University of New Hampshire Athletics
The UNH offense worked out in practice this week with steel rising behind it in the new Stadium.
Pace Picks Up On Stadium, Videoboard Projects
9/10/2015 3:00:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
UNH athletics director Marty Scarano spent a few days last week in sunny California with the Wildcat football team.
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He kept thinking about Durham.
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That's because of a couple of major athletics department construction projects on campus, including one that has sometimes looked like a huge pile of dirt behind the Field House and is quickly transforming into something more. Much more.
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It's been a busy week for the new UNH stadium – home to coach Sean McDonnell's football team – that is starting to take shape behind the Field House.
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The pace is picking up across the street in the Whittemore Center, too, where a video scoreboard is in the final stages of being completed.
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"Last week was really exceptional," Scarano said. "I'm in California from Tuesday to Friday and in and out of airports and people are texting me multiple pictures of the videoboard going up simultaneous to the stadium steel coming in. I'm saying what the heck am I doing in California? I wanted to be back on campus."
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The state-of-the-art Daktronics videoboard arrived in segments on a couple of trucks from South Dakota on Sunday, Aug. 30. The structure was assembled and was hanging in the Whittemore Center by Thursday night of last week. This week, electronic and video components are being installed.
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Steel for the stadium arrived on campus early on Wednesday morning and later that day a towering 80-ton crane began raising it to start the skeleton of the stadium.
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"It's all great, between the videoboard going up and becoming operative, and it's amazing how fast the steel is going up," Scarano said. "As we've talked about, I thought was going to go up fast, but it's even faster than I thought."
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Scarano can't get enough of the project when he's in town, and keeps an eye on its progress through the live webcam at unhstadium.com when he's away.
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"I try to go out there every hour because every hour it changes," he said. "I'm assuming at one point it's going to slow down. Right now it seems like every 10 minutes they're putting up a new piece of steel, so it's going pretty fast."
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The structure is rising across Cowell Stadium from the present home stands, where the visitors' stands once stood. The stadium will in effect be turned around once the facility is done and the home stands will be on the opposite side of where they have been.
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Scarano is excited about the chance to show off the project-in-progress to fans during this football season.
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"I think by the 26th when people get here they're going to see a lot of the bones of the stadium," he said.
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The stadium is due to be finished by next summer, ready for the 2016 season.
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The first of five regular season home games in Cowell is against Central Connecticut State for Family Weekend on Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. The Wildcats play Colonial Athletic Association rival Elon for Homecoming on Oct. 3 at 3:30.
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The other home games are against Rhode Island on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m., against Richmond on Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. and against Maine on Nov. 21 at 1 p.m.
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UNH 2015 football season tickets are on sale now by calling 603-862-4000 or visiting www.unhwildcats.com.
The Wildcats dropped their opener at San Jose State, an FBS School, 43-13, last Thursday night.
They look to event their record at 1-1 on Saturday when they play at Colgate at 6 p.m. The Raiders lost at Navy, also an FBS team, last weekend, 48-10.
UNH plays at Stony Brook in its Colonial Athletic Association opener on Sept. 19.
XXX
The videoboard at the Whittemore Center will be put to work in short order.
The women's hockey team plays an exhibition game at home against Oakville on Sept. 26 at 1 p.m. and opens the regular season at home against Maine on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.
The Wildcats then have two more home games against Lindenwood on Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. and Syracuse on Oct. 10 at 2.
The men's team plays its exhibition game against St. Francis Xavier at the Whittemore Center on Oct. 4 at 4 p.m.
The Wildcats open the season at home against AIC on Oct. 10 and play home games against St. Lawrence on Oct. 16 and Clarkson on Oct. 17.
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Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Â
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Â
He kept thinking about Durham.
Â
That's because of a couple of major athletics department construction projects on campus, including one that has sometimes looked like a huge pile of dirt behind the Field House and is quickly transforming into something more. Much more.
Â
It's been a busy week for the new UNH stadium – home to coach Sean McDonnell's football team – that is starting to take shape behind the Field House.
Â
The pace is picking up across the street in the Whittemore Center, too, where a video scoreboard is in the final stages of being completed.
Â
"Last week was really exceptional," Scarano said. "I'm in California from Tuesday to Friday and in and out of airports and people are texting me multiple pictures of the videoboard going up simultaneous to the stadium steel coming in. I'm saying what the heck am I doing in California? I wanted to be back on campus."
Â
The state-of-the-art Daktronics videoboard arrived in segments on a couple of trucks from South Dakota on Sunday, Aug. 30. The structure was assembled and was hanging in the Whittemore Center by Thursday night of last week. This week, electronic and video components are being installed.
Â
Steel for the stadium arrived on campus early on Wednesday morning and later that day a towering 80-ton crane began raising it to start the skeleton of the stadium.
Â
"It's all great, between the videoboard going up and becoming operative, and it's amazing how fast the steel is going up," Scarano said. "As we've talked about, I thought was going to go up fast, but it's even faster than I thought."
Â
Scarano can't get enough of the project when he's in town, and keeps an eye on its progress through the live webcam at unhstadium.com when he's away.
Â
"I try to go out there every hour because every hour it changes," he said. "I'm assuming at one point it's going to slow down. Right now it seems like every 10 minutes they're putting up a new piece of steel, so it's going pretty fast."
Â
The structure is rising across Cowell Stadium from the present home stands, where the visitors' stands once stood. The stadium will in effect be turned around once the facility is done and the home stands will be on the opposite side of where they have been.
Â
Scarano is excited about the chance to show off the project-in-progress to fans during this football season.
Â
"I think by the 26th when people get here they're going to see a lot of the bones of the stadium," he said.
Â
The stadium is due to be finished by next summer, ready for the 2016 season.
Â
The first of five regular season home games in Cowell is against Central Connecticut State for Family Weekend on Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. The Wildcats play Colonial Athletic Association rival Elon for Homecoming on Oct. 3 at 3:30.
Â
The other home games are against Rhode Island on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m., against Richmond on Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. and against Maine on Nov. 21 at 1 p.m.
Â
UNH 2015 football season tickets are on sale now by calling 603-862-4000 or visiting www.unhwildcats.com.
The Wildcats dropped their opener at San Jose State, an FBS School, 43-13, last Thursday night.
They look to event their record at 1-1 on Saturday when they play at Colgate at 6 p.m. The Raiders lost at Navy, also an FBS team, last weekend, 48-10.
UNH plays at Stony Brook in its Colonial Athletic Association opener on Sept. 19.
XXX
The videoboard at the Whittemore Center will be put to work in short order.
The women's hockey team plays an exhibition game at home against Oakville on Sept. 26 at 1 p.m. and opens the regular season at home against Maine on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.
The Wildcats then have two more home games against Lindenwood on Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. and Syracuse on Oct. 10 at 2.
The men's team plays its exhibition game against St. Francis Xavier at the Whittemore Center on Oct. 4 at 4 p.m.
The Wildcats open the season at home against AIC on Oct. 10 and play home games against St. Lawrence on Oct. 16 and Clarkson on Oct. 17.
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Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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