Wrestling may be the oldest and greatest sport, but at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, everything about the sport will be exciting and new. New NCAA Division I wrestling program. New head coach, Neil Erisman. And, a brand-new wrestling facility, plans which were unveiled Tuesday.
Back in March at the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, UA Little Rock announced it would add wrestling to its roster of intercollegiate sports. Three months later, the school revealed it had hired Erisman, bringing valuable coaching experience at Oklahoma State, then University of North Carolina to launch the new mat program.
This week, the floor plans and architectural drawings for Little Rock's new wrestling facility were unwrapped.
The new facility, to be named the Greg Hatcher Wrestling Center in honor of the man who brought the first Division I wrestling program to Arkansas, will provide a state-of-the-art home for the Trojan wrestling program.
The new freestanding facility represents a major portion of Greg Hatcher's $1.4 million gift to launch the wrestling program at Little Rock. The 16,000-square-foot facility will feature a practice facility with four wrestling mats, along with coaches' offices, locker rooms, an athletes' lounge, training room and a weight room all in one self-contained facility.
In addition, the Hatcher Wrestling Center will also feature a pair of outdoor patio areas available to the entire campus community, providing a place for students, faculty and staff to meet and socialize. The facility will be built adjacent to the Donaghey Athletic Center on the south end of campus, occupying the space that was once home to old tennis courts.
"This was a vision of Greg Hatcher, and to him, I say thank you," said UA Little Rock Director of Athletics Chasse Conque. "We appreciate you sharing your vision, your time, your tenacity and your philanthropy to make this all happen. I'm confident with the support of Greg and this community, this program will quickly become a national contender in just a few short years."
Greg Hatcher echoed that sentiment, saying, "Little Rock wrestling isn't here just to participate, it's here to compete. To have four wrestling mats to practice with in a stand-alone building with its own locker room, its own coaches' offices and its own weight room, Little Rock will have one of the premiere wrestling facilities in the country."
Construction on the Hatcher Wrestling Center will begin this fall and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2019. Erisman is already recruiting his first signing class as Little Rock sets its sights on its first season of competition in the fall of 2019.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a four-year, metropolitan public research university in the state capital. Established in 1927, the school has approximately 12,000 students.
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