Sancet, Drachman renovated; softball and swimming venues next
Sancet Field will get a new name and a new look, but those are not the only improvements on tap for UA sports facilities.
The about-to-be-renamed Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium is getting a blue fence to replace the old one, with new graphics and a new batter's eye and a new brick facade in the entry way. The fence will be the same height.
"It's terrific. They made the place so much nicer," said baseball volunteer assistant coach Jeff Casper. "They've done some renovations to the outside, some to the field itself, and it really makes this place look nice."
The UA will also work on the turf over the summer, said Steve Kozachik, assistant director of athletics for facilities & capital projects.
Casper is very impressed with the field already.
"They've done a real great job of getting this ready. It plays real nice; it looks real nice," Casper said. "It'll definitely be ready to go once the season starts."
The UA is going to level out the dips and divots in the outfield, Kozachik said.
On, Jan. 24, the ballpark will also be renamed in honor of former UA coach Jerry Kindall, before the Jim Click Alumni Baseball Game. From construction in 1967 until 1985, the park called Wildcat Field. It was renamed Frank Sancet Field in 1986.
"This is an exciting time for Arizona Athletics," said athletic director Jim Livengood in a press release. "Both these coaches put Wildcat baseball on the map, and each represented Arizona in the highest regard. The university and the athletics department can't think of a more fitting way to recognize everything that these men achieved here."
From 1973 to 1996, Kindall went 860-580-6, won three national championships, went to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., five times, won the Pacific-10 South three times, was national and Six-Pac coach of the year three times and coached 51 major leaguers. Sancet went 831-282-8 in 22 years, made it to Omaha nine times, had four Western Athletic Conference titles and coached 15 major leaguers.
The home of Wildcat track and field, Drachman Stadium is also getting upgrades, since it is hosting the Pac-10s this year. The 23-year-old facility - the track teams moved in 1981 from Arizona Stadium to the East 15th Street and South Plumer Avenue site - will get a new scoreboard, upgraded bleachers, new asphalt on its track and a safety screen at the discus-throwing area, Kozachik said.
Improvements to the softball stadium, Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium, are slated for later in the semester. An auxiliary pool will be added to Hillenbrand Aquatic Center and a team, likely women's basketball, will move in the space in McKale Memorial Center vacated by optical sciences.
The improvements to Hillenbrand will include permanent bleachers - the UA currently rents the bleacher seats every year - as well as a locker room/team room and possibly some space for umpires.
"It's all designed," Kozachik said. "It's ready to go, we just need someone to ante up the cash. As soon as that happens, we're good to go."
Kozachik said that the buyout of former football coach John Mackovic's contract didn't affect facility improvements.
"The way our facility upgrades generally go is that a donor will come in and give money dedicated to a specific project. For instance, Bill Hillenbrand gave money specifically to build the softball stadium several years ago," Kozachik said. "Somebody won't just give us money and say 'use it for operations.' So if your rich uncle came in and said, 'I want to build you a new swimming pool,' that money would be earmarked for that."
The softball work will cost about $1 million and the swimming improvements $3 million to $5 million, Kozachik said.
Kozachik said increased football ticket sales would help fund improvements as well.
"We're counting on football filling the stadium and helping us out, not necessarily in facility upgrades, but operating expenses," Kozachik said. "Part of that is just hoping fans respond and start selling tickets. I think we've had a real positive reaction."
Though fan support may improve, the football program will not receive facility improvements since many were performed when Mackovic arrived. Kozachik said the UA would not be putting synthetic turf, such as Fieldturf or NeXturf, in Arizona Stadium, bucking a trend that has spread to 40 Division I-A schools, the highest number since 1997.
"We're not doing that. We looked into that (when Mackovic arrived), and there were financial reasons we didn't do it," Kozachik said. "We also weren't completely sold by the product, living in Arizona. The substrate of it is rubber-based, so there was a heat issue - players landing on it, rolling on it - a piece of rubber in 110-degree heat."
- Justin St. Germain contributed to this report.