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From the Lubbock AJ
What does it take to build a championship athletic program in Texas?
When Jared Sanderson coached linebackers at Hardin-Simmons University in 2007, he did a great deal of recruiting and was visiting high schools in the state.
“It was crazy to me to think that people had practice fields that were turf,” the current Levelland coach said of recruiting for his alma mater. “We were still playing on a grass field in college. And you wondered what you had to offer these guys aside from the fact that you have a really established program and you win a lot of football games.
“Facility wise, how do you compete with the school that had a practice turf?”
Sanderson, the all-time leader in tackles for loss at Hardin-Simmons, said that he ultimately attracted players that wanted to play college football, regardless of how basic the setting might have been then.
“You kind of had to sell your place a little harder to some kids that had the luxury of playing in some nice facility,” Sanderson said. “You take Division III football, we had maybe 5,6, 7,000 people there. And you take some (high) schools that have 17,000 people there every Friday night. A lot of times (the players) don’t see the benefit.”
Lubbock High coach Jason Strunk coached high school football in Pennsylvania and Florida, spent a year as a graduate assistant at Purdue and coached at Muhlenberg College, a Division III school in Pennsylvania.
“Pennsylvania and Florida don’t compare to Texas,” Strunk said. “It’s unbelievable. Everyone you play at has a jumobtron and everyone has turf. It’s just so far ahead of everywhere else.”
Getting bigger
Frenship, Estacado, Levelland, Dunbar, Snyder and Lamesa made up District 2-4A in 1990.
Of those schools, only Frenship has since moved up a class.
The now 6A program is also the only one of those schools to launch soccer programs.
The district’s growth has been in number of students, which reached nearly 8,500 last year. It has also made provisions to expand its athletic offerings: $5.6 million of a recent $85.2-million bond has been dedicated to the construction of three athletic fields and new turf installation at Peoples Bank Stadium.
Frenship, along with Levelland and Sundown, have carried out construction projects recently to prepare their facilities for the start of the upcoming school year. Similarly, Cooper approved a $55 million bond, 7.54 million of which is allotted for extracurricular construction and renovation. And Lubbock Independent School District is completing some final projects from the 2010 bond election, including building a stand-alone locker room for its tennis teams.
“I’ve seen a lot of changes since I got here in 1986,” Frenship football coach Brad Davis said. “Lots and lots of changes and they have always been first class. And, the most important thing, it has always been for the community and the people in the school district. It has been in the best interest of our kids and that’s who we are here for.”
Strunk said that to scale, he was more impressed with Plains Capital Park-Lowrey Field than Ross-Ade Stadium, Purdue’s home.
“The norm in Texas is what we see every Friday night,” Strunk said. “In Pennsylvania, you walk into a place that’s upscale. Next week, you’re back in the same old run-of-the-mill stadium.”
Aside from the quality of the stadiums, Strunk noted the space designated for practiced facilities.
“The practice facility I have at Chapman field, with turf and the all-weather track, it’s probably better than 95 percent of the high school’s and Florida’s game stadiums.
Frenship’s expansion
The installation of the Peoples Bank Stadium turf and the construction of the soccer pitch and two football practice field is complete.
FISD Director of Facilities Derek Cobb said the old Tiger Stadium turf has been relocated to the band’s practice field.
The bond also includes: school construction and renovation, technology updates, maintenance improvements, security upgrades, land purchases and various other extracurricular activities.
The Frenship athletic fields are ready for use, but its facilities continue under construction.
Concrete masonry units (CMU), or concrete block walls were built for the new soccer field’s concession area and are finished, but Lee Lewis, who is working with Frenship on the project, has yet to install the roof.
Underground plumbing and electrical work needed for the soccer field’s light poles are complete, as well as the light poles.
Currently, the installation of the fencing that will surround both the soccer field and the two practice fields, which was started at an earlier date, is on hold.
Cobb said the renovation of the parking lot located to the east of Peoples Bank Stadium, south of the new soccer field, and the grading of all surfaces surrounding the new turf fields are the main focus right now. Once these two items are complete, the installation of the fence will continue.
The parking lot is expected to be complete by the end of July, according to the facilities director, and the final product of the new turf fields will be ready for use by the beginning of August.
