Super Bowl Update

Troy athletics director Steve Dennis is interviewed by WTVY's Paul Stockman.

Troy athletics director Steve Dennis was in town Thursday, serving as guest speaker for the Dothan Chamber of Commerce general membership luncheon at the Wiregrass Rehab Center. Myself and media from WDHN, WDFX and WTVY talked to Dennis beforehand and I stayed during the lunch to hear what he had to say. A story will be in tomorrow's paper, but here are some bits:

*** Bids have been sent out for the construction of the 3 new practice fields. Those have been mentioned before in previous stories, but now it's becoming a reality. Construction is expected to begin on that soon, Dennis said, maybe even in a couple of weeks. Surely it would take a few months to get done, but maybe not. A whole boatload of trees at the corner of Wallace and McKinley will be bulldozed to make this happen. As far as total logistics, what will be a parking lot, what won't be a parking lot, what will be covered, etc., it's too early for me to say. I'm sure Troy's athletics department will send out some plans. One of the 3 fields will be an intramural field. Dennis said it would be some 300,00 cubic yards of dirt placed before the fields are formed.

*** No new update on the football complex which would go in the north end zone, only that they're trying to get it to come to fruition as quickly as they can.

*** The new turf on the main field is supposed to be done by the end of the month. Good thing, as Troy starts practice Aug. 2, a Thursday.

*** Somebody did ask the "Why don't we play Auburn or Alabama" question to Dennis, which he gets all the time. He maintained that he has a good relationship with Mal Moore and Jay Jacobs, but it's not at the point where Alabama and Auburn will play them in football. He said the relationship was such that they play them in other sports. He also mentioned how Arkansas won't play Arkansas State in anything. Of course he's in favor of Troy playing the in-state schools because of geography.