Coleman Coliseum is a 15,043-seat multi-purpose arena in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The arena opened in 1968 as a replacement for Foster
Auditorium. It is home to the University of Alabama Crimson Tide basketball, gymnastics, and volleyball teams.
In addition to sports, Coleman Coliseum is used for other events including concerts (seating capacity 16,000), commencement exercises, alumni
gatherings, student convocations, operas, ballets and orations by political figures. President Ronald Reagan visited Coleman Coliseum during
the mid-1980s, the Coliseum has been used as an annual bass tournament weigh-in spot, and a Travis Tritt music video was filmed here. The
stadium hosted the NCAA Basketball Tournament three times, as a regional site in 1974 and as a sub-regional in 1975 and 1981.
Coleman Coliseum was named for Jefferson Jackson Coleman, a prominent alumnus. Until his death, in 1995 he was the only person that had
attended every Alabama bowl game, starting with the Rose Bowl game on January 1, 1926. Jeff went on to serve the university in many
capacities, from Business Manager of the football team to Director of Alumni Affairs, for almost 50 years. He was one of the first pledges at the
Delta Chi Fraternity at Alabama and "AA" Emeritus for the National Fraternity.
Before 1990, the building was known as Memorial Coliseum.
It is recognizable on television for its "striped" ceiling (a result of bands of acoustical tiles) and the two scoreboards behind each endline, both of
which intersperse ads, video boards and scoring information with the familiar "R-O-L-L T-I-D-E" in large illuminated letters. The letters fomerly
served as a noise meter during games, with the "E" in "TIDE" being red, as a sort of overload light. Now, all eight letters on both ends are
constantly illuminated, and the final E is white, like the rest of the letters.
The coliseum was renovated in 2005.