While Frenship has not formally announced plans or entertained plans for an indoor softball facility, the idea was broached by BGR Architects’ Jim Melton in an email.
Sundown’s expansion
In an email furnished by Sundown ISD following an open records request, A representative from Parkhill, Smith & Cooper wrote to Sundown superintendent Scott Marshall with a detailed project schedule.
The tasks at hand was a $1.58 million resurfacing of Slaughter Field’s turf surface and running track. The project began on April 30 and is scheduled to be completed on July 31. Austin’s Hellas Construction was chosen unanimously by the school board for the project.
DMA Sports Labs performed a field evaluation of Sundown’s field in November 2014, finding that the eight-year old field “has had extensive play on it. I was told at the site that the field was groomed occasionally, however with the fibers breaking off, it appears that with more grooming on a regular basis would only break off/pull out a substantial amount of the fibers that remain.”
The report continued and noted that “As the fibers continue to wear and break off, the infill levels are going down and this is going to continue to increase the GMax value and start being a major head and knee trauma problem to your athletes. With no underlayment or shock pad, this turf is laying over a graded rock profile and will become more dangerous every day it is played on.”
The future
Roughly 70 percent of Cooper’s $55 million bond was for classrooms and construction for many of them is already underway. Superintendent Keith Bryant said the district grew by 437 kids this year and expects to grow between 500 and 600 next year.
Locker rooms for baseball and softball are also being constructed. Additional locker room space at the field house and a locker room for golf and tennis are being designed.
“Every time I drive out (to Cooper), it’s a new paved road,” Strunk said. “A new development going up. Man, they might be 6A in two years. That’s where all the growth is locally. Everyone says Frenship, but I see Cooper. It seems like they’re going to grow into their own Allen, Texas.”
Davis speculated that he could see the district adding wrestling as a sport in the near future.
A minor addition compared to what else might eventually be considered.
“Eventually, Frenship will grow past 3,000 (students) on to 3,500,” Davis said. “We are talking 12,15,30 years down the road. And then they will have to make a decision then.
“The people, the school board and the people in charge and the community mostly will decide if they want Frenship to continue to grow and be a huge high school like you see in the Metroplex. Or, if they have to contemplate building another high school.”
What does it take to build a championship athletic program in Texas?
When Jared Sanderson coached linebackers at Hardin-Simmons University in 2007, he did a great deal of recruiting and was visiting high schools in the state.
“It was crazy to me to think that people had practice fields that were turf,” the current Levelland coach said of recruiting for his alma mater. “We were still playing on a grass field in college. And you wondered what you had to offer these guys aside from the fact that you have a really established program and you win a lot of football games.
“Facility wise, how do you compete with the school that had a practice turf?”
Sanderson, the all-time leader in tackles for loss at Hardin-Simmons, said that he ultimately attracted players that wanted to play college football, regardless of how basic the setting might have been then.
“You kind of had to sell your place a little harder to some kids that had the luxury of playing in some nice facility,” Sanderson said. “You take Division III football, we had maybe 5,6, 7,000 people there. And you take some (high) schools that have 17,000 people there every Friday night. A lot of times (the players) don’t see the benefit.”
Lubbock High coach Jason Strunk coached high school football in Pennsylvania and Florida, spent a year as a graduate assistant at Purdue and coached at Muhlenberg College, a Division III school in Pennsylvania.
“Pennsylvania and Florida don’t compare to Texas,” Strunk said. “It’s unbelievable. Everyone you play at has a jumobtron and everyone has turf. It’s just so far ahead of everywhere else.”
Getting bigger
Frenship, Estacado, Levelland, Dunbar, Snyder and Lamesa made up District 2-4A in 1990.
Of those schools, only Frenship has since moved up a class.
The now 6A program is also the only one of those schools to launch soccer programs.
The district’s growth has been in number of students, which reached nearly 8,500 last year. It has also made provisions to expand its athletic offerings: $5.6 million of a recent $85.2-million bond has been dedicated to the construction of three athletic fields and new turf installation at Peoples Bank Stadium.
Frenship, along with Levelland and Sundown, have carried out construction projects recently to prepare their facilities for the start of the upcoming school year. Similarly, Cooper approved a $55 million bond, 7.54 million of which is allotted for extracurricular construction and renovation. And Lubbock Independent School District is completing some final projects from the 2010 bond election, including building a stand-alone locker room for its tennis teams.
