In 2023, the Gophers athletics department contracted with an architectural design firm to explore the feasibility of renovations to Williams Arena or, to a lesser likelihood, building a new venue for men’s and women’s basketball.

That is no longer in the short-term plans.

In the changing college sports landscape, the U will need to distribute $20 million in direct payments to players as part of the pending House vs. NCAA settlement. That is expected to become a massive budget line item later this year.

“We did have some conversations with some consultants about Williams Arena, and then the House settlement and the revenue share came more to the forefront, just with all the changes financially that impact is going to have on departments,” athletics director Coyle said in an interview with the Pioneer Press on Thursday. “And so we want to work our way through that first.”

When Coyle announced Ben Johnson was let go as men’s basketball coach after 1 a.m. Thursday, the AD’s statement called the new vacancy an “extremely desirable job” and ticked through the attributes he saw: the Big Ten Conference, the Twin Cities area, its newer Athletes Village facilities and “games in a historic venue.”

But Williams Arena is approaching 100 years old. The Barn needs, at least, a paint job over the growing amount of exposed concrete around the seats and so much more. Coyle acknowledges that.

“There’s no doubt that we can make enhancements to Williams Arena,” he said Thursday. “We do think it’s a special facility. I always joke that nobody complains when it is sold out. People talk about how great the Barn is, the excitement, the electricity.”

The Gophers went 15-17 overall in Johnson’s fourth and last season at Minnesota, but that included a 2-8 record in Big Ten home games. Their best crowd came for a Senior Day loss to Wisconsin, but that announced sellout (14,625) included a substantial amount of Badgers fans.

Attendance at the Barn has been slipping in recent years. The U averaged more than 10,000 fans for all games from 1970-71 to 2021-21 (excluding the pandemic) but the average announced attendance was 9,451 in 2022-23 and 8,140 last season. They were under 9,000 again this year.

“There’s no doubt we can do things to enhance the student-athlete experience, enhance the fan experience, and those are things we’ll look at,” Coyle said. “But again, our job right now is we’ve got to win consistently, and I think that will change that building a lot.”