good vision for coming up with the training facility.’

Better said, you got to hand it to Anthony. That $3 million will go a longer way than he thought.

Zach Berman is the sports columnist for The Daily Orange, where his columns appear every Wednesday and other select days throughout the semester. He can be reached at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on September 26, 2007 at 12:00 pm