New stadium serves school in several ways
Project, game in College Station strengthen ties to Texas A&M
PRAIRIE VIEW — Willie Simmons, readying for his second season as Prairie View A&M’s football coach, tried sitting in on a handful of meetings with the company constructing the Panthers’ pristine $61 million stadium, scheduled for completion this summer.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Simmons finally told the builders and engineers in playfully requesting they sit in on one of his X’s and O’s football meetings. “I just know things are getting done.”
Indeed, with construction ongoing behind a who’s who of Prairie View, the university offered a “public progress report” just outside Panther Stadium’s new walls on Thursday — and Simmons & Co. could not be more pleased.
“This stadium gives us opportunities for a lot of things we haven’t had in the past,” he said.
The 15,000-seat Panther Stadium and Field House on the site of the old stadi- um is set for completion in time for the school’s Sept. 3 home opener against rival Texas Southern.
“Buy your tickets now,” Simmons said with a smile of the grand opening. “Because if you don’t, you won’t get in the door.”
The project is backed in large part by the Texas A&M system, and A&M chancellor John Sharp and system vice chancellor for business affairs Phillip Ray were on hand for Thursday’s festivities, which also included Prairie View’s football players, cheerleaders and celebrated Marching Storm band.
‘$61 million well spent’
“The reason this is so important is the same reason Kyle Field is so important to College Station,” Sharp said. “Football venues are campuses’ megaphones to the world. It’s a stadium that will showcase the professors, the students, the great recruiting that’s already happening here. This is $61 million well spent and a great addition to Prairie View.
“It’s going to be a huge asset to a campus that is already the prettiest in the country.”
Added Prairie View A&M president George C. Wright of the system’s backing: “Without the support of chancellor John Sharp, without his advocating for Prairie View, the new athletic complex would still be a dream. We would not be here today.”
On Sept. 10, the Panthers will be in College Station to take on Texas A&M, another Sharp-induced affair. He said Thursday that if A&M was going to pay a program like Sam Houston State “a half-million dollars” to play a game at Kyle Field, it might as well pay an A&M member like Prairie View.
“Let’s keep it in the system,” Sharp said, smiling.
The new stadium, replacing a longtime bare- bones structure, will feature 10 suites and 500 premium seats, along with a field house featuring a large weight room, a dining area, locker rooms and training rooms, among other amenities.
“Now we won’t have to go all over campus just to have meeting rooms for our football team,” Prairie View athletic director Ashley Robinson said.
Room to grow
The long-term plan calls for an increase to 30,000 seats at some point. The new digs come at a good time for Prairie View, which has an enrollment of about 7,000 students and is the second-oldest public university in Texas (founded in 1876 and covering about 1,500 acres).
The Panthers finished 9-2 in 2015 in Simmons’ first season, and they’re projected to compete for a Southwestern Athletic Conference title this season behind standout quarterback Trey Green.
“It’s always been a dream of ours to get a new stadium,” Green said.
The festive setting Thursday, set to music and sounds of construction progress from the stadium, is a far cry from Prairie View’s most dreadful era. From 1989-98, the Panthers lost 80 consecutive games, an NCAA record.
Last year, the Panthers (8-1 in league play) finished a game behind SWAC winner Grambling State, bringing excitement that this pleasant country community an hour to the northwest of Houston hadn’t enjoyed in years.
“Our work isn’t done,” said Simmons, hired in December 2014 after three seasons as coordinator of a high-octane offense at Alcorn State. “We didn’t come here to win nine games and get complacent. The goal is to be a perennial power.”