FB: American Southwest Conference

[Ralph Turner]

Construction update and webcam for the new field Turf and 8-lane track at McMurry.

http://www.mcm.edu/construction.htm

[Ron Boerger]

Too bad ETBU has Ouachita Baptist for their other non-conference game:

http://www.etbu.edu/Current+Athletic+News/Football/FB+Schedule.htm

Tell you what, though, that Trinity game in week one is going to be a fun one to watch.   

[Ron Boerger]

Construction update and webcam for the new field Turf and 8-lane track at McMurry.

http://www.mcm.edu/construction.htm

Where's the update for the Bynum Band Hall?  Musically-oriented types want to know?   

[Ralph Turner]

Ron, the fund raising on the band hall is going very well.   Many friends and alums have been on the Advisory Group to discuss the needs of the band which has grown to 60-some odd players.

There will be a major renovation to the hall, bringing it up to 21 Century specs, and then quite a bit on Prof Bynum, purportedly to first high school band director in Texas to march his band, the Abilene High School band, in 1926.  Marching bands were relatively uncommon in highschools back then.  Some colleges were starting to march.  Prof just brought it to Abilene High School.

[minni]

Ralph the field looks good.  Is it helping in the recruiting area???  Hove you heard???  Just wish HSU would let go of some money for something like that.

[Josh Bowerman]

'Sup, Brad?  Now that I'm back in TX, I'll look forward to seeing you at some games this fall.

I like the grass at Shelton, though.  With the affluent water setup on HSU's campus now, the grass should stay pretty green for most of the season--especially if they've sown some winter seeds in with the bermuda. 

Field turf is a minimum $1 million commitment, as I learned from my fundraising days at Susquehanna.  If they're looking for another athletics project to fund (has the softball complex been built?) I'd personally rather see HSU try to finish off the original plans from the stadium by adding raised seats in the north end zone before field turf, but that's just my personal preference.  I do think it would help with the wind some, though.  And anybody that saw the homecoming game againnst ETBU a couple of years ago can attest that those north winds can be a problem!

Abilene Hall, Sid Rich science (which may actually have been taken care of, I'm not sure) and the auditorium probably need some work before the football stadium, tho'...

[Ralph Turner]

Minni, I hear that we are getting some good recruits in both football and track.

The Board of Trustees made the commitment to the new field, because of the number of students who use the field in intramural as well as intercollegiate athletics, plus Band and physical education classes.  The total number was over 800 students in the 1400 member student body.

[drinkxs.com]

I noticed that UMHB has TL and MC on their home schedule again for 2006. I thought these schools alternated game locations each year. Any info is appreciated.

[Ralph Turner]

drinkxs, the departure of Austin College to the SCAC may have caused the change in schedule, especially if AC was to be a home game for the Cru.

I also note that McMurry was moved from the 10th week on the UMHB schedule to the 5th week, Sept 30th.

[Bill McCabe]

It's nice to see the teams in the ASC scheduling some of the top programs.  Hats off to HSU and UMHB.  Now if D 1 schools would follow their lead.  Oops, what am I thinking?

[Josh Bowerman]

Bill, to the best of your knowledge, how many starters are the Crusaders returning on each side of the ball?  (You can only count one QB  )

Also a note in case there are any two-sport players (football and baseball) or parent's of baseball players (whether they play football or not) that I'll be at Saturday's DH between Austin College and Mississippi College photographing the event on behalf of d3sports.com.

Stop by and say "hi" if you can, and be sure to check out the image galleries after the game.

[minni]

Welcome home Josh, welcome home.

yea they grass is nice but until you play on it in the slop of the mud, its a whole new ball game.  Or when you are trying to prepare for a playoff game and you have to go to Shotwell stadium for a week to prepare because your practice field is under water.  Yea the grass stays green for a long time and looks nice, but to be able to prepare on the same surface all the time, would be real nice.

On all the other comments, i just thought football held supremecy over everything!!!!

[sthrncwby]

minni - football is supreme

[minni]

I know that!!!

[Josh Bowerman]

You mean it rains enough in Abilene to get the fields that wet?