There he sat in Madison Square Garden to watch Syracuse in mid-November. But Keith Cieplicki didn’t seem impressed one bit.

The setting just didn’t seem right. Watching basketball in one of the most well-known arenas in the country, Cieplicki thought he was somewhere else. He noticed how close the seats seemed in relation to the court and he felt cramped. Cieplicki imagined he was watching a game in a high school gym instead of Madison Square Garden.

He took his eyes off the court for a few moments and turned to his assistant coach, Matt Luneau.

‘Doesn’t this seem small?’ Cieplicki asked. ‘Why does it seem small?’

‘Well,’ Luneau replied, ‘you’re comparing it to the Dome.’

The Carrier Dome is the place Cieplicki will now call home for his basketball team. Syracuse will play 10 of its 13 home games in the Dome this season, starting Saturday against Massachusetts at 1 p.m. With the approval of SU Director of Athletics Daryl Gross, Cieplicki can now imagine not only big-time recruits flocking to Syracuse, but an increased women’s basketball presence on the SU campus.

‘If we can use it for recruiting, we need it for everything we can,’ Luneau said. ‘I don’t want to say it, but it’s not like we can really sell a truly successful winning tradition (right now). One thing we can sell is the facilities now.’

After a measly 6-21 record his first year, Cieplicki inherited a stronger recruiting class and improved to 13-16 in 2004-2005, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament after upsetting sixth-seeded Georgetown. This year, the Orange stand 4-3 (0-1 Big East) with six freshmen and one transfer on the roster. If all goes to plan, Cieplicki foresees a further push into the Big East tournament and an NCAA tournament berth in the future.

‘We’re trying to get people in the stands, but we have to have teams out there that have success,’ Cieplicki said. ‘This is year three for us. I think it’s the right time to move in the Dome and hopefully in two to three years, we can compete. I think the timing is right. If for whatever reason we would try to start this thing out (earlier), I wouldn’t know if it would have the same impact. It’s a building process.’

Cieplicki’s tendency to play his younger players more than upperclassmen demonstrates his desire to win. To younger players, there’s nothing more exciting than knowing they have the chance to be the architects of building a competitive team.

‘They definitely mentioned that they were trying to (play in the Dome), but the overall message when I was going to transfer here was on how they were going to try to change the program and move the steps in the right direction,’ said Ashley McMillan, a junior transfer from Monroe Community College in Rochester. ‘That was a big plus – how they’re trying to get the women’s game equal to the men’s in how they’re making progress. Just all their vision really got me to come here.’

Gross saw Cieplicki’s vision right away. That’s why it was a no-brainer when Cieplicki approached him with the idea last spring. Gross’ immediate thought was, ‘Let’s do it.’ There stood one significant obstacle, though. The Big East already formulated the schedule for this season with no knowledge of SU’s plan to play at the Dome.

‘If you put the concept out there, you have good people to make it happen,’ Gross said. ‘The biggest thing was having the whole philosophy. We wanted the women to play in the Dome and we worked like mad to make it happen. At the end of the day we had so much confidence in people. It’s a great thing to be able to pull it off so fast.’

Gross and Cieplicki teamed with Pat Campbell, the senior associate athletics director responsible for managing the Dome, to make it work. They laid out the men’s and women’s basketball schedules to figure out which dates wouldn’t conflict. Campbell also took into account other possible appointments that would occupy the Dome, such as high school football. Campbell said this process presented few problems because there were many open dates.

‘Then we dropped (the games) in,’ Campbell said.

Campbell also arranged practice schedules so that the men’s team practices from 3:30 to 7 p.m. on weekdays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and 2 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Meanwhile, the women’s team practices from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and before or after the men on weekends. The challenge, Campbell said, is accommodating the visiting team’s practice schedule. The open communication between Cieplicki, Campbell and Gross has minimized conflict and will allow them to address anything that arises as the season progresses.

‘I’m going to be honest with you,’ Cieplicki said. ‘This is a work in progress.’

