STARKVILLE — Dudy Noble Field isn’t much of a field at the moment. Where grass used to be lies a large field of dirt with construction equipment on it, all lying in front of the almost completely destructed bleachers that surrounded the field.
The work happening now is purposefully planned given the field’s rare use in between season’s end and the ensuing fall practice schedule. The only thing left without a home is the youth camps.
Mississippi State’s youth camp has continued on this week at the Starkville Sportsplex. All parties involved are pleased with the turnout for a camp that came together under a drastically condensed schedule.
Mike Brown, MSU assistant coach and coordinator of camps, said the program was unsure if it was going to hold the camp as recently as May and early June. That’s when the news they were anticipating — Dudy Noble being of no use around this time of year — became official.
Brown’s myriad of calls searching for a potential host brought him to William Pochop of the Starkville Parks and Recreation Department.
“They asked if we had any dates available, we put aside a couple of options and they nailed it down,” Pochop said.
Brown added, “They were very welcoming. We jumped on it as quick as we could.”
The facility granted to MSU for the week, as Pochop sees it, gives MSU certain advantages Dudy Noble Field never could, space being the biggest one. For the camp this week, MSU has a total of eight fields at its disposal as opposed to Dudy Noble and the Palmeiro Center in its usual camp setup.
“Obviously our home field is the best place to hold camps because we have the indoor and the tradition and everybody coming to campus,” Brown said, “but once we discovered this location everything else wasn’t that challenging.”
The space has its obvious benefits, but Brown has wasted no time in spreading the word: the change of location is a one-year thing. Construction is not expected to be completed until opening day of the 2019 season, meaning construction could continue after the 2018 season and potentially into the camp schedule, but Brown is confident the camp will still be held there.
He thinks the benefits are too much to ignore.
“That’s a challenging request to ask of our supporters and followers just because, frankly, half the experience of coming to our camps has been the Dude, the Palmeiro, the locker room tour, the small scale feeling of being a Mississippi State player,” Brown said.
“Kids are out and improving, which is really all that matters.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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