It may not be a mansion, but the Kansas Jayhawks have their own $12 million dollar basketball dorm/gym/palace/fun house/whatever you want to call it.
Kansas isn’t the first big basketball school to build one and they won’t be the last. However, as of now, the Jayhawks have the newest basketball dorm in the country.
McCarthy Hall originally opened in 2015 and currently is the home to 16 KU men’s basketball players and 17 other students that aren’t on the team or are affiliated with the program. The building cost $12 million to build and was funded through private donors. On top of that, it’s only a couple hundred feet away from Allen Fieldhouse.
The dorm building has much more than just dorm rooms and bathrooms. It also has a half-court basketball facility, media room, game room, barbershop, and much more.
One unique feature to the building is the security. To get to the second or third floor, one must have the correct fingerprint or ID card to get in. If they are a visitor, they must be let in by someone who lives there.
Back in 2012, the University of Kentucky built a specialized dorm for its basketball players as well. Kentucky’s special dorm includes a private chef, flat-screen televisions, and are specifically designed for seven-footers.
The reason why schools are allowed to build these ridiculous basketball-centric dorms is because according to the NCAA, they aren’t athletic dormitories, which typically are against the rules.
NCAA rules state a dorm building isn’t considered an athletic dorm if at least 50% of the residents on every wing and/or floor are non-student-athletes. McCarthy Hall has 33 students living inside it, 17 of which (or 52%) are non-student-athletes while the other 16 (48%) are student-athletes.
Kudos to Kansas, Kentucky, and all the other schools with dorms like this for bending the NCAA rules and working through the loopholes. Now how lucky does a non-student-athlete have to be to secure one of the 17 open spots in McCarthy Hall?
[KU Hoops]
