Softer turf won't be slow by any means

http://wvgazette.com/section/Sports/Dave...2007062516

June 26, 2007
by Dave Hickman

MORGANTOWN — Odds and ends and a few things I think I think:

The first reaction to walking across the new turf at Mountaineer Field is that it’s slow. Anything that soft has to be, doesn’t it?

“It might seem like it, but it isn’t,’’ West Virginia secondary coach Tony Gibson said. “And it’s only going to get faster.’’

Crews finally finished installing the new FieldTurf Duraspine over the weekend. They had enough of it done by last Wednesday that the school could use it during the team portion of WVU’s football camps that concluded Saturday, then each evening continued to work in more of the sand and rubber mix that forms the base of the turf.

And until all of that settles completely, yes, it might seem just a wee bit slow.

But you didn’t really think that Rich Rodriguez, with such an emphasis on recruiting faster and faster players, would willingly agree to a slow turf, did you? The more the sand and rubber settles, the more solid the footing will become without compromising the grass-like texture.

“When we were looking at [different] turfs we took Steve [Slaton] and Pat [White] up to Waynesburg and let them run around on it,’’ Gibson said, referring to his two Heisman Trophy candidate backs and little Waynesburg College, which installed Duraspine last year. “They were on it for about two minutes and said, ‘Yeah, this is it.’’’

* * * * *

West Virginia’s athletic department could be losing a hall of famer.

Shelly Poe, the school’s sports information director since 1988, is mulling an offer to do public relations for the football program at Ohio State. Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel has reportedly joined in the recruiting effort.

Poe was reluctant to talk about her potential change of scenery Monday except to say that she hasn’t made up her mind.

This much seems fairly certain, though: If West Virginia’s administration doesn’t make an effort to keep Poe, it won’t sit well with those involved with the Mountaineer football program. And so far it appears there has been no effort to do so.

Why that is seems baffling. Poe, although she is barely in her 40s, is pretty much a WVU institution, having worked in the sports information office since her days as a student intern. She was an assistant SID for three years after her graduation — a position that was essentially created for her after she proved her worth as a student intern — and in 1988 become the first woman in the country ever named a sports information director at a Division I-A football school.

Last year, she was elected to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame. She also wrote the recently released book “Don Nehlen’s Tales from the West Virginia Sideline.’’

Truth be told, Poe has given WVU much more than she has received. Despite her longevity and credentials, she is the only sports information director at a Big East football school who does not also have a title as an assistant or an associate athletic director. In fact, it appears she is rapidly becoming one of the few nationwide without that distinction.

While Poe’s duties include overseeing the publicity for all sports, a great portion of her hands-on duties relate to football. She is extremely popular with both coaches and players alike, which is why the football program would be most affected if she left. Few at the Puskar Center relish that thought.

But unlike Ohio State, which has the football and athletic budget of a small nation, WVU’s football program isn’t quite to the point where it can dictate to the general athletic department its hires or salaries.

Of course, West Virginia’s sports publicity department would continue to run without Shelly Poe. It just probably wouldn’t run as well.

To contact staff writer Dave Hickman send e-mail to dphickman1@aol.com or call (304) 348-1734.

I don't know if it's the same version, but Papa John's has FieldTurf and I've never heard anyone call it slow.

Slaton and White really like it. That's the important part for WVU.

How old was the turf it replaced? Less than 10 years?

I think it was around 10 years old, but I couldn't find any data on the old turf's age. I know it was mentioned in an article a few months ago, but I can't seem to find the article now and I've searched every WV newspaper archive. Somebody should be able to find the information, but it ain't me.

UCF has that for their intramural fields and in the indoor practice facility for the football team. It is really nice to play on and easy to manage. The little black rocks get stuck in your socks, and it can take some adjusting to initially, but overall it is the next best thing to real grass.