Greenwood’s new artificial football surface, installed late last fall and into the early winter, continues to generate dialogue.
Hardly surprising, considering the school opted to prematurely gray on its own.
Greenwood is one of only two of the state’s 117 schools incorporating field turf that bucks the traditional green; Edgewood laid down red turf in time for the start of the 2018 season.
The pattern is eye-catchingly unique — alternating light and dark every 5 yards (although dark between both 45-yard lines) from one goal line to the other. However, some semblance of normalcy rears its head in the end zones — both are green with white letters spelling “Greenwood” on the north end and “Woodmen” in the south.
Greenwood, off to a 3-0 start under first-year coach Justin Boser, officially christens the turf tonight when it hosts Mooresville.
But why gray?
The process began when current athletic director Mike Campbell, the Woodmen head football coach for 17 seasons (2006-22), took the idea to former AD Rob Irwin and former principal Todd Garrison.
Both loved the concept.
“I liked the look of it,” said Campbell, who succeeded Irwin as Greenwood’s AD early last fall and retired from coaching at the end of football season. “I had seen Eastern Michigan’s field, and we felt like it was something that could kind of set us apart from schools in the area.
“It gives us a different look. Once people have seen it, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback. The kids think it’s cool because they know we’re the only ones playing on a gray field.”
The field is essentially a duplicate of the surface Eastern Michigan opted for in 2014 at 30,200-seat Rynearson Stadium. The Eagles’ field also includes green end zones and a large logo at midfield.
“I’ve been to games at Eastern Michigan, and I think it’s a cool look,” Campbell said. “Under the lights, it pops.”
Greenwood installed its first artificial turf football field prior to the 2012 season at a cost of $665,170. That process included the installation of a drainage system.
Its replacement, according to Campbell, came with a price tag of approximately $500,000. With the drainage system already installed for the previous field, recent additions were a new shock pad beneath the turf — and of course the turf itself.
The field, which will also be used for bantam football games and some band shows, as well as girls and boys soccer matches until the stadium for that sport, being constructed directly north of the school, is complete.
“The first two photos I saw, it wasn’t ready yet, and I was kind of like, ‘Ooh, I don’t know how that’s going to look,’” Woodmen senior quarterback Brock Riddle said. “But once it started coming together, I started really liking it a lot. It’s different, but I like different stuff. It’s real cool, I think, and I’m excited to get playing on it.”
The non-green field movement was started by Boise State University, which in 1986 installed a blue turf that immediately began gaining the football program a level of nationwide notice never previously achieved.
Eastern Washington followed with a red turf in 2010, and from there, the dominos began to fall — Central Arkansas in 2011, EMU four years later, Coastal Carolina in 2015 and more – with the idea eventually finding its way to prep football.
West Salem (Oregon) High School features a black football field. Lincoln College Preparatory Academy in Kansas City went all out, with players and coaches running onto a blue surface with yellow sidelines, a look that is encircled by a red all-weather track.
Boser jokes how he and the new turf will long be associated seeing that they arrived about the same time.
“Oh, we love it,” Boser said. “What I go back to is, it’s got the new pad, which makes it softer. Your back doesn’t hurt. You feel like you’re on a nice, plush grass field. From a practice standpoint, we try to treat it like it’s a nice grass field.
“We try to rotate around different drill spaces so that we’re not always wearing out the same spot. I like to warm up in different places on the field for that reason.”
Come kickoff, no such concerns exist.
“As far as I’m concerned, we’re just out there playing football,” Boser said.
THIS WEEKEND’S GAMES
Whiteland at Franklin, 7 p.m. tonight
Greenwood Christian at Edinburgh, 7 p.m. tonight
Cincinnati Moeller at Center Grove, 7 p.m. tonight
Mooresville at Greenwood, 7 p.m. tonight
Columbus North at Roncalli, 7 p.m. tonight
Galesburg (Ill.) at Indian Creek, 2 p.m. Saturday
