As expected, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team will not hold spring practice at Scrappy Moore Field this year. The Mocs will be at Finley Stadium when the offseason sessions kick off on Feb. 28.
Mocs coach Russ Huesman hopes that once the renovation of Scrappy is complete, the days of practicing at Finley will be over.
"I think it's going to give us a chance to never have to go back to Finley unless it's a game or a big-time scrimmage," Huesman said of the major renovation.
It took a long time for work to begin on the project, which will be paid for out of last February's $500,000 donation to the UTC program by Renee Haugerud and John Murphy, who played with Huesman. The project wasn't approved by the State Building Commission until last May.
Renovations began on Jan. 22, and the company doing the work is Chattanooga-based Competition Athletic Surfaces, Inc.
Athletic director Rick Hart said the project, at least this stage of it, will be completed in early May. Hart said an 80-by-60-yard artificial surface will be installed on the field farthest from the entrance to Scrappy. The plan, for now, is to keep the grass field closest to the entrance.
"When we show up in August, it's as pretty as you can get," he said of the grass field. "The problem is when we go out there and it rains, and we tear it up, then it's shot. But with the turf field down there, we won't have to worry about that anymore."
There have been discussions, Hart said, about the university replacing the grass field with a turf field and opening up the facility -- when the football team isn't using it -- to general student use since Chamberlain Field is no longer available. In addition, the Chamberlain lights might be moved down to Scrappy.
Along with the artificial surface installation, the project under way also includes a new irrigation system, a permanent bathroom to replace the ever-present portable toilet, and wiring the facility so it can have lights someday.