Coughlin Alumni

[jack100]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

There are other issues besides that BHS paid for the lights. Part of the arrangement includes that SDSU plays its home soccer games at BHS Bob Sheldon Field.

Did they change all of the women's soccer games to Fishback park?

[91rabbit]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

There are other issues besides that BHS paid for the lights. Part of the arrangement includes that SDSU plays its home soccer games at BHS Bob Sheldon Field.

OK, OK...I get your (collective) points.

Turf condition: BHS vs. Watertown (e.g.) on Friday night in a driving rain. Jacks play Saturday (afternoon or evening). Is that enough time to guarantee a D1 quality football field?

The collective tone of this board enjoins SDSU and Jacks fans to think and act like the D1 program that we now are. To me, a D1 program doesn't let the local HS play on its grass field lest a Friday mudfest comes back to haunt the team the next day. Why take the risk?

I know some may accuse me of belaboring the point. As I stated earlier, CAS made up for some shortcomings compared to other venues by (once) being a grass field that nobody else played on (again, compared to other NCC schools). Howard Wood is a terrible field BECAUSE there are 1-2 games played on it the previous afternoon/evening. It's that simple! Without pristine turf, CAS becomes a second rate facility no better than Howard Wood (and at least HW has permanent seating on both sides).

Maybe nothing can be done about the BHS arrangements. Might this be a caveat about the aforementioned Daktronics situation. (We'll give you a scoreboard but our intramural soccer league gets to play at CAS on Saturday mornings???) But at least admit that a Friday night beating does nothing to help the Jacks come Saturday.

[Jacks_NL]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

BHS is here to stay. They paid for the lights and i am sure there is a long contract between SDSU and BHS for the bobcats to play there games at Coughlin. When BHS moved to Coughlin they tore down most of the football stands at Bob Sheldon. Bob Sheldon was a bad place to play and watch football games with room for only about 4000 and thats with people standing along the fences.
Now with Coughlin they need new seats the ones they have are bad. The paint is coming off and looks ugly. From what i understand there will be new scoreboards next season for both Coughlin and Frost Arena.

And the soccer team plays there games at Fishback Soccer Park. http://www3.sdstate.edu/Athletics/Va...dule/Index.cfm

[BHSSDSUFAN]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

91rabbit---SDSU "NEEDS" Brookings---as being a life long resident of Brookings. Where has the baseball, softball, soccer, hockey, and cross-country teams played the last several years.....At Brookings owned parks....Brookings and SDSU have had a long term relationship that has been a good thing for both!!!! Why does 4 or 5 games a year cause so much damage? The only damage done to the field last year at CAS was on SDSU part.....Using Farmer Joe's weed sprayer (that wasn't cleaned properly) to spray fertilzer on the CAS turf, which in turned killed about half of the grass----Looked pretty classy if you ask me....Instead of kicking the high school kids off of CAS, why not upgrade it and use it as a recruiting tool for all the kids that play there.....just look at the added exposure to the people of SD when SDSU is used for varies events....Which includes high school football......

[Rabbit_FB_Alum]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

I was on the team the first year that we let the high school play at CAS. As a player, it is a little embarassing to share your field with high school kids. Any of you who have played football can understand that your home football field is holy ground. But what was even worse was shareing our locker room. We had to hurry out of there after practice on Friday's so they could get in there. You had to make sure every scrap of your equipment was locked away. To a football player, shareing you locker room and home turf is like letting someone else kiss your wife.

As far as the turf conditions, it was bad. Before we had to share the field, we had one of the best playing surfaces in the confrence. Betther than Howard Wood, and the cheap trurf at the U and UND, and even better then the old worn out turf at NDSU.

I agree that SDSU and Brookings need eachother and each can benefit eachother. I think SDSU needs to get the same artifical surface that was put on Howard Wood. I played on it and I am telling you, it is WAY better than astro turf and it is even better than natural grass. I have read that in 2-3 years it pays for it's self because there is minimal maint. compaired to natural grass. If we had that stuff, there would be no more truf problems.

