Written by Carter Thweatt \/\/ Photo by Jeff Montgomery <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Construction is currently underway to move the stands at Harding University\u2019s First Security Stadium closer to the football field and to relocate Harding\u2019s track complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Football head coach Paul Simmons said he is excited about the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe whole idea is that we want to create the very best experience possible for our fans and for our players,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cWe want to put the fans as close to the field as we possibly can to make game day an awesome, exciting experience for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott Goode, Harding\u2019s assistant athletic director for Sports Information, said the change <\/em>can lead to more fan interactions on game day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe simplest way to explain it is that the current football field is being enclosed,\u201d Goode said. \u201cWe 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\u2019d be 40 feet from the closest fan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the construction has forced some temporary changes at Harding, particularly with the disc golf complex and the intramural fields. Tom Ritchie, Harding\u2019s recreation programs director, talked about some changes he was having to make as a result of the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the moment, we have two playable football\/soccer fields as a result of some new drainage that\u2019s been put in,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cWe\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve moved some holes around, and we\u2019re 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,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cThe course will have a different look, and so if people have gotten used to playing our course, they\u2019re going to have to try it again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simmons said he is confident that construction will be done before Harding\u2019s first football home game of the season, which is Sept. 10 versus Southeastern Oklahoma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything will be done in plenty of time for our first game,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be ready to roll.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by Carter Thweatt \/\/ Photo by Jeff Montgomery Construction is currently underway to move the stands at Harding University\u2019s First Security Stadium closer to the football field and to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15068,"featured_media":18011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18013,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18003\/revisions\/18013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}