I went to Fan Day and the scrimmage today and have to admit that I was completely appalled at the amount of expensive landscaping that had been done inside Unitas Stadium. The entire hillside has been covered in black mulch about 8 inches deep. Sure it looks nice, but why is Towson spending big bucks on mulch for the stadium when they are cutting men's soccer. Brutal thoughtless decision that shows a lack of priorities. I want to know how much this cost? I will be calling my friends at the U on Monday and will report back what I find out.

(08-11-2013 12:25 AM)TigerNation82 Wrote:  I went to Fan Day and the scrimmage today and have to admit that I was completely appalled at the amount of expensive landscaping that had been done inside Unitas Stadium. The entire hillside has been covered in black mulch about 8 inches deep. Sure it looks nice, but why is Towson spending big bucks on mulch for the stadium when they are cutting men's soccer. Brutal thoughtless decision that shows a lack of priorities. I want to know how much this cost? I will be calling my friends at the U on Monday and will report back what I find out.

I completely disagree with you 82. I'm glad to hear they are addressing that eyesore in the Endzone. It looked like my lawn in Texas with deadspots from not getting enough rain and a complete embarrassment on tv. That was two years overdue, and I don't know why they didn't do this sooner. Sorry but I disagree with your assessment of being a waste of resources and look at this as something that should of been done two years ago.

The priorities are football over soccer.

I do not disagree that something needed to be done, but the timing on this reflects a lack of sensitivity to the fact that this is the first fall without men's soccer and the budget is tight, but still someone at TU thought that a 200k minimum in mulch was a priority. This is not a football v soccer thing, its a reflection of priorities. I'd rather have a ratty hillside and take care of the athletes and coaches than have a mulch hill that looks nice for the 5 Saturdays this fall that people will see it. I will find out how much this cost on Monday and if it is 200k+ then you can make a solid judgement. I doubt Towson is selling 200k in season tickets for football so to spend this on seasonal mulch seems a bit much. If you look at the front of the new arena it looks like a zen garden so I guess we can expect more of the same inside the U.

(08-11-2013 01:36 PM)TigerNation82 Wrote:  I do not disagree that something needed to be done, but the timing on this reflects a lack of sensitivity to the fact that this is the first fall without men's soccer and the budget is tight, but still someone at TU thought that a 200k minimum in mulch was a priority. This is not a football v soccer thing, its a reflection of priorities. I'd rather have a ratty hillside and take care of the athletes and coaches than have a mulch hill that looks nice for the 5 Saturdays this fall that people will see it. I will find out how much this cost on Monday and if it is 200k+ then you can make a solid judgement. I doubt Towson is selling 200k in season tickets for football so to spend this on seasonal mulch seems a bit much. If you look at the front of the new arena it looks like a zen garden so I guess we can expect more of the same inside the U.

Again this should of been done two years ago, so spare the sensitivity card. The fact that it has gone this long before being addressed should tell you something. For so long this school has underfunded the marquee sports vs our conference foes to try to appease everyone. I'm sick and tired of the old mentality of just being average, hard choices were made but this should have been done years ago. You need to fully fund Football and Basketball on the men's side and then evaluate from there but don't do it half way which is what happened from the late 80's until the past couple years.

(08-11-2013 02:59 PM)LoneStar Wrote:  

(08-11-2013 01:36 PM)TigerNation82 Wrote:  I do not disagree that something needed to be done, but the timing on this reflects a lack of sensitivity to the fact that this is the first fall without men's soccer and the budget is tight, but still someone at TU thought that a 200k minimum in mulch was a priority. This is not a football v soccer thing, its a reflection of priorities. I'd rather have a ratty hillside and take care of the athletes and coaches than have a mulch hill that looks nice for the 5 Saturdays this fall that people will see it. I will find out how much this cost on Monday and if it is 200k+ then you can make a solid judgement. I doubt Towson is selling 200k in season tickets for football so to spend this on seasonal mulch seems a bit much. If you look at the front of the new arena it looks like a zen garden so I guess we can expect more of the same inside the U.

Again this should of been done two years ago, so spare the sensitivity card. The fact that it has gone this long before being addressed should tell you something. For so long this school has underfunded the marquee sports vs our conference foes to try to appease everyone. I'm sick and tired of the old mentality of just being average, hard choices were made but this should have been done years ago. You need to fully fund Football and Basketball on the men's side and then evaluate from there but don't do it half way which is what happened from the late 80's until the past couple years.

Agree, what are we just going to stop spending money because men's soccer is gone? Tim Leonard is here to raise money as he said (to paraphrase) to help the coaches get the best resources. Part of that is selling what you have to recruits. There are four teams (including track) that use the stadium and that part of the end zone was an absolute eyesore. Eventually, there will be seats there but until there is some money available, that's the cheapest alternative.

My friend in the campus facilities department and I had breakfast this morning and he shared with me that the total cost of the hillside project for Unitas Stadium will be around $350,000 when completed. They will be adding in flowers on the hill in the next few weeks and some other décor that he did not want to detail. He also shared with me that there are plans to add in lights at the Baseball field in time for the spring season and that there will be a host of other new improvements that are going to be made for the baseball team. The softball field that was talked about a few months ago has been put on indefinite hold for now and likely will not be moved forward until next summer.

(08-12-2013 08:45 AM)TigerNation82 Wrote:  My friend in the campus facilities department and I had breakfast this morning and he shared with me that the total cost of the hillside project for Unitas Stadium will be around $350,000 when completed. They will be adding in flowers on the hill in the next few weeks and some other décor that he did not want to detail. He also shared with me that there are plans to add in lights at the Baseball field in time for the spring season and that there will be a host of other new improvements that are going to be made for the baseball team. The softball field that was talked about a few months ago has been put on indefinite hold for now and likely will not be moved forward until next summer.

Good stuff, appreciate the info.

Sounds like they are going to use the $2 Million dollar gift for the baseball field and not softball. I think it is great that they are adding lights for baseball. I think they can get a lot more fans with night games.

The softball stadium is still a go but it will be scaled back and the cash split 50/50 with baseball getting lights, batting cages and possibly AstroTurf. Funding for baseball and improving that program was a big part of Leonard's pitch to the AD committee.