July 5, 2008
Jumbo scoreboard goes up
Pre-Recorded Video Now, Replays Later
WILLIAMSBURG--In 2004 William & Mary's football program gained national attention by playing James Madison University in the NCAA Division I-AA semifinals.
That game, played on ESPN2 under temporary lights (it was the first night game at W&M in 70 years) triggered a domino effect of upgrades, the latest of which arrives Saturday: a new scoreboard with the square footage of a modest 3-bedroom, 2-bath rancher.
The Daktronics scoreboard will replace the current board that has been in place since the 1960s. The 1,500-square-foot scoreboard will include a 400-square foot video display on the left side, which has the capability for eventually showing video highlights during the game.
The scoreboard cost $850,000 and was funded through private donations and was part of a gift from W&M's Class of 1957. Robb Dunn, associate athletic director for internal affairs, said the scoreboard is due to arrive Saturday and "will be raised and installed upon arrival."
The Tribe opens up its 2007 season on Aug. 30 at home against Delaware. W&M athletic director Terry Driscoll is excited about the new addition.
"The board had been there for almost 30 years. We were getting to the point where its functionality was called into question with the game clock and things like that," he said in an interview Thursday. "It was on the list of high priority because of things we need to replace rather than things we had to replace."
"Once we began to look into it, we realized that this board is in worse condition than we thought," he continued. "Then it heightened our desire to get it done. and with their help and with some other private funding we were able to replace it. We were working with Daktronics, they do most of our boards here, to excellorate it. While the new scoreboard will have video replay capabilities, Driscoll warned that it will not happen this year."Because the board is literally going up now, and because their's a learning curve with training and such, we elected to stay with a more static approach this year and try to work towards a video piece in the future," he said.
Driscoll said he hopes to expand the use in several ways. One is showing some prerecorded video and the other one would involve showing some basic video. When you go full out replay, then you have to go through a whole production thing. We'll have to go through each level and see what we can do from a staffing standpoint and then an expense standpoint."
The arrival of the new scoreboard marks the latest step in a $13,5 million renovation project for the Tribe football program. In 2005, permanent lights were installed at Zable Stadium to accommodate night games and practices during the fall.
Last fall, Cary Field was re-surfaced with FieldPro Turf, ann artificial grass that will allow W&M to practice and host games on a level playing field.
Copyright © 2008, The Virginia Gazette
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