TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA - Alabama's athletic department is in a state of upheaval this summer, but it's because of construction, not sudden coaching changes. <br>
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The parking lot outside the football complex is crowded with gravel and heavy machinery, and staffers lost Internet access for several days because a fiber-optic cable had been cut. <br>
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``It's causing some difficulties in the short term,'' Crimson Tide athletic director Mal Moore said. ``We've had to move some offices and so forth. But it is a matter of a little inconvenience now in exchange for a huge benefit when it all is done.'' <br>
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The athletic department is in the early stages of a planned $100 million in improvements that include a new weight room, upgrading Coleman Coliseum, new tennis and soccer complexes and a 10,000-seat expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium. <br>
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Moore said upgrading the facilities was one of his top priorities when he became athletic director in 1999. <br>
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``It was clearly something we needed,'' he told The Tuscaloosa News in a story Sunday. ``It wasn't just a case of building something unnecessary because someone else had it. In a lot of areas, we were standing still. There were a number of reasons for that, but we needed to get moving again.'' <br>
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The Crimson Tradition fund-raising campaign has not yet reached its goal of $50 million but is ``getting close,'' Moore said. <br>
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The remaining $50 million, to be raised through the issuance of bonds, will be spent mostly on the Bryant-Denny expansion estimated to cost $43.3 million and tentatively set to begin in late 2004. <br>
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The annex is expected to be completed in December. It will include new offices for the head football coach and the director of operations and will increase the staff's ability to control access to the locker room, meeting room and weight room facilities. <br>
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The 35-year-old Coleman Coliseum also is due for a makeover. <br>
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``There has not been a great deal done since the coliseum was built as far as making it more fan-friendly,'' Moore said. ``We need to expand the concession areas, replace some of the seats, modernize the restrooms. We intend to do all those things. <br>
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``It is still a good facility, but we need to upgrade those areas.''
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