Smith Cochran
Sports Editor
The Sewanee Purple interviewed John Shackleford, Director of Athletics, to look over the new developments, renovations, and hires in Sewanee athletics.
- There is new turf at Hardee McGee Stadium and Puett Field. What was the thinking behind these renovations? Is there a difference in turf styles?
A turf has a warranty of ten years. We were on year twelve. A big part of it was safety for our athletes. We have a number of athletes every year that end up getting concussions from hitting the turf with their head and hurting their ACLs because of loose footing on the turf. That became our number one priority, so instead of building something new, we wanted to take what we had and take care of it. Both our turf fields were built at the same time, so we couldn’t do one field and not the other.
The field at the Pit, Puett Field, has more infill, which is the sand and rubber pellets which raises [the turf] higher. It makes the blade of grass shorter, and therefore a field hockey ball or soccer ball can roll more easily.
- Do you expect for the tailgating rules to remain the same as last year?
We hope the rules will stay the same. A big part for us is trying to encourage student involvement and wanting students to come to our games and make that a central focus of our Saturdays here. I think that students enjoy it, and we certainly want to do everything in our power to make that space available for our students to come enjoy the football games, just as they would at Oxford, Mississippi, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, or Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
- Was there a change in the number of athletes for the freshman class?
There was a slight uptick in the number of freshman athletes this year. This year’s class is 38% student athletes, and normally that number is right around 33%. Each year all of our coaches set goals for how many student athletes they want to recruit and fill their spots. Sewanee overall had a banner year in terms of incoming freshmen who chose and wanted to be here. So not only was the overall number strong for Sewanee, but the number of athletes we accepted was higher than expected.
[The football team] had over forty-three freshmen when they started preseason camp, ninety-three kids total. When [football coach] Andy McCollum arrived here there were 38 kids on the roster.
- Are there any new coaches to be aware of?
We had several major hires over the summer. The three biggest would be Alice Coke, the Director of the Equestrian Center, Devon Serrano, the Director of Sports Medicine, and Keenan Hickton is our new Men’s Golf Coach. [Serrano] became the first woman to ever lead the Sewanee athletics training room, so we are very proud of that.
- Are there any other updates or renovations new this fall to Sewanee Athletics?
The Fowler Center renovation is continuing, so we are converting what used to be a dance studio into six new offices. We moved our Men’s and Women’s basketball and volleyball offices right behind Juhan Gymnasium, on the same floor. We put in new walls, new flooring and did some remodeling to make Fowler welcoming for families and prospective students when they come to visit coaches.
We plan to expand our weight room offering so we have more space. We need to refloor the indoor track and the recreational area where students play basketball and volleyball. We’re looking to expand our locker rooms and to move our training room upstairs. There are a number of things that are going to happen and that’s part of our fundraising plan to help with those specific projects.