Although no one has established an expectation for attendance figures, Campbell said he will staff the Dome on Saturday to be able to manage 2,000 people. That means 12 of the gates will be open with 10 ticket sellers working. Campbell didn’t disclose the exact number of personnel or costs for hosting the women’s game at the Dome, but said it’s all carried out within the limits of Syracuse’s athletic budget.

‘We’re going to do it as economically as possible within the constraints of putting on a quality event,’ Campbell said. ‘We’re not going to cut corners. We’re going to staff the facility based on what we expect the crowd size to be initially. Then we’ll adjust as we go through.’

Averaging merely 642 fans last year in Manley Field House, an arena with a capacity of 9,500, suggests the attendance figures will be low. Along with the promotions staff, Cieplicki has taken his own initiative to appeal the Dome to the public.

Cieplicki’s traveled around local middle and high schools to distribute free tickets. He also plans to make a pitch to the greek community. He wants to hold a contest for the greek fraternities and sororities that send the most members to a basketball game. Cieplicki pledges the winner will receive a big-screen TV at his expense.

General season ticket holders have first option for the lower side court seating. Each ticket, which costs $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens, are general admission. SU students gain entry for free with their ID. Parking in the Stadium West lots is free as well. Gross is hopeful for a large crowd when SU hosts Connecticut on Feb. 22.

In particular, Cieplicki and players also hope the better location for students will also increase student support.

‘For us it seems like Manley is so convenient because we all live on South Campus,’ freshman guard Jenny Eckhart said. ‘For everyone else, they’re always like, ‘Oh man we have to get a bus to go to Manley.’ That will help because a lot of people don’t have rides to get to South Campus. Now that this is on campus hopefully we get more people.’

Based on history, no matter the well-intentioned idea, the women’s team has not drawn people to the Dome. Scattered throughout the mid-’80s and early ’90s, SU played 15 games at the Dome only to see parents, close fans and local media present. Former SU athletics director Jake Crouthamel said he scheduled the women’s games with the men’s games as a doubleheader. The men, though, played first because television executives were worried a possible overtime in a women’s game would eat into primetime.

To avoid any conflicts, the women instead played afterward. But Crouthamel noticed as soon as the men walked off the court, so too did the fans leave the Dome.

‘My thought was it may be good in a recruiting standpoint,’ Crouthamel said. ‘I don’t discredit that notion. (But) when the Dome is empty, I don’t think it speaks very well to the environment.’

This mindset is where Crouthamel and Gross clearly show different philosophies. Helping form the Big East and the construction of the Carrier Dome, Crouthamel indeed shared the same vision as Gross to expand Syracuse athletics whenever possible. But he differed in his more pragmatic approach. Gross, on the other hand, starts with the end goal in sight and works aggressively to reach that mark.

When Cieplicki arrived as the head coach, he immediately brought up the idea to Crouthamel. Crouthamel saw it as a possibility, but not an immediate necessity. He wanted the women’s team to first become successful and draw a crowd at Manley Field House. Like how he did with the men’s team, Crouthamel would then make the switch to the Dome.

But Gross and Cieplicki are making the switch as success rises steadily, not once it’s reached its peak. Cieplicki knows the best marketing tool is a quality basketball team. And a big-time facility may give Syracuse an edge over top 25 programs.

‘You name it, I’ve gotten it,’ Cieplicki said in regards to the feedback he’s received. ‘I’ve gotten the ‘it’s long overdue’ to ‘what are you doing?’ I’ve gotten the whole spectrum. I’ve really just tried to tell people that if the message is we want to build this thing into a (successful) Big East program, there is really no other way to do it.

‘Kids watch the men on TV and they call and ask, ‘Do you play in the Dome?’ As soon as we say no, we’re in trouble. If you really like your cereal, are you going to buy the name brand or the generic? You’ll buy the best.’

Published on December 9, 2005 at 12:00 pm