Written by Carter Thweatt // Photo by Jeff Montgomery
Construction is currently underway to move the stands at Harding University’s First Security Stadium closer to the football field and to relocate Harding’s track complex.
Football head coach Paul Simmons said he is excited about the change.
“The whole idea is that we want to create the very best experience possible for our fans and for our players,” Simmons said. “We want to put the fans as close to the field as we possibly can to make game day an awesome, exciting experience for everybody.”
Scott Goode, Harding’s assistant athletic director for Sports Information, said the change can lead to more fan interactions on game day.
“The simplest way to explain it is that the current football field is being enclosed,” Goode said. “We used to have the stands, and then an eight-lane-track, and then the sidelines and then the field. Now the fans will be right on top of the action. The people on the sidelines will be able to turn around and high-five a fan in the first row, where previously you’d be 40 feet from the closest fan.”
However, the construction has forced some temporary changes at Harding, particularly with the disc golf complex and the intramural fields. Tom Ritchie, Harding’s recreation programs director, talked about some changes he was having to make as a result of the project.
“At the moment, we have two playable football/soccer fields as a result of some new drainage that’s been put in,” Ritchie said. “We’re trying to work through that, and so our plan is to start out with the women playing flag football instead of the men because we have fewer fields and they generally have fewer teams.”
Ritchie also talked about changes that were being made to the disc golf area because of the construction and working with head cross-country and track coach Don Hood.
“We’ve moved some holes around, and we’re going to do a little more shifting to try and help track have a world class facility. Coach Hood has been very gracious with that, and so we have a very good working relationship with him,” Ritchie said. “The course will have a different look, and so if people have gotten used to playing our course, they’re going to have to try it again.”
Simmons said he is confident that construction will be done before Harding’s first football home game of the season, which is Sept. 10 versus Southeastern Oklahoma.
“Everything will be done in plenty of time for our first game,” Simmons said. “We’ll be ready to roll.”
