Coal Hall or Wildcat Coal Hall.

I guess it is better than the “KY Jelly Wildcat Lodge” though….

that UK is very fortunate to have awesome supporters that do superb things for our teams. The Craft Center is revered by the nation.

but the name is just stupid.

“Where Men Are Forged”……

A Name is just a name……At Wright State we got the Nutter Center…..lol…..try living with that one for a while…..lol….They called it Nuttier…..Nutter Butter….everything they could think of…..but it was a great addition to the University…..this will be too…..

I have no problem with the people laying down the money wanting their industry in the name, and don’t think the word “coal” in the title really “unnecessarily politicizes the UK men’s basketball program,” as the protestors believe. Likewise, I’m sure if Greenpeace or whoever wanted to donate millions of dollars to the UK program, they’d slap their name all over something too. Though I don’t really agree with the protestor’s position, I also have no intention of mocking them—I actually think it’s really admirable for people to stand up for what they think is right like that.

But my issue with it is, like, how could “coal,” an inanimate object, sponsor something? It jsut sounds weird to me. Calling it “Alliance Coal” Lodge (the name of the specific company Craft heads) sounds more reasonable to me, but hey, I don’t have a spare 7 million dollars, so I don’t get to say.

Like hoboat says though, really, what’s it matter? No one ever called it “Joe Hall Wildcat Lodge” either. It’s just the Lodge, and it will likely continue to be thought of and called that way.

This is not a donation or gift. The coal industry is not ‘giving’ us 7 million dollars; they are investing 7 million dollars in themselves. No industry is in business to lose money. They get to put their name in a public place that will potentially increase their name recognition and consequently increase their potential revenue. Tostitos fiesta bowl, Papa John’s stadium, Nokia Sugar bowl, Wildcat Coal Lodge, etc., are all advertising tactics to get consumers to associate the product with something completely unrelated.

Coal is not a clean or efficient source of power. The argument that coal creates jobs doesn’t hold water. It doesn’t create any more jobs in KY than any other industry would. Any factory in eastern KY would create jobs; it doesn’t have to be coal.

The argument that it’s their 7 million and they can name it whatever they want doesn’t hold water, either. Should we expect the university to accept a 7 Million dollar gift from the Taliban and have a Wildcat Al Qaeda Lodge?

The most obvious point of all is this: if the university was so hard up for 7 million dollars to build a new dorm, then maybe they should have spent 7 million less on their new coach.

I hate to get so worked up about this, but it seems so blatantly insidious and nobody is noticing, much to the delight of the 7 million dollar donors.

While I hate the idea that an awful polluting industry is getting publicity because of our college basketball program, I must admit that I am in no position to complain since one of the courts in the new practice facility is named after my grandfather (thanks to a donation from a well-to-do relative of mine).

My question is: Why couldn’t we name it after a former UK coach or player (or better yet, BILL KEIGHTELY LODGE) and post a plaque in front of the building letting people know who paid for it? It could read something like “this structure was may possible thanks to the XXXXX Coal Company. XXXXX Coal Company: providing energy to the citizens of the Commonwealth since 18XX.” This way, you can placate all the people complaining about the AWFUL name and it’s direct association with the coal industry, and still satisfy the investors.

Besides, the investors aren’t going to lose out if they rename the building something else. They will receive several different sets of season tickets, a direct phoneline to Mitch Barnhart and Lee Todd whenever they want, and behind the scenes access and information about all the players and games. Trust me on this one, it’s because of donations like this that I got to meet Ashley Judd. :)

Bill Keightely or Mr. Wildcat Lodge sounds like a winner to me…

This name is bad. If Phillip Morriss (sp?) had provided the money for the facility would people have been so okay with it being named after cigarettes? I don’t mean to directly compare the coal industry and the cigarette industry, but they are related in the fact that they divide people, often along a very passionate line as well. I’m from E. Ky (Hazard, to be precise) and some of my best friends own coal companies, and my dad represents them. That doesn’t mean that I like them, and it sure doesn’t mean that I want coal smeared all over the UKs campus and the UK bball program. Coal has provided for our region for decades and it looks like it might for a little while longer, but it’s not going to last forever, and I wish people would realize that we need to come up with something cleaner and better. What are we going to do in 10, 20, 30 years when coal is not relevant and something else is? Is it going to take some other huge donor to change the name?

p.s. Keightley Lodge is SOOOO much better and more appropriate.

Can everyone see what I mean? Having this name only splits ppl up. Why on earth would we want something as minuscule (in the big picture) as the name of a dorm split up the fan base like this? Yes in a few weeks (probably next week) we’ll all forget this, but I don’t think it was worth the trouble. It ends up making some people very happy and vilifying anyone who disagrees. Just try being from Eastern Kentucky and not being a fan of the coal industry. As most as bad as being not Baptist. Or worse gay.

(or even the mostest worstest- all three. eek.)

I’m not meaning to imply that we’re split for good. People clearly aren’t going to stop being UK fans because of this (and if it does, good riddance), but we’re arguing about it and we feel strongly about both sides of the argument. This could have easily been avoided.