The Field Master
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Amy J. Fouty CSFM has been in the turf industry for 12 years. She began her turf career in Wisconsin in Golf Turf Management. Following graduation from Michigan State University’s turfgrass management program in 1996 she became an assistant golf course superintendent and was then promoted to golf course superintendent in 1997. |
School Construction News: Would you tell us a little about yourself?
Amy J. Fouty: I grew up in Wisconsin and began working at golf courses when I was 17. I started with landscaping and then moved out onto the golf course. I became the second assistant at a Wisconsin country club, which was great experience. I then headed off to Michigan State for a Turf Management degree. After I graduated in 1996, I became an assistant golf course superintendent in Michigan and was promoted to superintendent. After a couple years, a position opened up at the University of Michigan to manage the daily operations, an agronomist position, and I was there for five seasons. Following the 2003 season, I accepted the position of sports turf manager at Michigan State University. I’m currently the only Certified Sports Field Manager in the state of Michigan.
SCN: What is the scope of your responsibilities as sports turf manager at MSU?
AF: I take care of all the agronomics for the football fields, the stadium fields and the practice fields. I manage our indoor field, which is an infill system, one of the new synthetic fields.
I deal with the media and coordinate with coaches and staff. One of the neat things that this job opened up that doesn’t occur in a lot of places, is that I have graduate assistants. I have a student who is doing an assistantship with me that is funded through the athletic department. He’s doing his graduate studies. I’ll speak on occasion to the undergraduates as well as work with the graduates in any of the athletic field related research that is going on here at MSU. I like working with the students. They get excited working on projects at the stadium.
SCN: How many different fields do you manage and what kinds of surfaces are employed on the different types of fields?
AF: We have a modular system in the stadium. The practice fields are just native soils top dressed over the last several years trying to turn it into more of a sand-based system rather than the native soil. It drains better that way. The indoor field is an all rubber in-fill system and we manage that as well. That facility is used not only by football but also a great many other sports.
SCN: How do your fields compare to other Big Ten schools in size and usage? What are the differences and similarities?
AF: We all communicate about that. We all have similar usages. Most of the universities have two or three natural outdoor fields. It’s all pretty comparable.
SCN: Do you select the type of turf/field and fertilizers or do the coaches tell you what they require?
AF: When it came to the artificial surface I believe that they welcomed the input from the coaching staff because they traveled around and played on the various surfaces. When they travel I ask for their input. I’ll ask what they liked about a field in Iowa or Michigan. They don’t tell me what type of grass to grow.
SCN: How does the weather affect the turfs that you select?
AF: That is a huge factor. Blue Grass is different than managing Bermuda, like they do in the South, although the schools there would probably argue with that. It’s a little more sensitive to heat and weather and soil temperature. The weather plays a big role in how you manage turf. For games we try to keep things dry so we employ tarping and manage it as needed. We see what Mother Nature gives us and we work around it.
SCN: Are you responsible for the turf maintenance and operations?
AF: Yes, and I also do projects for any turf-related issues in the department. I’ll be involved in them even if I don’t manage that area. For instance, we just redid the softball fields so I was brought in to coordinate and manage the project and then turned it over to the gentleman who manages the soccer, softball and baseball fields.
SCN: What manufacturers do you work with for maintenance of the different turfs?
AF: We have a marketing deal with Toro. They supply, on a yearly basis, the majority of equipment that we use. They also provide equipment to the research center here and have had a long-standing relationship at the national and local level here at MSU. We do a lot of stuff with them and try to assist them when they have equipment that they want to demo. We can make suggestions on the equipment. It’s a great partnership.
We have a couple of local distributors who we deal with for fertilizers, chemicals and seed.
SCN: What is the biggest challenge you face with all the different fields that you are responsible for?
