Jack Ziegler of Athletic & Performance Rigging works on rigging for a curtain that reduces McKale Center seating to about 4,100.

A.E. ARAIZA / arizona daily star

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Dave Rubio will take credit for the idea but not for any nicknames that come with it.

When Arizona Wildcats fans walk into McKale Center on Friday or later, they will undoubtedly be struck with a major, albeit temporary, makeover.

For volleyball and gymnastics matches, the school has installed a retractable navy blue curtain system that will cover all but about 4,100 of the arena's seats.

Call it the Blue Monster. Or the Tucson Tapestry.

Rubio, the UA volleyball coach, calls it progress.

"It looks fantastic," Rubio said. "It's going to change McKale significantly."

The idea is to make the arena more intimate, and intimidating.

It comes at a cost. A private donor paid $650,000 for the series of curtains, which will cover the upper levels of McKale Center.

Steve Kozachik, the UA assistant athletic director for facilities and event operations, said that, roughly, the curtains are 400 feet wide by 30 feet high.

The curtains are attached to the rafters with cables, and can be lifted in about three minutes.

"Faster than the roof at Chase Field," Kozachik said.

The navy curtains feature a script "Arizona" in red at midcourt and the ever-present block "A" in the corners. Cutouts allow fans to walk through aisles, keeping in line with fire codes. Advertising signage remains in view.

The curtain system will force fans to sit in the lower portion of the arena, closer to the floor — and presumably, making for a louder audience.

It will accomplish Rubio's goal since his arrival on campus in 1992. Seeking a smaller venue — and admitting such opposing venues are "scary for us" — Rubio first pitched that his team play at Bear Down Gym. When that was rejected, he asked to play at the school's soon-to-be-opened basketball practice facility. That, too, proved not feasible.

A year or so ago, Rubio sat in his office and wondered.

"OK, what's the next-best thing?" he remembers thinking.

The curtain system was produced by Athletic & Performance Rigging, an Ohio-based company that enclosed NBA arenas for WNBA teams.

The curtain will give volleyball players and gymnasts a new feel in a building that has all the comforts of home. For decades, McKale has been the home of academic services, coaches' offices and players' locker rooms.

"It's a heck of a lot cheaper than building a new arena," said Kathleen "Rocky" LaRose, the UA's senior associate athletic director.

"It's really just a great way to solve the whole situation."

Bill Ryden, the UA gymnastics coach, is all for it. He — like Rubio — had suggested a curtain years ago, but neither was content with one that bisected the floor.

"I love it — we're going to use it," Ryden said. "It's going to make it one of the classiest home venues in the nation, bar none."

Niya Butts isn't sold. The first-year UA women's basketball coach said she has yet to decide whether to use the curtain but doesn't necessarily want to limit her attendance goals.

"Our challenge is not to have to use the curtain," she said.

LaRose said using the curtain "isn't mandatory" for Butts, "but volleyball is going to be a great pilot program."

The project hasn't been without its glitches. Kozachik said about half of the original curtains had to be sent back to Ohio because the holes did not line up over the proper aisles.

The UA will be able to lift specific curtains to expand seating, section-by-section, when needed.

The entire curtain system will be lifted for men's basketball games, some of which will be played the day after volleyball matches. Rubio joked that he'll be in trouble if they don't lift properly.

"God forbid they don't come up," Rubio said, laughing. "I'll be up there with a pair of cable cutters."