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Grass is a must for Bill Belichick and his staff.
Before Belichick even signed his contract to coach the Tar Heels, he and General Manager Michael Lombardi saw one change they had to have: get rid of the hybrid playing field and replace it with the old fashion stuff.
“We have really nice weather, we could grow really good grass because that’s what players want to play on,” Lombardi recalls. “It’s hard to recruit to artificial turf. It’s difficult to go out there every day on your knees on turf. It made no logical sense, so grass is going to be in at North Carolina as long as we’re here.”
The replacing of artificial turf at Kenan Stadium with natural grass will cost about $250,000, which is peanuts compared to the $30 million Belichick is being paid for the first three years of his guaranteed contract. He and Lombardi believe that fewer players will get injured and more will shine on grass.
Another element Lombardi would like to see returned to Kenan are the hedges that separated the sidelines from the stands. Lombardi says that is a lost tradition that for years identified the UNC home field as unique. He has never seen a home football game in Chapel Hill, and I guess he’s never heard of the “between the hedges” in Sanford Stadium at Georgia.
“We want to bring back the stadium to when it first started and old times,” Lombardi said, “because football games are about memories. You walk into the stadium, and you can feel the passion of the entire team and that’s what we can create here at North Carolina.”
Lombardi gave a shutout to Carolina football historian Lee Pace for chronicling the history of Kenan and various upgrades football has made to its facilities over the years. Pace has written several books on Carolina football, and his coffee table classic, “Football In A Forest,” celebrates one of the few college stadiums that was built in the middle of campus and has remained there for more than a hundred years, including several major renovations and upgrades.
Mack Brown did a great job of promoting his program and selling out the stadium before his second tenure began, and only losing key games down the stretch of his last four seasons caused fans to leave their tickets at home and not attend.
Carolina football, and somewhat for basketball, is a transactional experience for the fans. They come when they are excited about a new season and rival games against ACC teams or intersectional non-conference opponents, like the Labor Day opener versus TCU.
The schedule in recent years has included soft mid-major foes that keep the crowds under capacity, a condition that will only improve if the Tar Heels get back into the national rankings and stay there. No matter how the grass grows, it is up to the team that takes the field.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
