Practice Facility

[Cplatt]

I remember Lamar had a ribbon cutting for the football practice facility but ive never seen them use it. Everytime i see pics and video of them practicing, it on the game field. Is the practice fields a dump? Please explain

Cplatt

[Big T]

I've seen players on the practice field several times but I don't think I have ever seen the whole team out there. Maybe they split up the defense and offense on certain days and one takes the stadium and the other the field? I really don't know but I have seen players out there doing work. Also, the practice field is in the open where anyone and everyone can see while the football stadium is more closed in. Maybe that has something to do with it.

[LU Cardinal]

That practice facility was build and being used before the team hit the field for games because they were upgrading PUS. I remember they actually had the weights out their under the carport for workouts before they finished the Dauphin Athletic Complex Since PUS is now finished and is field turf the team practices there 100% of the time. I think the theory is they play 90% of their games on field turf so might as well practice on it. maintenance cost to keep up those fields would be expensive as well.

[LUSportsFan]

That practice facility was build and being used before the team hit the field for games because they were upgrading PUS. I remember they actually had the weights out their under the carport for workouts before they finished the Dauphin Athletic Complex Since PUS is now finished and is field turf the team practices there 100% of the time. I think the theory is they play 90% of their games on field turf so might as well practice on it. maintenance cost to keep up those fields would be expensive as well.

 

Was short term use the plan all along?

 

Seems like over $200,000 is a lot of money to spend for about one year's use. It doesn't sound like a very good return on investment and doesn't seem like very good management of donated money. If the plan was to use the PUS playing field for practice, couldn't Lamar have done something like UTSA did for 3 years and work something out with one of the local school districts? I would think usage fees would be a lot less expensive than a large capital outlay for a very short-term benefit. That way they could use the money spent on the practice field for another need in the athletic department. For example, UTSA just moved to their own practice field last year. The Roadrunners weren't exactly on the cheap compared to us during that time period. Based on the most recent USAToday NCAA Football finances database, for the same sponsored sports as us, they had $24.881 million in total athletic department expenses vs our $15.239 million.

 

Source for $200,000 number above: http://www.lamarcardinals.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/092109aac.html

 

Back to the Practice Field, eye-balling the "carport" on Google Maps and comparing it with the yard lines on the Provost Umphrey field, it looks like it is around 35-40 yards by around 10 yards or around 100-120 ft by 30 ft in size. Looks like at least one of the two grass practice fields is full size. Both fields may be regulation size; just can't tell from the eye-ball view. That's pretty good compared with some other places I looked up. For example, UCLA practices on a 80 yd natural grass fields at school (Spaulding Field) located beside Pauley Pavilion and plays its home games about 25-30 miles away at the Rose Bowl.

 

Don't know if I buy the turf argument. If I recall, A&M has had natural grass practice fields since at least 1998. Looks like A&M still uses the grass practice fields. http://www.12thman.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205237839 Although A&M had an engineered natural grass surface in Kyle Field, many of their their Big12 opponents had artificial surfaces. The thought at the time was that grass was better to practice on because of a reduced possibility of injuries. Looks like it is a mixture at their SEC opponent's fields leaning toward natural grass.

 

Comparison of Natural Grass vs Artificial Turf Costs:

 

Didn't know about the cost of the two options, but below is an interesting article. The article's bottom line is that natural turf is less expensive than artificial turf when considering installation and periodic maintenance.

 

http://cafnr.missouri.edu/research/turfgrass-costs.php

 

Here's another one in the "way too much information" category. If you are a chronological person read from the bottom of the page up, but a very good article.

 

http://www.texasmultichem.com/blog/tag/natural-grass-athletic-fields

Edited August 3, 2014 by LUSportsFan

[ShlyKBMT]

A&M actually practices on both. Grass outside and turf in their indoor facility.

[LUSportsFan]

Speaking of indoor facilities, Central Arkansas has one with a 60 yard field. Are there any others in the Southland Conference?

 

Using PUS as a practice facility, we have the ability to use both artificial turf and natural grass if both venues are used. We just don't have indoor capability. My concern was more of an exclusion of available facilities. The point with A&M is that the grass facilities are being used.

 

Admittedly, there may be issues justifying reported non-use of the VGFoC. One could be lack of lights. I didn't see any lights using Google Maps. I noticed practices were starting at 7:00 pm (which sounds like a great call) so that would limit usage. Are there any other issues with the practice facility other than preference? If its a matter of preference, it goes back to a "post mortem" look at the original expenditure asking if there might have been better or more economic alternatives.

 

Post Mortem discussion: http://www.cdlib.org/cdlinfo/2010/11/17/the-project-post-mortem-a-valuable-tool-for-continuous-improvement/

Edited August 6, 2014 by LUSportsFan