UCLA football team rewarded with planned Spaulding Field renovations in show of confidence
The football team’s practice field will undergo renovations, which may start as soon as spring practice ends. The upgrades will cost around $1.2 million.
By Tyler Drohan
May 3, 2012 12:32 a.m.
Senior quarterback Richard Brehaut is in a battle for the starting nod with redshirt senior Kevin Prince and redshirt freshman Brett Hundley.
Senior quarterback Richard Brehaut let out a little exhale and then a smile.
As the quarterback reflected on what was likely his last padded spring practice at Spaulding Field, he couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.
Since coming to UCLA, the ground Brehaut has walked on has been shaky as the quarterback has constantly tried to gain his footing on the depth chart year after year.
With the firing of Rick Neuheisel and the hiring of Jim Mora, the program has undergone a transformation.
In fact, the ground Brehaut walked on at Spaulding will undergo a transformation of its own, one that certainly signals the kinds of changes Mora is looking to make.
In April, renovations that would include putting in new synthetic and grass turfs on the UCLA practice field were being discussed. The project may start as early as the end of spring practice ““ May 5 ““ in time to be completed by the time the team returns to practice in August or to be completed after the season. Either way, the renovations represent an added emphasis on the facilities at UCLA.
For the Bruins, the upgrades represent a vote of confidence from the administration that they will provide the funding necessary to help the program succeed.
The installation of the new practice fields are projected to cost roughly $1.2 million, which comes directly from UCLA Athletics’ budget.
“I’m glad that we’re putting some money into facilities around here and that we’re upgrading a little bit,” Brehaut said after practice Tuesday.
“I think it’s something we deserve out here; we’ve been working our butts off, and I’m glad that we’re going to get a little bit (of a) reward in terms of upgraded facilities and whatever they have in mind,” he added.
When Neuheisel was fired last November, he spoke about the helpless feeling of “bringing a knife to a gunfight” when trying to compete with other elite programs.
“I think every program across the country has to make a determination as to what their expectation level is and then finance that expectation level, and in some places those numbers don’t jive,” Neuheisel said in an interview on ESPN Radio after his firing.
“(The next coach is) going to ask for some things that certainly (former Bruins coach) Karl Dorrell asked for and that I asked for, and certainly the next guy will need to get to where they want to go,” Neuheisel said.
While the efforts of the renovations are appreciated, at least one current player believes the turf itself will have little effect on the team.
“It could help us out a lot just looking at the field and just being happy to come out here and work on the new turf, but a football field’s a football field, and we’re going to play the same stuff on it, so it’s not that big of a deal,” redshirt freshman running back Steven Manfro said.
Brehaut agreed that the field is only the beginning in terms of changes that the football program must undertake.
“In the end, it’s not about that stuff,” Brehaut said. “It’s about going out and wherever you are ““ turf, grass, weight room ““ just working hard and getting after it. It doesn’t matter what your surroundings are; as long as you have the right state of mind to work hard, we’ll be fine.”
