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Don Haskins Center

The Don
Former names	The Special Events Center
Location	El Paso, Texas Glory Road
Opened	1976
Owner	University of Texas at El Paso
Operator	University of Texas at El Paso
Surface	Hardwood
Architect	N/A
Capacity	12,222
Tenants
UTEP Athletics

The Don Haskins Center is the home of UTEP Miners basketball. With fans seated extremely close to the playing floor and the UTEP student section located near the opponent's bench, "The Don" is so notorious as a tough place for opponents to win that UTEP has historically had difficulty convincing top-rated teams to play there. The Don is the home of the UTEP Miners who are the only Division 1 Men's National Basketball Champions in the State of Texas (1966).

Built in 1976 as the Special Events Center, the venue replaced Memorial Gym. The Special Events Center was renamed after UTEP's legendary Hall of Fame coach Don Haskins in 1998. The arena was the site of a milestone win during the 1997-98 season, as coach Haskins notched his 700th career victory against SMU. The arena was also the site of the 1984, 1985, and 1990 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournaments.

The arena offers fans a comfortable yet intimate view of the action on the court, and is known for its extremely high decibel level when the stands are full. The Haskins Center features a Robbins Bio-Channel Star maple floor, installed in the summer of 2002, as well as two modern locker rooms, training facilities and basketball coaches' offices. The gameday environment for basketball was enhanced in recent years with the addition of four new scoreboards and two video replay boards to the arena. The arena now boasts a total of seven electronic scoreboards.

The Arena also hosts many prestigious rock artists such as Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Rush, Santana, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Metalica, And Rod Stewart

The Miner men's basketball team has posted a staggering 394-115 (.774) record in 30 years at "The Don," including a 364-94 (.795) record over the last 25 seasons.

UTEP won 25 straight home games from Jan. 23, 1987 to Dec. 16, 1989. The Miners have posted undefeated home records in three seasons—1983-84 (21 -0), 1985-86 (19-0) and 1988-89 (18-0). They also won the first 10 conference games they played there after joining Conference USA in 2005. UTEP has used this home-court advantage to defeat many top-10 ranked teams in the Don Haskins Center over the years, including #10 Arizona (1977), #5 Georgetown (1985), #5 Wyoming (1988), and #9 Utah (1993), among others.

Pop superstar Britney Spears sold out the nearly 13,000 tickets available for her concert at the Don Haskins Center on September 21, 2009. The show was part of the second North American leg of her hugely successful world tour, The Circus Starring: Britney Spears.

Kiss will visit the don haskins center supporting their new album Sonic Boom on December 2.

UTEP has attracted 4,686,630 fans in 30 seasons at "The Don," an average of 9,208 per game during that span. The 12,000-seat arena has been sold out for UTEP basketball games 106 times. The arena also regularly hosts big-name concerts and other national touring events.

Fans enter the Don Haskins Center early before a UTEP Men's basketball game.

ACDC is going to be at the Don Haskins Center on November 15, 2009 as part of their Black Ice World Tour.

[edit] External links

• UTEP Venues - Don Haskins Center

Coordinates: 31°46′39″N 106°30′21″W / 31.777608°N 106.505718°W / 31.777608; -106.505718