Sam Houston State:
Bowers Stadium
School Founded: 1879
Location: Huntsville,
Texas
Football Founded: 1912
Current Conference: Southland
Facilities: Named
in honor of Dr. Elliott T. Bowers, who retired in 1989 after 20 years as
president of Sam Houston State University, 14,000-seat Bowers Stadium has been
the home of Bearkat football since 1986.
The stadium opened on Sept. 13,
1986, with a 23-6 victory over Montana State.
The largest crowd ever to see a game
in Bowers Stadium (more than 16,000) watched Sam Houston State defeat
nationally-ranked Alcorn State and future Super Bowl quarterback Steve
"Air" McNair in 1994 in a contest aired on ABC-TV.
Since the stadium opened, the
Bearkats produced a record of 81 victories, 40 losses and one tie in
the facility.
Prior to the opening of Bowers Stadium, the
Bearkats played in the old stone stadium at historic Pritchett Field.
Home to both Sam Houston State University's
football and track programs, the stadium features a Real Grass Pro
artificial surface installed during the summer of 2007.
The 27,000 square-foot Ron
Mafrige Field House adjacent to the stadium contains athletic department
administrative offices, three dressing rooms, training room, team meeting
rooms, and the Sam Houston State University Athletics Learning Enhancement
Center.
The video/scoreboard with replays plus
special interviews and features on the Sam Houston football team was added in
2006.
Bowers Stadium also hosts several UIL high
school football playoff games each season.
TV Market(s): Dallas
(5th TV market), Houston (10th TV market), San Antonio (37th TV market, Austin
49th TV market).
All-time Record: 456-442-37
5 conference titles.
Claimed National Championships: None
Rivalries:
Stephen F. Austin
Texas State
Student Population: 18,478
Endowment: $48,270,972
Athletic Budget: $6.57
million (2011 budget)
FBS Aspirations:
What got the ball rolling on SHSU
studying the potential move to the FBS?
BW: I think the biggest thing was when
we started having discussions about it three years ago, we had just won three
Commissioner’s Cups and we were looking at ways to get more consistent in
football. We were consistent in basketball and baseball was starting to go to
the NCAA tournament. All of our other sports were doing well and we were a
broad-based department.
It really stemmed from how we could
get better as a whole. We wanted to reach as high a level as we could, not from
just an NCAA standpoint, but just our program. How do we get our teams to be
more consistent?
We looked at how we could get better
with our facilities and our budget. Part of that was the national landscape and
what was going to happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment