UVM athletics has announced the main basketball court in Patrick Gym will be renamed in honor of former men’s basketball head coach Tom Brennan.

The naming ceremony will take place Dec. 11 when Vermont hosts Siena College.

Brennan coached at UVM for 19 years, leading the team to four 20-plus-win seasons and 264 wins.

“[He] was really responsible for laying the foundation for what has become one of the top mid-major basketball programs in the country,” athletic director Jeff Schulman said. “He is an incredible champion of the University of Vermont.”

Brennan is the all-time leader in both wins and games coached at UVM. He was inducted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.

“My favorite memories would be the two championship games we played here,” Brennan said. “The Northeastern win had very special significance because I knew it was my last game.”

The push for the renaming was led by former men’s basketball player Barry Stone ‘56. Stone and his wife made a leading gift which launched the effort to rename the court and build the new Multipurpose center, said Schulman.

“It’s so satisfying because when I was 8-50 I wasn’t thinking about getting a court named after me,” Brennan said.

Early in Brennan’s career the team struggled, but he spoke about the team and staff that stuck with him through that time.

“We knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight, but people just stayed with me,” Brennan said. “When we got really good, which we did at the end, it was for the whole state.”

Along with the renamed gym, the fundraiser started by the Stones will fund a new multipurpose center, which will be a revamping of the UVM health and recreation facilities.

“The amount of space dedicated to health, wellness and recreation is going to be five times the size of what we currently have,” Schulman said.

The multipurpose center will also include a new events center for men’s and women’s basketball games and a transformational renovation of Gutterson Fieldhouse. There will be additional upgrades to health and fitness centers across campus, Schulman said.

“The upgrades to Gutterson Fieldhouse will preserve the character and energy of a truly iconic of a truly iconic college hockey facility,” Schulman said, “[but] upgrade it in terms of the spectator experience, student spectator experience and the student-athlete’s experience.”

Patrick Gym will become a recreational gym for all UVM students, with Tom Brennan’s name on center court, Schulman said.

“When I stand up there Dec. 11, I am going to see many, many people who stuck by me,” Brennan said.