Coastal Carolina Teal Turf

I know I might be a tad bias, but I feel that Coastal Carolina University now has the best looking field in college football. Throughout my blog I have consistently given you updates on the teal turf project from the initial sketches to the grass removal to the early stages of the turf installation. Minus some hash marks and the Big South Conference logos, I can now present to you the final product.

I present to you the teal turf at Brooks Stadium.

I am oozing with pride about this. In my opinion, it turned out beautiful. Many of the original critics of the turf now feel the same way I do as most have conceded it looks much better than what they thought. Of course the nay-sayers were vastly outnumbered to begin with. For the most part, the Coastal Carolina community was behind the project. We all recognized that the turf would bring our athletic program a higher level of safety, efficiency, branding, and national exposure.

Here is a photo I snapped from the end zone.

It only took the laying of the first strip of turf for the realization of the latter benefit. Immediately upon the first pieces of teal and bronze hitting the surface, various national organizations ran stories on the new rug inside Brooks Stadium. Respected media outlets such as NBC Sports, USA Today, and Yahoo Sports all reported on it. Football fans from all over the nation swarmed to message boards to discuss it. Local media crews had an absolute “field” day.

Me hanging out on the turf. I love how it looks!

Of course our social media channels here at Coastal Carolina won big with the turf as well. The images and video I put on our main accounts garnered massive engagement. The main Twitter account of Chanticleer Athletics (@GoCCUSports), however, was the big star. Many of the national organizations used the account’s tweets in their stories. You can’t beat that exposure.

Another angle of the field, affectionately referred to as “The Surf Turf” (photo courtesy of Jada Bynum).

Already nicknamed “The Surf Turf,” the Coastal Carolina football field has a brand all its own. Much respect to our athletic department for taking a chance and going with something very unconventional. The initial result is nothing short of gorgeous and I can’t wait for all the additional publicity that will come during the 2015 football season when teams actually start playing on it. What a big victory for our University! Don’t Blink.

I never suffered from allergies until I moved to South Carolina. For whatever reason, the pollen here has me feeling all types of miserable. But you know what?! It is Thursday, and some minor discomfort won’t stop me from delivering my weekly rundown. Here we go…

Coach Carty Update: On Tuesday night I wrote about the way my high school football coach, Sean Carty, helped make me the man I am today. The post came on the heels of an announcement that his contract would not be renewed. The response was remarkable*. From players who graduated from his program 12 years ago to students currently enrolled at Mead, person after person stood up to thank and recognize Coach Carty. This support was enough to overwhelm me, I can’t imagine how Carty himself felt. Over the past couple days I have learned many disturbing tactics that a small group of parents carried out. However, instead of wasting space on them, I rather just focus on Coach. I encourage you to write the Mead School District Superindentent and voice your support for Sean Carty. I never do calls to action on my blog but this is a very special circumstance for a very deserving person. You can e-mail Dr. Rockefeller by clicking here.

Roll Out That Turf!: Today on our campus at Coastal Carolina University, workers from a company called Medallion Athletics started to roll out our long awaited teal turf. Revealing the bronze end zone first, the teal portion of the surface started to get installed soon thereafter. It will take about four days for the whole field to be laid out. Next will come the stiching of logos, hash marks, and other field elements. This project screams “Coastal Carolina Chanticleers” and I can’t wait to see the finished product. Next Thursday I will be sure to have an update for you on the field’s progress.

How cool does Brooks Stadium look?

Out For Lunch: Did you know that teachers enjoy Spring Break as much as students? With Sidney away from her second graders for a whole week, we had the opportunity to go to lunch a couple times. Throw in a birthday lunch for one of our student-workers here in University Communication and I ate my noon meal at three different restaurants. You got to understand, for a guy who is used to eating a peanut butter sandwich every single day this is quite the shift to my dining schedule. On Monday, Sidney and I went to Moe’s, a mission burrito joint. Yesterday I went with our office to a place in downtown Conway called Dilly Beans where I indulged in a pot roast sandwich. Then today I went with Sidney to Rotelli’s, an Italian restaurant right next to campus. I had the “World Famous Lunch,” an $8 meal that consists of a cup of soup, slice of pizza, and a half sandwich. Although I don’t want to make these mid-day excursions a habit, it has been nice indulging in a few quality lunches this week.

Sid at Rotelli’s today and my pot roast sandwich from Dilly Beans.

What I Watched: On Sunday night I watched “Foxcatcher,” the award-winning wrestling movie. I was not overly excited to watch the film but ended up enjoying it. I absolutely loved the character of David Schultz and how he was portrayed by Mark Ruffalo. Steve Carell also did a superb job of depicting the creepy/insane millionaire John du Pont. The movie is not for everyone though as Sidney did not care for it. If you don’t mind whether a movie has a major plot and you like great acting, you might be entertained by “Foxcatcher.”

Talking about a whole different genre, I watched about half of the Comedy Central Justin Bieber Roast a few nights ago. It was funny, but it wasn’t hilarious enough for me to continue watching it. Although I didn’t know her before the roast, I laughed when Natasha Legerro took the podium. I found Shaq’s presentation a little lame. Ludacris was okay. I personally thought the jokes about Kevin Hart were funnier than the ones about Bieber. I went to bed before either Snoop Dogg or Martha Stewart could “roast.”

Congrats, Guff: To end tonight’s rundown, I want to warmly congratulate Dave Guffey on his College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Lifetime Achievement award. When I worked at Montana, Dave was a great mentor to me as we worked right next door to each other. He has served the Griz for 37 years and will be extremely missed. I encourage you to read the article about his award because it is really well-written.

Congratulations, Dave!

———

I want to wish everyone a very happy Easter. It is my favorite holiday and I hope it brightens your whole outlook on life like it does mine. Thanks again for your loyal readership, it means a lot. Don’t Blink.

* – In the first few hours of writing the Coach Carty blog post, it had over 1,600 views. As of right now, it has been viewed over 5,000 times.