Renovation Delay: A candid talk with Mike Hill

There was no second shooter.

It was simply a weather balloon that crashed in Roswell.

We really did land on the moon.

And the O’Connell Center renovation delay was not for ‘football-first’ reasons.

“Any suggestion of that is really paranoia by people who are looking for reasons to create a football versus basketball conversation,” said Executive Athletics Director for External Affairs, Mike Hill during any exclusive Gator Country interview. “And nothing could be further from the truth”.

Wednesday’s announcement that the highly-anticipated renovation would be shelved for a year was met with both disappointment and speculation. Hill acknowledged the former while dismissing the latter.

“Nobody is happy we need to delay the project, ourselves included,” he conceded. “But we are full throttle. This project is going to happen and it’s going to be done right”.

Echoing the stated sentiments of Athletic Director Jeremy Foley and University President Kent Fuchs, Hill emphasized the University’s commitment to the project, but also made point to squash lingering theories that tied the delay to a focus on the indoor practice facility.

“These are all independent projects,” Hill said in reference to the practice facility, as well as an academic center under taking. “If the O’Connell Center renovation was the only project occurring right now — it would still have been delayed. This has absolutely nothing to do with the indoor practice facility.”

Hill not only bristled at the conspiracy theory, but scoffed at the comparison.

“There is no comparison when looking at the complexities of this project versus building an indoor practice facility from scratch,” Hill said. “One is a $15 million project from the ground up, whereas this is a $60 million renovation with far more considerations.”

In dismissing the ‘football first’ theory, Hill reiterated the real reason for delay.

“I think it is important everyone understands that this is completely and solely related to the complexity of radically renovating a facility that houses so many of our athletic teams and functions,” he said. “It’s complicated and has many, many moving parts.”

One unanticipated ‘moving part’ was the skyward racing price tag, a factor that weighed heavily into the delay and a decision to change construction companies.

“The project was proceeding as planned, but it became evident as things progressed that the cost was exceeding original proposals and the schedule demands began contributing to that,” Hill explained. “So in order to do this right, we had to tap the brakes”.

With brakes pressed and steering handed over to a new construction company, the transition efforts begin and project logistics renew, but with an unknown timeline for fans eager to learn of plans.

“We have hit the pause button so that the new construction manager can dig into this project,” Hill said. “While we know the project will be moving forward one year from now— what the schedule will be and when information will be available to the public in the interim— we can’t answer that yet.”

Speaking of ‘logistics’, Hill gave every assurance head coach Billy Donovan was not only fully informed of project progress and complications, but also fully understanding.

And now Hill turns to his own set of logistics, not the least of which is reformatting and already reformatted schedule.

“I have contacted our scheduling partners so that we can unwind and postpone what we were doing with the schedule,” Hill said. “And they understand the situation”.

But what then will be the situation next year?

“We will go to work now with restructuring our schedule,” Hill said. It’s a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, but we will get it resolved in relative quick fashion. And next season will revert back to a normal Gator basketball schedule.”

And fans hope the normal schedule will be accompanied by Florida’s normal success, and led by its normal leader.

All of that seems likely— unless, of course, Billy really is Elvis in disguise.