Wolves Get New Fieldhouse In 2017

LINCOLN — On Tuesday, Sept. 5, Lincoln staged an open house to showcase the Wolves’ brand new Football Fieldhouse. The longawaited facility is situated behind Lincoln High School and adjacent to Wolfpack Stadium. There are separate locker rooms for the varsity and junior high, an individual office for head coach Don Harrison and a larger office for assistant coaches, plus a new weight room carpeted by artificial turf. Harrison was excited about having artificial turf on the floor of the weight room.

“We wanted this as a coaching staff,” Harrison said during the open house. “We are going to play on this, we wanted to lift on it, too.”

Assistant football coach and head softball coach Beau Collins believes the new facility adds a dimension to home-field advantage.

“We’re excited to have a place to call home, it makes it a little easier,” Collins said. “The kids live here. Having the new fieldhouse gives them a little more ownership of it. Then, we get to practice on the same field we play on, that makes it a lot better.”

Strength and conditioning coach Stan Karber said he likes the size of the new fieldhouse.

“The weight room we had over there was small and condensed,” Karber said. “We went from 1,500-squarefeet tops over there to 4,000 square feet with new weights. It’s going to be awesome.”

The project started July 17 and was finished in time for the Wolves’ first home game against Keys, Okla., on Sept 8. Wolves fans watched anxiously as workers driving heavy equipment spread gravel on the field before the artificial turf was installed. The project included an improved drainage system and an indoor practice facility.

Speaking about the project last summer, Lincoln athletic director Deon Birkes said the switch to an artificial surface had been planned for some time and that $500,000 was committed in a partnership between the school and contributors to the Wolfpack Foundation. The turf was purchased from a company in Louisiana.

“An artificial turf is more usable where everybody, like our soccer team and even our P.E. classes, can use it,” Birkes said. “It’s easier to maintain than grass and Shiloh Christian bought an artificial turf from the same company that’s been in place on its field for 16 years.”

PHOTOS BY MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Lincoln head football coach Don Harrison carries a barbell as the Wolves move weight lifting equipment into their new Football Fieldhouse on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

A stack of dumbells is part of new weight training equipment readily available in the new fieldhouse.