Idaho Vandals - Facilities

Facilities

The University of Idaho has numerous on-campus facilities for the athletic program. The primary facility is the Kibbie Dome, a 16,000 seat indoor stadium for football, basketball, indoor tennis, and indoor track. Since 2001, massive black curtains have encircled the basketball seating configuration and the arena is called the "Cowan Spectrum," with a capacity of 7,000. Underneath the football turf is a five-lane, 290-metre (320 yd) track and nine tennis courts. East end additions to the Kibbie Dome house the athletic department offices, locker rooms, weight room, and training facilities. The Kibbie Dome's concrete grandstands opened in October 1971 upon the site of the wooden Neale Stadium (1937–68). (photo) An outdoor stadium for four years, it was fully enclosed in 1975; its playing surface sits at an elevation of 2,610 feet (796 m) above sea level.

The historic Memorial Gymnasium (1928) is the home for women's volleyball, and also hosts early season basketball games. South of the "Mem Gym" is the Swim Center and the P.E. Building (formerly the new "Women's Gym"), which houses practice gymnasiums; these facilities were completed in 1970.

MacLean Field, the campus' original athletics area, was on these grounds, south of the Memorial Gym, with the spectators on the eastern embankment. (photo - 1921) Football was played here from 1914 until Neale Stadium opened in 1937; the baseball team called MacLean home for another three decades, until the construction of the College of Education building displaced the infield after the 1966 season.(aerial campus photo - circa 1940) The new baseball diamond was constructed at the north end of campus and first used in April 1967, and named for Guy Wicks in May 1969.

Other outdoor facilities include the 18-hole championship UI Golf Course, directly south of the Kibbie Dome. The first nine holes debuted in 1937 and the second nine opened in 1970; the original clubhouse was replaced in 1969. West of the Kibbie Dome is the 400-meter (437.4 yd) outdoor track and field stadium, opened in early 1972 and named for newly-crowned Olympic champion decathlete Dan O'Brien in September 1996. A concrete grandstand at the finish line in the southeast corner seats approximately 1,000. The track complex was fully refurbished in 2011 and hosted the WAC outdoor championships in 2012.

In addition, there are outdoor athletic practice fields on the grounds directly east of the Kibbie Dome. Formerly, these grass fields were for varsity football practice only. SprinTurf (similar to FieldTurf) and lighting was installed in 2005 and the fields are now available for intramurals and general recreation. Six outdoor tennis courts are east of these fields, west of the P.E. Building, and four more are on the lower Administration Lawn. At the spacious northwest corner of campus is the Guy P. Wicks baseball field, soccer field, and intramural fields, named in 1969 for the Moscow High and UI graduate. Wicks (1902–68) was a Vandal baseball player in the early 1920s, a head coach in two sports in the 1940s, and later an associate dean of students.