There’s a buzz about the Hornets Nest these days, and it’s getting louder.

With the volleyball program already entrenched as the perennial favorites and both basketball teams emerging as conference contenders, fans are swarming the friendly, but tight confines of ‘The Hive’ in larger numbers. Two weekends ago at their last home game, the men’s team even had to turn folks away.

The Nest was erected in 1955 and is one of the smallest Division I venues in the nation. The gym has a maximum capacity of approximately 1,200 fans, including standing room only.

The question is, with the space and overall feel of a high school gymnasium, is The Hive accommodating the colony? The general consensus falls somewhere in the middle.

“Certainly, very few schools nationally have a gym with less than 1,500 seats,” Sacramento State’s athletic director Terry Wanless said. “It’s kind of good news and bad news.

“The fans are close and energetic, and that works well for us. But it’s a difficult situation to try and recruit high-quality student-athletes with a gym like this, and it doesn’t accommodate a level for community use.”

Men’s head basketball coach Jerome Jenkins appreciates the atmosphere that the home games create, but admits the gym’s condition makes it tough to recruit.

“I love being in there; I love it,” Jenkins said. “We just feel so comfortable at home. I think a lot of people were pissed-off when I took the team out of the Memorial Auditorium, but I still have pictures of that place empty.”

“But we have lost some top recruits, big guys, to the WAC. I try not to make it an excuse, but sometimes they make their decisions based on what they see.”

Head women’s volleyball coach Debby Colberg echoes the sentiment, and adds that her girls don’t seem to mind the close confines of the Nest.

“(The Hornets Nest) is one of the worst in terms of size that we play in, even in the Big Sky. Even though it’s okay for volleyball, it certainly doesn’t ‘wow’ anybody when you’re trying to recruit them,” Colberg said.

“My players though, they never say a word about it. It’s no problem. In terms of a thousand seats, the court’s nice, the lights, the sound system and the scoreboard are fine.”

But as our gym-dependent programs continue to grow, so too will the community’s interest. If the men’s basketball team were to take the conference as predicted by some experts, where would a championship game be played at?

“The size is fine for our competitions. It’s not fine for men’s basketball when they’re successful. It’s going to become an increasing problem for them as they improve,” Colberg said.

With ‘Destination 2010’ and its Recreation Wellness Events Center scheduled for arrival, the Hornets Nest’s days are certainly numbered.

Josh Terrell can be reached at [email protected]