Let there be light! NSU upgrades lights, scoreboard

The new Col. Tillou mascot won’t be the only new addition to Nicholls football games this season.

New stadium lights and a new video scoreboard with instant replay capabilities have also given John L. Guidry Stadium a facelift for the upcoming football season.

For Nicholls’ Athletics Director Rob Bernardi, the projects bring relief.

It’s been 11 months since hurricanes Gustav and Ike caused damage to the lights and scoreboard, making the wait that much longer. Finally, he said, they can focus on making non-storm related upgrades.

As a result of the storms, the light poles that had been in place since 1972 had to be taken down because of structural damage that caused them to sway in the wind.

“It was all insurance money which is why it has taken so long,” the athletic director said. “The hurricanes hit in September and here we are in August finally getting it done. We had to go through the whole bidding process when it comes to things like that. We’re just glad to have it done.”

Two weeks ago, Sun Electrical and Equipment employees used cranes and other lift machinery to hover the four new lights over the stadium. Once they were in place and buried into the ground, a cement slab was poured to help hold everything in place.

For the first time in almost two years, lights came on at Guidry Stadium, marking the completion of the project.

Even with the lights fully functioning, a Colonels’ football night game will not be played on Manning Field until next football season.

According to Bernardi, there was a lot of uncertainty about whether the lights would be completed by the time football started, so all of the Colonels’ five home games were scheduled during the day hours as a precautionary measure.

“We did have to notify our opponents in April or May about game times, so we are going to keep all the games where they are,” he said. “Next year we’ll consider bringing night games back to the stadium.”

Games against Duquesne (Sept. 12), Texas State (Oct. 17), McNeese State (Oct. 31) and Northwestern State (Nov. 14) have a start time of 1 p.m.

The latest home game for the team this season is a 3 p.m. start time against Ryan Perrilloux’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks on Sept. 26.

However, high school games will play night games at the stadium this season.

“I said when we got the turf that we want to make this a hub for high school competitions in the area,” Bernardi explained. “With the lights we can continue towards that.”

Work on the new video scoreboard began July 31 by Houma-based Commercial Signs.

Bernardi said the new scoreboard gives the stadium a more modern feel, which makes for a better game atmosphere and is more appealing to potential recruits.

The new scoreboard is expected to be completed this week. Its first use will be the Sept. 12 home opener against the Dukes.

“It’s a more modernized piece of equipment,” Bernardi said. “From what I understand it’ll have a TV screen on it with instant replay capabilities. It’s something else that will make the football games more enjoyable for the fans.”

Now that these projects are complete, Bernardi said the renovations wouldn’t stop. Plans are underway to continue renovations to the basketball gymnasium, baseball field, softball field and even a few renovations to the football field.

According to Bernardi, they want to put some covering over the stands and put in a new press box and concession area at the baseball field. Plans are also in place to do something similar in terms of seating for softball as well as put in some new restrooms.

As for football, he said he is looking to knock down the chain link fence around the football field and put a better-looking fence to spruce it up.

“We’re also looking to put a new scoreboard in the basketball arena,” he said. “I think once we do that inside the arena area, we’ve probably done as much as we can to that 40-year-old structure. It’s really nice to see how that has changed over the last few years.”

“Despite the economic situation, we continue to make upgrades to our facilities and I think that is important,” he added. “For so long, nothing was done in terms of upgrades to facilities. To avoid being so far behind that we can’t catch up, we’ve continued making progress.”

The upgrades are just a small part of keeping athletics on pace with the rest of the conference, although he admitted they are not in competition.

“Look online at what Texas State has done. They put a $16 million renovation into the football stadium. We are not going to be able to do that,” he said. “In addition to that, they built a brand new softball and baseball stadium. Then again, they are getting 300 or 400 dollars per student in student fees going directly to athletics. We do want to make out the best we can. At the end of the day when the ball is snapped and tipped it’s who’s got the better team. I think that’s the criteria.”

A worker from Commercial Signs in Houma installs a new video scoreboard at John L. Guidry Stadium. Damage sufferred from hurricanes Gustav and Ike forced Nicholls to replace its stadium lights and scoreboard. Other upgrades throughout the athletic department will soon follow. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER