Keeping up with Joneses

Photo by Saul Young
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UT diving coach Dave Parrington looks over the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, which is expected to be finished by Dec. 24, in time for the Vols to host Georgia Tech on Jan. 4. The pool dedication is planned for Jan. 12.

University of Tennessee swimming and diving coaches hope the under-construction Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center is able to draw some recruits capable of producing swift times.

But Monday afternoon during a media preview tour, the finishing time most on their minds was the completion of the facility,

However, Keith Buckner, site superintendent for Blaine Construction Co., assured them that 110 workers will be laboring feverishly over the next few months to complete the work by Dec. 24.

“We’re having Thanksgiving turkey here,” he quipped.

To that, Lady Vols assistant Jen Arndt offered to help bring the food.

Officials hope the $24.3 million facility — which is named in honor of Cleveland businessman Jones, who donated $4 million — does bring a few championships.

“It is the best in the world,” said excited men’s coach John Trembley, who said that dreams for a new pool to replace the 40-year-old Student Aquatic Center and Ray Bussard Intercollegiate Pool go back 14 years. “A lot of people might dispute that, but we will stand by it.”

Added Lady Vol head coach Matt Kredich, “The building represents a commitment on the part of the university to do things in a first-rate, first-class manner.”

UT executive associate athletics director Gary Wyant, to whom Trembley said deserves much credit for getting the facility built, said UT officials studied and visited a number of top collegiate pools in the country — including those of Texas A&M, Houston, Minnesota, IUPUW, Georgia and Auburn.

They also sought the advice of architects HNTB of Kansas City and Lindsay and Maples of Knoxville.

“We are taking the best from them and we added a few things nobody else has,” said the former Vol assistant football coach.

Among the unique features, he said, is a massive scoreboard on the east wall with three different screens for video or race information. The three screens can also be converted into one screen when needed.

Also singular to the UT pool, Wyant said, are an elevated timing booth and press area above the finish line of the 50-meter by 25-yard competition pool, and an unusual screen that will cover the stairways to the diving towers. The latter can be lighted and should offer dramatic effect, because a diver will not be seen until he or she reaches the platform.

Other amenities in the facility — which looks more massive from the inside than the outside — are a spacious deck area, an 800-seat grandstand that includes an air conditioning unit, VIP seating overlooking the competition pool, and multi-purpose team rooms for men’s teams and women’s.

Coaches’ offices, a training room, an elevated diving judges’ box, two large tubs, photograph and memorabilia display areas, and underwater stairwells in the diving pool are also to be included.

Wyant said that the diving pool has extremely thick support walls to hold the massive amount of water. “If there is anywhere in the world you would be safe during a nuclear attack, it is the diving pool,” he joked.

According to diving coach Dave Parrington, the former facility’s diving pool barely met collegiate depth requirements.

The swimming pool will have a depth of more than 8 feet, making it swift, officials said.

Trembley said that the former facility — which was one of the best in the country when built — was fine for training, but the shallower depths of both pools had been inadequate for today’s standards during competition.

The new facility is scheduled to open on Jan 4 with a meet against Georgia Tech.

Dedication of the aquatic center is to be Jan. 12.