Work Underway on Turf Project at Bobcat Stadium
6/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Montana State played football on the natural turf at Bobcat Stadium for more almost four decades. By Friday, work crews with Sime Construction should finish the weeklong process of tearing it out. Efforts were made to recycle the present turf, but the field grass was deemed unfit for sod use.
Sonny Holland coached on that turf during the Stadium's first five years, but the Bobcat legend is feeling no pangs of nostalgia. "No, not at all," Holland said when asked it he'll miss watching Bobcat games on natural grass. "When you go to a home game and see how the grass, the condition of the field, affects both teams to the point where it's not a fair contest, I think it's time."
The time arrives this week, as Sime Construction and Engineering, Inc. prepare the field for the artificial turf installation later this summer. The Stadium's new turf is expected to be in place in August when Bobcat players report for the 2008 season.
"We're awfully excited," said MSU coach Rob Ash. "After surviving this spring's weather, to know we'll have a much higher degree of certainty in planning practices and preparing for games is very comforting."
Holland knows how Ash feels. "We couldn't have had a spring that pointed out the need for this change more strongly," he said.
Montana State began playing in Reno H. Sales Stadium in 1973. The Bobcats had called Gatton Field, across Grant Street from Romney Gym, for over 70 years when the team's home games moved down 11th Street to Bozeman High's Van Winkle Stadium for the 1972 campaign. A year later, the facility then known as Reno H. Sales Stadium opened on Kagy Boulevard, where it remains.
Holland also indicated that the experience of playing on artificial turf is much different than it was in the 1970s, during the heyday of his Bobcat dynasty. "We played on whatever it was called then over in Moscow, Idaho, before they domed the field," Holland recalled. They had a downpour on the day of the game, and the rain couldn't go anywhere. It just puddled. They hadn't anticipated that."
Ash and Holland both anticipate the new turf. "It will be such a benefit for the players," Holland said. "And that's what it's all about."
Sonny Holland coached on that turf during the Stadium's first five years, but the Bobcat legend is feeling no pangs of nostalgia. "No, not at all," Holland said when asked it he'll miss watching Bobcat games on natural grass. "When you go to a home game and see how the grass, the condition of the field, affects both teams to the point where it's not a fair contest, I think it's time."
The time arrives this week, as Sime Construction and Engineering, Inc. prepare the field for the artificial turf installation later this summer. The Stadium's new turf is expected to be in place in August when Bobcat players report for the 2008 season.
"We're awfully excited," said MSU coach Rob Ash. "After surviving this spring's weather, to know we'll have a much higher degree of certainty in planning practices and preparing for games is very comforting."
Holland knows how Ash feels. "We couldn't have had a spring that pointed out the need for this change more strongly," he said.
Montana State began playing in Reno H. Sales Stadium in 1973. The Bobcats had called Gatton Field, across Grant Street from Romney Gym, for over 70 years when the team's home games moved down 11th Street to Bozeman High's Van Winkle Stadium for the 1972 campaign. A year later, the facility then known as Reno H. Sales Stadium opened on Kagy Boulevard, where it remains.
Holland also indicated that the experience of playing on artificial turf is much different than it was in the 1970s, during the heyday of his Bobcat dynasty. "We played on whatever it was called then over in Moscow, Idaho, before they domed the field," Holland recalled. They had a downpour on the day of the game, and the rain couldn't go anywhere. It just puddled. They hadn't anticipated that."
Ash and Holland both anticipate the new turf. "It will be such a benefit for the players," Holland said. "And that's what it's all about."
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