“I’ve seen a lot of changes since I got here in 1986,” Frenship football coach Brad Davis said. “Lots and lots of changes and they have always been first class. And, the most important thing, it has always been for the community and the people in the school district. It has been in the best interest of our kids and that’s who we are here for.”
Strunk said that to scale, he was more impressed with Plains Capital Park-Lowrey Field than Ross-Ade Stadium, Purdue’s home.
“The norm in Texas is what we see every Friday night,” Strunk said. “In Pennsylvania, you walk into a place that’s upscale. Next week, you’re back in the same old run-of-the-mill stadium.”
Aside from the quality of the stadiums, Strunk noted the space designated for practiced facilities.
“The practice facility I have at Chapman field, with turf and the all-weather track, it’s probably better than 95 percent of the high school’s and Florida’s game stadiums.
Frenship’s expansion
The installation of the Peoples Bank Stadium turf and the construction of the soccer pitch and two football practice field is complete.
FISD Director of Facilities Derek Cobb said the old Tiger Stadium turf has been relocated to the band’s practice field.
The bond also includes: school construction and renovation, technology updates, maintenance improvements, security upgrades, land purchases and various other extracurricular activities.
The Frenship athletic fields are ready for use, but its facilities continue under construction.
Concrete masonry units (CMU), or concrete block walls were built for the new soccer field’s concession area and are finished, but Lee Lewis, who is working with Frenship on the project, has yet to install the roof.
Underground plumbing and electrical work needed for the soccer field’s light poles are complete, as well as the light poles.
Currently, the installation of the fencing that will surround both the soccer field and the two practice fields, which was started at an earlier date, is on hold.
Cobb said the renovation of the parking lot located to the east of Peoples Bank Stadium, south of the new soccer field, and the grading of all surfaces surrounding the new turf fields are the main focus right now. Once these two items are complete, the installation of the fence will continue.
The parking lot is expected to be complete by the end of July, according to the facilities director, and the final product of the new turf fields will be ready for use by the beginning of August.
While Frenship has not formally announced plans or entertained plans for an indoor softball facility, the idea was broached by BGR Architects’ Jim Melton in an email.
Sundown’s expansion
In an email furnished by Sundown ISD following an open records request, A representative from Parkhill, Smith & Cooper wrote to Sundown superintendent Scott Marshall with a detailed project schedule.
The tasks at hand was a $1.58 million resurfacing of Slaughter Field’s turf surface and running track. The project began on April 30 and is scheduled to be completed on July 31. Austin’s Hellas Construction was chosen unanimously by the school board for the project.
DMA Sports Labs performed a field evaluation of Sundown’s field in November 2014, finding that the eight-year old field “has had extensive play on it. I was told at the site that the field was groomed occasionally, however with the fibers breaking off, it appears that with more grooming on a regular basis would only break off/pull out a substantial amount of the fibers that remain.”
The report continued and noted that “As the fibers continue to wear and break off, the infill levels are going down and this is going to continue to increase the GMax value and start being a major head and knee trauma problem to your athletes. With no underlayment or shock pad, this turf is laying over a graded rock profile and will become more dangerous every day it is played on.”
The future
Roughly 70 percent of Cooper’s $55 million bond was for classrooms and construction for many of them is already underway. Superintendent Keith Bryant said the district grew by 437 kids this year and expects to grow between 500 and 600 next year.
Locker rooms for baseball and softball are also being constructed. Additional locker room space at the field house and a locker room for golf and tennis are being designed.
“Every time I drive out (to Cooper), it’s a new paved road,” Strunk said. “A new development going up. Man, they might be 6A in two years. That’s where all the growth is locally. Everyone says Frenship, but I see Cooper. It seems like they’re going to grow into their own Allen, Texas.”
Davis speculated that he could see the district adding wrestling as a sport in the near future.
A minor addition compared to what else might eventually be considered.
“Eventually, Frenship will grow past 3,000 (students) on to 3,500,” Davis said. “We are talking 12,15,30 years down the road. And then they will have to make a decision then.
“The people, the school board and the people in charge and the community mostly will decide if they want Frenship to continue to grow and be a huge high school like you see in the Metroplex. Or, if they have to contemplate building another high school.”
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