By Stephen Sherwood, Staff Writer

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor introduced a new, higher quality turf to the Fredenburg Field at Crusader Stadium for the Fall 2026 football season. 

The Fredenburg Field at Crusader Stadium, following its grand opening in 2013, has seen more wins than loses, dozens of playoff matches and a few championships along the way. Throughout all that time the field has taken a beating and received a much needed makeover during the summer break. 

Justin Miller, director of facility operations, said the most crucial of the repairs was replacing the retaining wall. Then there was pitting where the kickers would line up for PAT attempts, sun damage and some of the fibers migrated past tolerance, coming loose. 

The new field is FieldTurf, a turf field system that is designed with the athletes in mind. Everything from the grip of the turf to allow for better traction to the heat reduction to keep the turf cool for the safety of the players. To achieve this the FieldTurf for Fredenburg Field has a three-layer infill system consisting of sand, the backing and Cool Play Infill. The sand is the first layer of the field stabilizing the synthetic turf grass fibers by adding weight and providing cushioning to the running surface benefiting movement and body health. Nicholas Williams, a member of the UMHB Spirit Band said “Honestly the field feels softer, but outside of that it’s the same to me” when asked about the cushioning of the field. 

The backing holds the sand in, supports the stability of the grass fibers and helps to reduce the heat retention of the field, which is especially in Texas where the heat can oftentimes be dangerous without mitigation. The temperature reduction takes the field from ~140 F down to ~115 F. The Cool Play Infill contains pellets that are smaller, green and made of extruded composite, which differs from the traditional black rubber pellets that the previous field used. The new pellets absorb moisture from water and hold onto that moisture until the sun causes it to evaporate, pulling away heat from the field. This process is akin to how sweat cools the human body. For Williams, a persistent issue the old field had were the rubber pellets “… by the end of rehearsal I would have a lot of [rubber] pellets in my shoes,” Williams said “But this year I haven’t had that many at the end of rehearsal”.

For more information on Fredenburg Field or the Crusader Stadium, visit umhb.edu/stadium/home.

Photo by Marley Anthony, Assistant Editor