[91rabbit]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

SDSU-BHS Fan:

I have nothing against BHS or the city of Brookings. I believe that Brookings and its attractions are a key component of the whole SDSU experience (mystique if you will?) that stay with alums for their lifetimes. It may very well be that no significant damage will occur due to BHS playing on a Friday night. If some does occur on a Saturday, the field has at least a week to recover.

Rabbit_FB_Alum seems to be of like mind with me on this issue (if others agree with me, I would love to hear them and gain their support). Namely, D1 programs don't share their fields! That is the ultimate issue and is seemingly lost in this discussion.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

SDSU-BHS Fan:

 Namely, D1 programs don't share their fields!   That is the ultimate issue and is seemingly lost in this discussion.

Not sharing their football field with HS was true for U of Nebraska and Memorial Staduim in Lincoln Nebraska  up until about three or four years ago. The Nebraska HS playoffs are now held at Memorial Staduim.  Possibly some other HS games are played at Memorial as well.

PBS did a documentry on a one room school located in the center of Nebraska near Broken Bow.  These kids got a field trip to Lincoln, and one of the big highlights for these country kids to run out on the turf at Memorial Field. I think we need to create this feeling at Coughlin and we did somewhat Saturday night with the kids who participated in the football clinic. Kids and high schools are part of the recruiting process.

So if an institution is depended on recruiting having BHS play the ESD schools and two of the Black Hills schools annually can not hurt for recruiting purposes. Ideally each should have their own field but at the time this arrangement was proposed, no SDSU alum or Corporate Sponsor had come forward with the necessary cash to put lights in at Coughlin.  I wonder if 8718 fans would have shown up if the game had been played during the day?  I think an evening game in early September actually boosts attendence. So without the lights, SDSU attendence might not have been as good.

I think its a healthy excercise to express our feelings about Coughlin. The discussion should have started about 20 years ago.

I myself feel the isles and hand rails are an issue. Its nice to be  age 19 and gallop from row 36 to the botton in 10 seconds flat, but when you get older, its not possible and very dangerous.  We have many fans over 50 who faithfully attend and not all are living in Brookings. Afterall we have a statewide and regional following.

There is not a message on this thread that I dont disagree with and I think eventually SDSU will work something out with BHS.  The comment about the dressing room and having to lock up all your equipment tells us what needs to be done that area.  With a larger dressing facility, the high schools could dress in a completely different area, without distrubing the Jack Equip etc.

[89rabbit]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

91rabbit,

I have to ask, why Elmer Fudd as your Avatar. He is Bugs Bunny's arch enemy and a known rabbit hunter. I would expect this from Mike_H, but not you. Just having a little fun Mike. Please don't get upset.

Go State! ;D

[91rabbit]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

I give up...My thoughts about BHS playing at CAS haven't changed. Leave it to SDSUFAN to come up with one example where a top-notch D1 program allowed their field to be pounded on Friday nights. That said, however, I do welcome the addition of lights and agree that night games are an added bonus to SDSU.

FYI: Yesterday's Ann Arbor News had a piece stating the Pioneer HS (across the street from Michigan Stadium) is sporting new turf (the good stuff) and is also getting new scoreboards. No mention of Daktronics but I would safely assume so. Why not cut some costs and just use Michigan Stadium?

89: Don't worry about Elmer. Choosing him had nothing to do with his propensity to kill rabbits. I picked him given my initial inclination to get my head shot off during my early days on the board (by the likes of SDSUFAN, namely) and also because my favorite song is Robin Williams' rendition of Elmer Fudd singing "Fire" by the Pointer Sisters.

[89rabbit]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

89:  Don't worry about Elmer.  Choosing him had nothing to do with his propensity to kill rabbits.  I picked him given my initial inclination to get my head shot off during my early days on the board (by the likes of SDSUFAN, namely) and also because my favorite song is Robin Williams' rendition of Elmer Fudd singing "Fire" by the Pointer Sisters.

LOL! ;D

[Mike_H]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

High school games in Lincoln Nebraska are played at Seacrest Field, which is located in the southeast part of that city, and have been for man, many, years. That facility has FieldTurf. IIRC, they had it first, and then UNL saw that it was a quality product and installed it at Memorial Stadium. Getting a field beat up by whoever plays on it is not an issue with those two facilities. The annual Shrine Game, a high school all star game, is played at UNL in August. FieldTurf is the same stuff that Howard Hood now has and that the new University of Sioux Falls facility will have when it is built in a couple of years.

