In 2021, Nick Morrow stepped into his role as athletic director at the University of North Florida (UNF), but he was no stranger to the University. Prior to taking the position, Morrow had served in a variety of positions in UNF Athletics including chief financial officer and senior associate athletic director for development, external and financial operations. Thanks to his leadership, the athletic department set records for total reportable revenue, total donor count and established new all-time revenue records in annual fundraising events.
While he had already overseen renovations to other facilities on campus, his first task as athletic director was to renovate UNF Arena, home of the University’s basketball and volleyball teams.
“We wanted to create an experience not just in the game, but around the game,” said Morrow. “Building energy in the arena creates a better experience not just for those in attendance, but for our student athletes as well.”
“Energy comes from a lot of places,” said Matthew Driscoll, head coach of UNF’s men’s basketball team. “It comes from people as well as the sounds and visuals surrounding the game. You can feel it.”
To create the new fan experience, UNF chose CCS Presentation Systems Southeast to complete audio and visual upgrades to UNF Arena as part of its facility upgrades.
“Nick shared with us the vision of what UNF wanted to create at UNF Arena and said that they wanted a state-of-the-art sound system and updated lighting and visuals, we knew Danley Sound Labs and NGU Sports Lighting were the right answers,” said John Doster, CEO of CCS Southeast. “We know they are great companies and were able to demo the Danley products, they were impressed.”
“We always want to work with integrators who offer a comprehensive package for their customers’ needs,” said Cooper Hedden, southeast regional sales manager at Danley Sound Labs. “You can create amazing loudspeakers, but without proper installation, tuning or training, showing that quality can be difficult. CCS Southeast is a great partner and works with not only Danley, but other great companies for quality visuals like NGU Sports Lighting.”
Within UNF Arena, CCS Southeast utilized Danley SH96 loudspeakers for the main bowl, OS80 loudspeakers as fill for the upper sections of the bowl and 4 TH118 subwoofers for the low end. Utilizing Danley’s patented Synergy Horn, CCS Southeast was able to better control sound patterns to reduce reverberance and direct the sound onto the crowd.
“In addition to the improved experience for UNF students and student athletes, we now have higher quality donors to UNF athletics,” said Mark Cagnassola, UNF alumnus and donor. “It’s given us new opportunities to invite prospective donors to campus and creating a better experience for everyone.”
“This past year, we sold the second most tickets we ever have for a game and it’s because the word is out about our fan experience,” said Morrow. “These little things make a huge difference in your overall fan experience and engagement. It’s been everything we had hoped it would be and more.”