Pete Mathews Coliseum is a 5,300-seat multi-purpose arena in Jacksonville, Alabama. It is home to the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks men's and women's basketball teams as well as the women's volleyball team. It also hosts the annual Calhoun County High School Basketball Tournament held each January, in which all high school basketball teams in Calhoun County, Alabama compete. The arena has been the annual host for this event since the early 1990s. Prior to that time, the event was held in different facilities around Calhoun County (most often at the Anniston High School auditorium). The venue opened in 1974 when the basketball team moved there from Stephenson Hall. In addition to the arena, the coliseum also houses an indoor swimming pool and a concourse which circles the basketball court which is used as a jogging track.
The facility also includes classroom areas for HPER instruction and also has a large storage area on the lowest level beneath the classroom/swimming pool area.
The original seating capacity was 5,500 but due to several renovations since its construction has seen a slight decline in seating capacity to 5,300. Most of the seating is of the wooden bleacher variety (entire upper deck and end zone lower deck). The remaining seats are of red cloth seats with seat backs which are used primarily by season ticket holders.
The arena currently hosts the Northeast Regional basketball tournament (boys and girls) for the AHSAA playoffs in each classification. The boys and girls winners go to Birmingham for the Final Four tournament.
The arena is named for the late former Alabama state legislator Pete Mathews who also sat on the university's board of trustees.
The original floor for the arena was synthetic rubber which was the popular flooring for basketball at the time. The arena was a multi-purpose facility when the synthetic rubber floor was in place. Women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, intramural sports, HPER classes, graduation ceremonies, as well as various concerts and other events were held in the facility.
A wooden floor was installed in the early 1980s and the arena was reconfigured to be principally used for basketball. A renovation of the old Stephenson gymnasium allowed most of the activities that had been held in the arena besides men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball to be relocated there.
The university's baseball team formerly used the area behind the north side upper deck as a batting cage during winter workouts.
A large parking area borders the northern entrances to the facility while limited parking exists on the other three sides. The university's tennis complex borders the facility on the south side while an outdoor track, soccer and baseball facilies border it on the western side.
Among some of the performers who have held concerts in the facility include the group Alabama, Billy Joel, and Jimmy Buffett.