The Hiram Terriers’ indoor sports teams home court will look different in the 2026-2027 season, as the Athletic Department contracted Ohio Flooring to completely renovate the Price Gymnasium’s Hollinger Courts.
“It is going to look a lot newer,” Athletic Director Scott Pohlman told The Weekly Villager on April 30. “I already love our gym and the architecture of it. That is going to look nice and if you put that in with the floor, it should represent Hiram nicely.”
According to Pohlman, Ohio Flooring is applying the finishing touches on the new court the week of April 27, marking two weeks since it started renovations. They are expected to varnish the court during the week of May 4 and will let it set for a week before it can be used.
The new court will look brighter, as there will be a Terrier head at center court and the volleyball court will be a darker shade of brown, and the rest of the court will be light brown with the names ‘HIRAM’ and ‘TERRIERS’ printed on opposite ends and ‘HOLLINGER COURT’ will also be imprinted as a signature.
“It should help with recruiting,” Pohlman said. “Kids come in there and look at the gym, whether it is basketball or volleyball, and look at the facility that they are going to play in so that is going to be nice.”
Another change to Hollinger Court will be the three-point line. It has only been six years since the National Collegiate Athletic Association moved the women’s line to the same distance as it was in men’s basketball, so even though the three-point lines were the same, there were still two different three-point lines on the court, but the new court will only have one line now.
Pohlman added that the court designs were developed by men’s basketball Coach Pierce Cumpstone, men’s volleyball Coach Kyle Martini, women’s volleyball Coach Macy Roell and new women’s basketball Coach Wiedie.
“It is their home court so instead of myself and Jim Schweickert, who is the assistant athletic director coming up with the design, we just let the coaches who play on the court come up with a design,” Pohlman said.
Pohlman said that Hollinger Court needed repair after the Price Gymnasium experienced water leaks for the last several years and near the end of the women’s and men’s basketball season. it trickled onto the court. Moisture got underneath the hardwood floors, causing several of the boards underneath the basket near the main entrance to become cupper, creating a tripping hazard in a 15×10 area of the court.
“Instead of lying flat, they were curling up so a two-inch board would look flat in the middle, but the edges were raising up so there was actual cupping,” noted Pohlman. “We had a flooring company come in there, we took a look at it and took some measurements and we found out that there was some significant moisture underneath those areas.”
Pohlman said that Hiram attempted to remediate the moisture by using fans, but the boards did not lower, requiring the Athletic Department to have to replace all the affected boards.
Although it was a small area of the court, Pohlman acknowledged that the Athletic Department conferred with opposing teams to ensure that the student-athletes would be safe from any significant injury playing on raised hardwood and there were no incidents during the men’s and women’s basketball season and the men’s volleyball season.
Pohlman said that the Athletic Department decided to completely renovate the court because most of the boards that needed replacing were of a blue color that could not be matched, so Ohio Flooring removed the entire court, and the Athletic Department left it in the coaches’ hands to decide what the new Hollinger Court should look like.
“It worked out great all the way around,” Pohlman said. “Somebody was smiling down on us because we were able to get through the volleyball season It was going to take three weeks and it fit in perfectly when our volleyball season ended, and their busy season started so it worked out perfectly.”
