Louisiana Tech baseball, softball and soccer will be displaced for the coming season, after an EF-3 tornado tore through Ruston, La., back in April, claiming two lives and decimating the schoolβs sports facilities.
According to the News Star, Tech baseball stadium J.C. Love Field, the Lady Techster Softball complex and soccer stadiums were all left unusable. Athletic director Tommy McClelland said he thinks the school will collect between $17 and $22 million in insurance money, as well as FEMA disaster relief funds. Beyond that, the school will likely have to look to the state of Louisiana for assistance to completely rebuild the facilities.
Related: Storms Ravage Louisiana Tech Campus, Facilities
βNone of the sports are going to be in their home stadiums for this upcoming 2019-20 year,β McClelland said. βSoccer, working with Ruston High and (Ruston Parks and Recreation department) to host them in those locations. The new complex is going up south of town, weβre working with the mayorβs office to secure a championship site for them.β
Accommodating the Lady Techster soccer team has been the most pressing concern, as the team opens its season Aug. 23. Luckily, the team doesnβt play its first home game until Sept. 6.
While contingency plans are being worked out, administrators are trying to decide whether new facilities will be built in the same locations are moved to new sites.
βAll three of those sites are part of this evaluation. Itβs not only a sport decision, athletic department decision, but itβs a university decision on how we better the whole campus. I think thereβs a fresh look thatβs being taken at all three of those,β McClelland told the News Star. βIt may be that all three remain, it may all moved or combination of those things. At this point, more likely than not that soccer and softball will move. Thatβs not a fact, but itβs more likely that will occur. Current sites provide challenges when it comes to water, drainage. An area that we constantly fought irrigation and other challenge. Sewer pump station between two facilities. We have not have option, we may go back and itβll be better than what it was.
βMy optimism is this summer. Weβre all on the same page. We have a freshman class coming in, we want to clean things up. Itβs not everyone doesnβt have a sense of urgency. Every day itβs how do we get the ball moving on it? Itβs about $500,000 to do demo. I can come up with that money. We could start that tomorrow but we wouldnβt be reimbursed by the state for that. If we donβt follow the protocol of how they do it, we wonβt get reimbursed. Itβs too important for us to have that so we can build back the right way. Because itβs condemned, we canβt even go in and cut the grass. Itβs not a safe environment so it becomes an eye sore. Soon, in the matter of weeks, or just a few months, thatβs going to be a distant memory because itβll be gone. Although weβre still dealing with the residue of this, the vision in what weβre trying to accomplish is far exceed most peopleβs expectations.β