Chalkboard: Coach Knows Practice Fields

--------------------~ CHALKBOARD~ ---------------------- Coach Knows Practice Fields oach Howard Schnellenberger is Keeping his practice field in top shape used to winning. He knows what takes patience, along with plenty of top- Cit takes, including the need for dressing and a good aeration program, championship level football practice Schnellenberger says. "Bermuda loves fields. sandy soil-but we have heavy clay Schnellenberger has been associated here, so we're forever putting more sand with championship football since begin- on the fields. Because the heaviest wear ning his career at his alma mater, the and tear during practice is between the University of Kentucky, as an assis- hashmarks, we have to keep adding tant to Blanton Collier in 1959. Next, he sand to maintain the center crown." spent five years as assistant to Bear In past years, groundskeepers aerated Bryant at the University of Alabama. the practice fields twice, in spring and Coach Howard Schnellenberger During that period, Alabama won three falL This season, Coach Schnellenberger (right) and Tieco's Grady Stone. national championships andfour bowl worked out a special service arrangement with local Cushman dealer, Tieco, Inc. games. space available on the grounds, it made He spent several years with the Los sense to locate the practice fields at the to aerate the practice fields at least Angeles Rams, with Don Schula and Exposition Center. three times, and more if needed. the Miami Dolphins when they went ''With their new GA 60 Aerator, we can "We put in two top-of- the-line full undefeated and won the world champi- aerate the practice fields in four to six size practice fields, each with an 18- onship in 1972, and as head coach of the hours," Schnellenberger says. inch crown in the center and french Baltimore Colts in the 1970s. "Before, it took at least four days drains along the sides," Schnellenberger Returning to college coaching, he led and sometimes longer to get over the says. An additional 180-yard field also the University of Miami Hurricanes to fields. It will allow us to aerate as often was put in, where offensive and defen- the national championship with a one- as needed. sive backs can practice running their point win over Nebraska in 1983. In "We plan to aerate at least three routes. 1985, Coach Schnellenberger returned times during the year, but we'll do it an to his hometown of Louisville to take over "We put the entire 15-acre site under extra time or two if necessary. With the the struggling football program at the sprinklers, then sprigged-in Midiron soil we have and the wear and tear the University of Louisville. Bermudagrass," the coach says. "This is fields get, I don't think eight times When he came to Louisville, the uni- about as far north as Midiron will grow, would be too much." versity did not have a practice site. so it's been a tedious process. Aerating and topdressing go hand Building one was one of his first prior- Bermudagrass goes dormant after the first in hand on the practice fields. Besides ities. frost, usually in November, so in October helping the bermudagrass grow health- "We carved out 14 acres next to a we overseed the fields with perennial rye- ier for a better playing surface, the aer- parking lot here at the fairgrounds," grass. That gives us a green field through ation holes provide extra area for the top- says Schnellenberger. "We had to bull- the season and on through the year. In dressing to infiltrate the turf. doze down some cattle pens, take out some winter, we blow straw onto the field to "It's a personal goal of mine to have trees, even blast out some rock." 'bed it down' and give it some protection." the best practice fields north of the Cardinal Stadium, where the The practice fields get a lot of wear and Florida state line," says Schnellenberger. University of Louisville plays its home tear, not only from spring football and "I'm out there just about every day games, is located on the grounds of the the fall season. Coach Schnellenberger making sure they are kept in shape. Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, and his staff host a youth football camp The beauty of it is, the fields have got- a 425-acre site six miles from down- during the summer. And, during the ten better every year, in spite of the town Louisville. Renovated in 1982, six home football games, the practice fields tough conditions." Cardinal Stadium is also home to base- are used for a "tailgate" area. Like his practice fields, Coach ball's Louisville Cardinals, a major farm ''We get tents on them, trucks driving Schnellenberger's University of Louisville team of the St. Louis Cardinals. For on them, thousands of people tramp- Fighting Cardinals keep getting better football, the stadium seats 35,000 peo- ing around on the practice fields. At too. They finished with a 10-1-1 record ple. least one irrigation line gets broken in 1990, beat Alabama 34-7 in the 1991 With the main University of Louisville every home football game. Somebody Fiesta Bowl, and wound up 12th in the campus only about two miles away, and manages to drive a tent stake into one." final national collegiate rankings. 0.

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