New T\turf at Finley Stadium/Gordon Davenport Field is top-of-the-line and can have its paint scheme re-done for football and soccer matches.
photo by Dennis Norwood
New T\turf at Finley Stadium/Gordon Davenport Field is top-of-the-line and can have its paint scheme re-done for football and soccer matches.
photo by Dennis Norwood
New turf at Finley Stadium/Gordon Davenport Field is top-of-the-line and can have its paint scheme re-done for football and soccer matches.
photo by Dennis Norwood
New turf at Finley Stadium/Gordon Davenport Field is top-of-the-line and can have its paint scheme re-done for football and soccer matches.
photo by Dennis Norwood
New turf at Finley Stadium/Gordon Davenport Field is top-of-the-line and can have its paint scheme re-done for football and soccer matches.
photo by Dennis Norwood
In the mid-1990s, Nebraska announced at a football coaches’ convention it would install astroturf on its football practice field.
A William and Mary assistant coach named Russ Huesman walked by the display and said to himself, “that stuff (astroturf) will never work.”
Fast forward to April 15, 2015 and UTC head coach Russ Huesman is standing on the newly installed Astoturf 3D Extreme football turf four days before the Mocs spring game (Saturday at 2 p.m.) and 20 weeks before the season opener with Jacksonville (Ala.) State (Sat.
Sept.5).
“I am excited to have our new turf installed; it looks good with that new smell which is great,” said Huesman. “I would much rather have this new turf that natural grass any day. “You don’t have to worry about the mud and muck.”
“I guess I was wrong (as a prognosticator) about astroturf back then,” said Huesman with a smile.
Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder (former CBS sports commentator) Huesman is not, but a winning coach he is (two-time defending Southern Conference champs).
According to Thomas Green of the north Georgia Astroturf plant, the turf at Finley is “top of the line, the best of the best. It’s championship turf for a championship team.”
Only two other schools in the greater Chattanooga area – McCallie and North Murray – have the 3D Extreme turf.
After removing the old turf and base materials (first installed 11 years ago), new turf panels were installed to help soften impact and then the field was re-graded with the new turf on top.
“We installed the turf in 14 working days and the entire process took five weeks,” Green stated.
Finley Stadium executive director Paul Smith said,” I am excited to see the new turf ready for play and watching the UTC players practice on it today (Wednesday) is great.”
Finley Stadium Turf Quick Facts
*Turf: Astroturf 3D Extreme
*Cost: $600,000, plus $60,000 in paint
*Installed: Five Weeks
*Uses: mainly for Football and Soccer
*First College Football Game:
Sat. Sept. 5, 2015 - UTC vs. Jax State
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net