While adding a women's water polo team and building a new pool has been pushed back indefinitely, the athletic department instead is working on improving the facility of its current aquatic programs.

Originally, the addition of the team and the new pool was next on the list of priorities for auxiliary departments in the Fiscal-Year 2002-2005 Capital Improvement Plan forecast, but two projects were moved ahead of it because the Apache-Santa Cruz Residence Hall Renovations and the renovations to McKale Center have already started. The new pool was pushed back because adding a varsity women's water polo team has been moved back.

"Initially, the new pool kind of centered around the fact we were going to offer women's water polo, and they have since decided that that's not necessary to reach gender equity, so the pool's kind of on the back burner right now," said Frank Busch, men's and women's swimming head coach. "There has already been discussion to focus on our facility, really try to bring it up to date ÷ not major remodeling, just doing some things to upgrade our facility a little bit."

Saying the water polo team is on the back burner is accurate and rather than adding a new pool, improvements will be made to the current one, Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, said athletic director Jim Livengood.

"I think that's the best way to put it," Livengood said. "Water polo is certainly at some point in our plans, but just not in the immediate future."

The Capital Improvement Plan lists that the new pool would enable the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics to "expand its intercollegiate sports mix," add water polo and add more space to "improve existing programs." The location for the improvements was set to be next to Hillenbrand.

Livengood does not know when the sport could be added.

"It's hard to say. Certainly it would be a great sport for our female student athletes," Livengood said. "One of the issues for us right now is the 19 sports we have right now · we don't back up in that commitment financially. "

According to Sports Illustrated's report on sports colleges, the athletic budget for Stanford, which has 34 varsity sports, is $45 million. Right now, with 19 sports, the budget for UA is $31 million. The UA funds each sport to the maximum, in terms of offering as many scholarships and having as many coaching positions as are allowed. Additionally, Arizona's teams travel extensively to maintain a maximum competition schedule, Livengood said.

"It is very expensive to add a sport," Livengood said. "(Arizona State) just added water polo, but the university's paying for the entire thing ÷ the entire budget for three years. That's not going to happen here."

The improvements could come soon to Hillenbrand, which was dedicated to the benefactors of its last renovation, William G. and Dolores D. Hillenbrand, in 1989.

"(We'll begin the renovations) just as soon as we can. We're actually in the process of raising money right now. We have a number of things we want to do for our aquatics program ÷ there's a timetable, but it is all dependent on raising funds money for it," Livengood said.

While he didn't know all the details, Busch said the improvements will likely be new plastering in the pool, additional seating, work on the locker room and on the diving well and possibly a new scoreboard.

Currently, Hillenbrand ranks in the middle of the Pac-10 facilities, according to Livengood.

The Pac-10 is the only conference, with the exception of the Northwest schools (Oregon does not have any swimming teams) to hold most of its meets outside, Busch said.

The improvements would likely move Hillenbrand into second, third or fourth in the Pac-10, though Livengood said it is "very hard to compete" with the "great" facilities at Southern California, Stanford and Washington. According to SI, Stanford has three 50-meter pools and is the fastest outdoor pool, and Washington uses the aquatics center built for the Goodwill Games.

"We have a good facility. We don't have a bad facility," Busch said. "A facility at this point in time is not going to make a difference in whether our program is going to be a great program or a good one."

Since senior swimmer April Beltran really likes Hillenbrand, she said she would only make minor changes to the pool.

"A nicer scoreboard, definitely, I guess, and better starting blocks also," Beltran said. "Facilities are a big factor in choosing where to go. A nicer pool would be better for recruiting."

However, Busch does feel upgrades would help the swimming teams garner even more success. Women's swimming and diving teams have finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships every year since 1997, in the top 15 since 1988 and in ten of the last 12 seasons Arizona has had an individual national champion.

The men's team has placed in the top seven at the national championships for the last five years, in the top 19 since 1977 and has had an individual NCAA champion eight out of the last 10 years.

"There's no question a good facility would help recruiting but I think the most important thing is that the facility we have is well kept," Busch said. "Just like anything else, upgrades catch people's eyes and when you're trying to impress a 17 year old, you have no clue as to what they're thinking about."