AF: There are two ways of looking at this. The sports turf manager’s job has really evolved in the past five or ten years. The agronomics of what we do is important. Playability and consistency of the surface is key, behind safety. The athletes have to be confident in the surface. Also, at a university like this, you have athletic department administration, turf department, our coaching staff, and the grounds staff. Communication, understanding and working together is probably the most important part of my day, aside from the agronomics aspect. It can be complex at times, but we have a wonderful relationship with all the departments here. Everyone takes ownership of the fields here. I want everybody to feel like they’re part of our success. That can occasionally get tricky.
SCN: What are the sizes of your arenas? Stadiums?
AF: Our football field holds about 75,000 people. We are currently doing a stadium expansion. We’re putting in suites, a club level and a new press level. That should increase the capacity by about 3,000.
SCN: Have you noticed any trends in the construction/maintenance of athletic facilities?
AF: It’s definitely evolving. I think that originally, 10 years ago or so, we were modeling a lot of our field construction and such after the USGA specs for greens. We are now starting to understand root zone mixes that provide a lot of stability for football and soccer, rather than just drainage. I think we are finding our own specs and not having to use golf course specifications as much anymore. We were finding that those specifications weren’t working real well for athletic fields. They were a bit too unstable. We went through trends where we used all sand mixes and such and they weren’t stable enough to withstand the pounding of football. Michigan State has done a lot of research in that area. They’ve put in a good ten years worth of research on our field, on the grasses and soil mixtures. We’ve evolved as well in picking out better varieties of grass.
It seems like fields these days have a life of their own. You have to put a lot of time and effort into them. The days of the mud bowls just aren’t acceptable anymore. Of course, the new infill fields are hot right now. A lot of college coaches want the latest and greatest thing that’s out there. Time will tell if they are successful and safe. The education of the people managing the fields has also increased.
SCN: As the only certified sports field manager in the state of Michigan, what does that entail?
AF: It’s a combination of Education, training, and experience. It’s a point scale. Basically, for me, it was having a turf degree and five years experience managing athletic fields and you go through a board process where your education and resume are reviewed. There is a four-and-a-half-hour test. It’s no walk in the park and it’s something I’m proud of. There are only about 50 in the country.
SCN: Tell us about the Sports Turf Managers Association.
AF: Locally and nationally they represent turf managers. It’s an organization that brings us together to share ideas and learn from each other. We strengthen the industry by communicating. It is a wonderful group and it’s all based around education. There is a lot of misunderstanding about managing athletic fields. People, a lot of times, don’t see it as an important, educated position. They still see us as kind of outdoor janitors or gardeners. It’s got its own niche. Not everyone can do it.
I tell people that it isn’t their home yard. I get that a lot, people saying, "Well, in my yard, blah blah blah," and it is a lot different. You only see what we do six or seven games a year, but we start preparing in the spring and it goes through until the end of the season. It’s more than what we do the week before the game. The Sports Turf Managers Association brings people together to discuss these issues. All of us in the Big Ten try to band together and support each other. We have meetings once or twice a year and talk about what our coaches have brought to use. There is no competition. We work closely and in a cooperative way. We go over any big strides anyone has made in the Midwest. Our goal is to provide the best playing surface every Saturday.
SCN: Does MSU maintain its own golf course?
AF: Yes we do, we have two golf courses here at the campus. I’m not responsible for those.
SCN: Do you have any final comments?
AF: I am really happy that I’ve had the opportunity to share my experiences with School Construction News. The way things are set up here is unique. We have wonderful partnerships with all the departments of the university from the administration to the student body to the academic side of the university. I think it’s a model that other universities and facilities can use to employ all their resources to have the best turf possible. I’ve found that sports turf people are wonderful people to work with and to be around. Everybody here takes pride in these fields. We’re an agricultural land grant university and we have every kind of farming here and they take a lot of pride in this field. I love what I do. Some days it’s too good to be true. What I do here is like a hobby and a profession all rolled up into one. It’s almost a sin to get paid for doing something I enjoy so much.