Since 1966, Tucker Stadium has stood tall on the Tennessee Tech campus in Cookeville as countless student-athletes have taken to the Overall Field turf. Over the years, the facility has hosted championships and special events, and has been the home field of the school's treasured Golden Eagles football team.
In mid-July, University President Phil Oldham took the stage at the Tennessee Tech Football Alumni Reunion and Golf Classic to officially confirm that after years of planning and fundraising, the time had finally arrived to give the aging facility a facelift.
"We're building a new football stadium," he announced to the excited gathering of Tennessee Tech alumni at the Leslie Town Centre. "It's time to do something different with it. We're going to rebuild the west side of Tucker Stadium. I'll put it in football lingo — we're 1st-and-goal on the 10-yard line and we just have to get it across the goal line."
Following the stated plan to begin demolition on the west end of the old stadium in December, the process will then begin to give the facility a well-deserved facelift and provide Tennessee Tech's supporters with new amenities to enhance the game day experience.
"Pardon the pun, but it's a game-changer," Oldham noted. "Fans are so vital to driving the success of an athletics program, especially football, and fans today have pretty high expectations for that fan experience at a game. They want nicer amenities, VIP-type seating, more options for concessions, and that's what we intend to do."
Among the details he revealed to the crowd were that the project's design is currently in its final stages and the construction process will take approximately 18 to 20 months to complete.
However, updating and enhancing Tucker Stadium is just part of the equation, according to the university's sports information office. It will play a big part in driving fans to Cookeville and Tennessee Tech for events, but it also will stretch beyond the campus' reach.
"[The improved stadium will have] a great impact on the university as a whole as it creates more enthusiasm, excitement, and school spirit," Oldham explained. "It also impacts the community with a tremendous economic impact on the broader community of Cookeville and the Upper Cumberland."
Although the cost of the upgrades has not been released, he said the investment into Tucker Stadium is an important one and another piece to the ever-growing, ever-changing landscape of Tennessee Tech as new buildings continue to rise on campus and drive the campus forward.
"As a university, if you're not growing or getting better, you're dying," added Oldham. "There's really not an alternative here. You have to keep pushing forward. Yes, these things are challenging, but you meet them and get the people around you to support you and make it happen."
Latest Effort the First Major Stadium Work in Over 50 Years
While it is not the first improvement to Tucker Stadium, it is the first major construction project to the facility since the early 1970s.
Artificial turf was added in 1970, with replacements coming in 1980, 1994, 2007 and 2021, and a seating expansion took place in 1971 — one year before the Golden Eagles stood as one of the top NCAA College Division teams in the country as the 1972 squad reached the Grantland Rice Bowl.
New field lights were added in 2008 to bring the facility up to television broadcast standards, followed by an update to the press box in 2009, and a 100-ft.-wide by 50-ft.-high Daktronics videoboard — one of the largest in the Football Championship Subdivision — added behind the South end zone in 2018.
Of course, a renewed Tucker Stadium is not the only athletics project in progress. Fundraising also continues for Tennessee Tech's Football Operations Center, planned to be constructed behind Tech Softball Field next to the school's Athletic Performance Center.
The university's alumni and the Cookeville community — through donations and support — have helped transform these developments from lines on a blueprint into reality.
"It's really exciting to see everyone come together," said Oldham. "That's probably the greatest success of all. It usually starts off kind of slow and sluggish, and there's always some critics and naysayers that say, 'I don't think you can do it.' It almost invariably picks up momentum and everyone gets excited about it. I think we're at that point right now."
For the nearly 60-year-old venue, the project represents a whole new lease on life — an opportunity to keep standing and create more legends, while offering something new for the program and its followers.
"Sixty years at Tucker Stadium is a lot of history and a lot of you helped build that legacy, that history," Oldham told the football alumni.
Specifically, Oldham spoke of the family of the late Ottis Phillips, a Tech football alum and community leader that helped spearhead the effort.
"Ottis and his family mean a lot to [the athletics program] and the Tennessee Tech football family," Oldham noted. "Ottis stepped up early and was absolutely convinced we had everything in place, and we could do this. We met multiple times, and he was a great inspiration to me as I know he was to many of you. We owe it to him and everybody else to get these projects done and I appreciate all the help you have [given] to make this happen."
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