<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><h2 class="entry-title" style="max-width: 650px; font-size: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#222222" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">saved it. Twitter says he still has more to add, though.</span></font></h2><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">
</span></span></font></div><h2 class="entry-title" style="max-width: 650px; font-size: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13px; ">What's next for Dudy Noble Field?</span></h2><h2 class="entry-title" style="max-width: 650px; font-size: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">
</a></font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13px; ">by<span class="entry-author-name">Kyle Veazey</span></span></h2><div class="entry-author" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none; "><div class="entry-likers" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); max-width: 650px; "></div></div><div class="entry-debug" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "></div><div class="entry-annotations" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "></div><div class="entry-body" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; max-width: 650px; padding-top: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><div class="item-body" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">
Dudy Noble Field is getting old.</p>
This much is certain. Once the gold standard of college baseball facilities when the stadium was constructed in 1987, Dudy Noble Field has been passed by newer facilities. Sure, Dudy Noble still can pack them in. And few think the stadium is obsolete. But especially when compared to the bells and whistles of the new parks, some are wondering what could be done to improve Dudy Noble Field.</p>
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Can this be improved?</p></div>
John Cohen, Mississippi State’s coach, knows. Facilities were a large part of our look at college baseball in Mississippi that appeared in today’s
Clarion-Ledger. He praised it, especially since he came from a place like Kentucky that has essentially the worst facility in the league.</p>
But now that LSU and South Carolina have built new, multi-million dollar stadiums and Ole Miss has renovated its facility, Dudy Noble Field is sliding down any insider’s list of “best stadiums in the SEC.” That’s odd for a place that helped spark the building boom of college baseball starting in the late 1980s.</p>
“When our facility was built by the plans of
Larry Templetonand
Ron Polk, what did we have to compare it to? … They built the best thing out there at the time,” Cohen said. “The LSUs and South Carolinas have the real benefit of a 20-year span of watching, watching, watching, seeing what the best there was to offer, and then building something.”</p>
So what to do to Dudy Noble Field? It’s included in the master facilities plan that is currently being developed by an outside consulting firm, but even those recommendations are far from solid without a funding mechanism. Some fans would like to see permanent seats down the foul lines, not the metal bleachers that are currently there. Game workers would like to see a replacement of the press box, which is showing its age. And there’s plenty of room behind home plate where that press box sits to add more suites or club seating.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; width: 310px; ">
Meeting fans halfway?</p></div>
Cohen’s thoughts? Well, he doesn’t have any he wants to share at the moment.</p>
“In my mind, do I think about what I would like to improve about our facilities? Absolutely,” Cohen said. “I think about that a lot. But what I also know is, you’ve got to meet your fan base and your administration halfway. We haven’t done it yet. So as soon as we do it on the field, that’s going to be the natural progression of meeting your people halfway and saying ‘OK, we made a jump in our program’.”</p>
Under Cohen, State has made at least a few strides. Its locker room and player clubhouse has received a facelift, and the dugouts were expanded this past offseason. A new drainage system was added, too. That might come in handy this weekend, as Mississippi State hosts arch-rival Ole Miss in a weekend in which rain is forecasted.</p></div></div></div></div></span>
