Fouts Field to be demolished
Dylan Nadwodny | Intern Photographer
Reece Waddell | Senior Staff Writer
The remaining structure of Fouts Field will be demolished and a new complex will be built near Apogee Stadium to serve as a competition and practice facility for the North Texas track and field team.
On Friday August 28, the UNT Board of Regents unanimously voted to approve the 2016 budget, which included the complete demolition of Fouts Field along with a tentative plan for a new track and field facility. A date has not been scheduled for neither the Fouts demolition nor the stadium construction.
“I doubt it will be this year because there’s no money in the budget for a new track and field facility,” North Texas Athletic Director Rick Villarreal said. “So the university wouldn’t do that to us, and we wouldn’t demolish Fouts and then leave the track and field team with nowhere to train and compete.”
Since his arrival in 2001, Villarreal has focused most of his attention to Mean Green Village—an athletic mecca that includes most of the academic, training, and competition facilities for North Texas’ nearly 400 student athletes.
Located on the south side of campus across Interstate 35E, Villarreal said the goal for the future is for every sport to be in the village so athletics is in one centralized location.
“A lot of student athletes struggle because they spend an hour in their car going places,” Villarreal said. “The village is meant to eliminate that. They can rehab, train, eat, sleep and study all in one part of campus that is five minutes from where they need to be.”
Fouts Field was opened in 1951 and has seen the likes of “Mean” Joe Greene play on its field. Track and field head coach Carl Sheffield said Fouts has meant a lot to the university and will be missed dearly.
“Fouts was one of the few great stadiums to run track,” Sheffield said. “It’s historical. But we’re ready for change and we’re excited as to what a new facility could bring to this team.”
Sheffield said a new state of the art facility could be just what the track and field team needs to take the next step in Conference USA after it improved in nearly every area in 2014.
“We want to have the facilities like the one at [University of Texas San Antonio]” Sheffield said. “A new stadium like that can just breathe life into your university or program. I believe that can happen here, and I believe that will happen here.”
Featured Image: On Friday, Aug. 28, the UNT Board of Regents unanimously voted to approve the complete demolition of Fouts Field along with a tentative plan for a new track and field facility. Dylan Nadwodny | Intern Photographer
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