[Mike_H]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

Just to follow up with more information:

The Nebraska high school championships will be played November 18th, 19th, and 20th at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Aside from the aforementioned Shrine game in August, those are the only high school games that will be played there this year. That is not unlike what currently happens with the Metrodome. The University of Nebraska does not share their facility with anyone. Also, again in the interest of apples to apples, UNL has FiledTurf, CAS has grass.

[Mike_H]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

89: I'm more of a Bugs, Marvin Martian, or Foghorn Leghorn fan myself! New school I go with Pinky and the Brain.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

Field turf is probably the answer for CAS. Anybody got $800,000 to spare?

[CatchEmAll_Guy]

Re: Coughlin Alumni

Where to start on this one??

Merchandising - the bookstore has controlled merchandising on campus for years. The Athletic Department has tried to get merchandise sales at games but the bookstore doesn't want to get involved (or atleast they haven't in recent years). So it's not a matter of the Athletic Department not wanting to sell merchandise and have revenue, it's a matter of they haven't been allowed to. As far as the crap at Scheel's, not officially licensed so SDSU have no control over it. Scheel's obviously doesn't want to pay the licensing fee to carry merchandise with official SDSU logos so they work around it by having lame-ass logos that make SDSU look bad. SDSU can't stop it because there's nothing illegal about it.

Ah the stadium debate. Been DI for two weeks and it's a hot topic. There are a few ways to look at the move to DI. Scholarships are a priority because of the need to meet future conference standards. Sid Bostic is heading up that massive effort. Facility upgrades are needed to improve facilities for a majority of the sports offered. Problem comes in as to where the funding comes from for facilities. Can't hit up the people with the big pocket books for facilities because that takes away from scholarship dollars. Corporate sponsors are the logical way to go, but most will steer toward basketball sponsorships due to the potenial for more exposure. Plus there's the issue of what corporate entity can pony up enough money to pay for facility upgrades on top of paying for scoreboards. The Daktronics/Athletic Department runaround has been going on for too long. Eventually it will get worked out (sounds like it has to some extent from some posts on the board). So now it's Wellness Center, Lockerrooms, turf, concession stands, and seating. Wellness Center - tried raising money for that, got capped out and haven't gotten any more givers. Lockerrooms - wanted that tied into the Wellness Center, but too expensive for the budget. Turf - field turf is the way to go, but as OK_Jackrabbit stated who's got the money for it? Concessions - need an upgrade, had been bantered around, funding got diverted, will eventually get a facelift. Seating - needs to be upgraded but again, where's the money coming from.

Here's a problem and long shot solution. Football alums for the most part have been reluctant to give, especially alums from the past 25 years. Don't have an explanation for that, but it's a fact. If you're on this board, a football alum, and give to the JRC don't get defensive, it's the truth. There are plenty of successful football alums who could start giving back if the right program was in place and the right goal was set. What needs to happen is getting people on board class by class and figure out what the priority is going to be - scholarships or CAS upgrades. Problem there is that right now scholarships are a priority and major renovations to CAS are back burner. But if enough $$ could be round up for say field turf without damaging the scholarship drive, then there may be a way to work that in. This kind of drive needs to come from the football alums though as the Athletic department has to focus on raising money for scholarships. Another thing to take into account is the question of why CAS is more important than on campus facilities for baseball, softball, soccer, or track (sorry if I left out a sport). Granted these are "non-revenue" sports, but these athletes are entitled to facilities just as much as football and basketball players.

Yes, it sucks having Brookings High play on the CAS field, but for now it's not going to change. Until someone builds something new for BHS it won't change. Field turf would help playing conditions, but again, that's a money issue.

My final thought, if this upgrading Coughlin Alumni Stadium is such a priority for you, you feel so strongly about it, stop complaining on a chatboard and figure out a realistic way to solve the problem. Complaining on here does nothing, rounding up your teammates, putting together some funding, or talking to Keith and Fred about how you can help does something.