Cassell Coliseum

Directions to Cassell Coliseum
From the north or east, take Interstate 81 south to exit 118B, following US 460 west to Blacksburg.
From the south, take Interstate 81 north to exit 118B, following US 460 west to Blacksburg.
From West Virginia, take Interstate 77 south (West Virginia Turnpike) to exit 9. Exit and turn left onto 460 east. Follow 460 east to Blacksburg.
Once in Blacksburg, use the 460 bypass around the downtown area. Follow 460 to the signal at Southgate Drive (Va. 314). Turn right onto campus. Take the second left onto Spring Road, Cassell Coliseum will be on your right.

Now in its 48th year of existence, Cassell Coliseum provides Virginia Tech basketball with one of the greatest home courts in all of college basketball. Winning has been the norm in the facility since its opening in 1961. Cassell is perhaps even more exciting today than ever in its history. The 2007-08 season saw a record 166,858 fans pack the building.

A facility long known as one of the great home-court advantages in college basketball, "The Cassell" now gives Tech opponents one of the most difficult environments in the Atlantic Coast Conference. And in the 2007-08 season, the 4,000,000th fan witnessed a Hokie victory.

Cassell Coliseum enjoyed a renaissance of sorts during the 2003-04 season, but truly came to life during the 2004-05 season. The Hokies finished the season 13-3 in the coliseum and saw all eight ACC games sell out. Tech's 13 home wins that season were the most since 1994-95 and tied for the fourth-most home victories for a Virginia Tech team in Cassell Coliseum history. That excitement increased in the 2005-06 season, when the Hokies finished 10-7 in the building and saw 14 sellouts, including all eight home ACC games. The 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons also witnessed all eight conference games as sellouts.

The 2006-07 season witnessed many outstanding games, but two contests will rank among the most memorable in school history. On Jan. 13, 2007, the Hokies defeated top-ranked North Carolina 94-88 in front of another full house in the Cassell. And just eight days later, the Hokies downed No. 22 Maryland 67-64 in overtime. That game was played in front of 8,500 fans, mostly students, who braved an ice storm to make Cassell Coliseum the tough home court that it has come to be. The 2007-08 season saw the young Hokies post a 14-3 record and capped the year with three packed home games in the NIT. The festival seating for those three games only enhanced the facility's reputation as a great place for a great fan base to watch a basketball game.

Since opening, the coliseum has attracted more than four million fans for men's basketball. Tech finished sixth nationally in Division I in increased attendance during the 2003-04 season, drawing 95,136 for the season, about one-third more than the season before. And Hokie fans improved upon that. Virginia Tech led the nation in increased attendance during the 2004-05 season, averaging 9,406 per game, the largest average attendance in Cassell Coliseum history. That record was broken again in 2005-06, as the Hokies averaged 9,764 per game and once again in the 2006-07 season, at 9,822 per game.

Cassell Coliseum is constantly undergoing improvements. Eight years ago, new state-of-the-art video screens were added, and six years ago, each seat in the arena was refinished to its natural wood look. Prior to the 2002-03 season, the athletics department completed step one of a three-step process to renovate and improve the ambulatory of the coliseum. New video screens were added in the concourse, as well as a new design to the court, reflecting the Hokies' entrance into the ACC. Two years ago, the north and south ambulatories were upgraded to blend with the work done on the east and west ambulatories prior to the 2004-05 season.

Restoration and sealing of the exterior concrete walls and buttresses of Cassell Coliseum took place in 1997. Roof repair was completed in the fall of 1996, with replacement of the roof surface and installation of structural access to the heating and lighting systems as well as installation of steel beams in the top of the arena.

The men's basketball team was given a gift from Pat and Sandy Cupp of Blacksburg, Va., to renovate the men's basketball locker room, which is now the Bill Foster Basketball Suite, named after one of Tech's most successful men's basketball coaches.

Entering the 2008-2009 season, the Hokies have won 470 out of 608 games played in Cassell, for a winning percentage of .773.

During the 1994-95 season, Cassell was the site of high excitement as the Hokies serves as the hosts for two National Invitation Tournament games en route to the championship. The Hokies beat Clemson in a first-round game at the Coliseum and then scored an emotional 64-61 third-round win over New Mexico State, turning the arena into a madhouse. Tech continued its strong home showings in the NIT in 2005, as the Hokies defeated Temple 60-50 in front of more than 9,100 fans in "The Cassell". The Hokies' three home games in this past season's NIT were all sellouts.

The first basketball game played in the Coliseum was on January 3, 1962, as the Hokies routed Alabama 91-67. The near-capacity crowd had to sit on the concrete floor to watch the initiation of the new building because the seats had not arrived.

There have been four perfect season records for the Hokies in Cassell: two 10-0 years (1961-62 and 1965-66), an 11-0 campaign (1972-73) and a 14-0 season (1975-76). The Hokies have lost only one game on their home court in 11 other years, including 13-1 records in 1977-78 and 1987-88.

In-state rivals have had little success playing the Hokies in Cassell, winning only 14 of 122 visits.

On September 17, 1977, Virginia Tech officials and friends dedicated the Coliseum in honor of the late Stuart K. Cassell.

Construction for the main portion of the Coliseum began in 1961. It was completed in December 1964, at a cost of $2.7 million. Built by T.C. Brittain and Company of Decatur, Ga., it housed a 10,052-seat basketball arena, locker rooms, two auxiliary gymnasiums, offices and other athletic facilities. Although capacity crowds are a frequent occurrence in Cassell Coliseum, the largest crowd ever recorded was an overflow of 11,500 for Purdue on December 3, 1966.

Adjacent to Cassell Coliseum is the Jamerson Athletic Center. It was completed in 1982 and dedicated in the fall of 1983, and named in honor of J.E. Jamerson and his son, William E. Jamerson, owners of the firm that built the building. The complex contains administrative and coaching offices, athletic department accounting and business offices, team and coaches' meeting rooms, the Jim "Bulldog" Haren Weight Room and the Gordon D. Bowman Memorial Club Room on the top floor for Hokie Club members.