Mit Shah isn’t just the Wake Forest alumnus who helped rid the ACC of Karl Hess anymore. The Atlanta business man, who is part owner of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and a Wake trustee, made headlines again Friday by donating $5 million toward construction of a new facility to benefit the Deacons’ men’s and women’s basketball program. The centerpiece of the $12 million project is the Shah Basketball Complex, which will feature state-of-the-art basketball strength and conditioning and recovery areas, a dedicated sports nutrition area, a new practice gym with on-court film viewing areas that allow for immediate video analysis and enhanced coaching, as well as other resources and innovative sports science technology. Improvements are also scheduled for the third floor of the existing Sutton Sports Performance Center include a new sports medicine facility, locker rooms, team meeting rooms, video rooms, recruiting areas and a Wake Forest basketball heritage room. Groundbreaking for the new facilities is scheduled for April, with work expected to be completed by summer 2018. “The Shah Basketball Complex creates an incredible advantage for our program” Deacons coach Danny Manning said in a statement. “Thanks to Mit’s continued leadership and generosity, we’re going from one of the oldest and least efficient facilities in the ACC to one of the very best in the country.” Shah first gained notoriety in 2015 when he was on the receiving end of a racial slur from Hess while sitting in the front row at Joel Coliseum for a basketball game between Wake and Louisville. Shah mentioned the incident on Twitter, which led to the ACC cutting its ties with the controversial referee.
