Making Our Move - Athletics Facilities Master Plan Focuses on Football

The future for historic Roy Stewart Stadium is the focus this week as the Murray State Athletics Facility Master Plan looks at the home of Racer Football. The recently completed facility master plan serves as a vision for enhancing player development, recruiting and the student-athlete experience throughout the entire MSU athletics facility portfolio.

One of the top stadiums in the nation for its size when it opened in 1973, Stewart Stadium has given the MSU football team a great place to play and the Murray State campus an impressive land mark for 48 seasons. The stadium bears the name of Coach Roy Stewart, one of the founders of the Ohio Valley Conference, who coached the Racers football team for 12 seasons between 1932-45 and served the university as director of athletics for 24 years between 1940-66.

Part of the plan for MSU football comes with the construction of an athletic performance center. Every team locker room, coaches' office and all staff currently working from Stewart Stadium would move into this beautiful new building, including Racer Football. The athletics performance center will have new athletic training space, weight room and team locker room. The athletic performance center will become the heartbeat of the athletics' department.

Stewart Stadium will still be the place where the Racers play their games, however, its more than 87,000 square feet of space will be transitioned into innovative indoor training spaces. A second option is to build a stand-alone indoor training facility east of Stewart Stadium. Another plus to the renovation of Stewart Stadium, is a premium club space that will be built into the middle of the grandstand. The new space will be a great area for Murray State coaches to visit with recruits and their families and it will host special events and meetings.

"We want to raise up the whole person in the student-athletes in our care and part of that is having the facilities that help make it happen," MSU Coach Dean Hood said. "The places we play, practice and meet all go hand in hand to developing young men that have maximized their abilities as players and persons. Having the kind of facilities where you know you can go and train every day is big. Having an indoor option in the future will be big for Racer Football."

"From a player development point of view, it's not just about what you do with the team, it's also about you putting in the individual work to get better," said MSU receiver Malik Honeycutt. "You can take a lot of reps in team practices, but you've got to work on yourself on your own time. Having a place indoors will FMP - Roy Stewart

help future Racers be the best they can be."

"It's amazing how weather has an impact on outdoor practices and workouts, because we miss a lot more days because of bad weather than one might think," Hood added. "Right now, we have no place to go and it will be big for us to have an indoor option."

Quincy Williams who played linebacker for the Racers from 2015-18, made history when he became the highest NFL draft selection in school history when the Jaguars picked him in the third round of the 2019 draft. Williams has seen the plans for enhancing the football facilities at Murray State and is excited about it.

"I've been thinking about these plans for football and putting myself back to the time when I was being recruited," said Williams, who is currently playing for the New York Jets. "If I was a recruit and these improvements have been made at Murray, it would make a huge difference in being able to make the best decision on where I want to play. All of us former players want the best for Racer Football and this plan makes me excited about the future of the program."

About The MSU Athletics Facility Master Plan
Shared to Racer Nation in August of 2021, the facility master plan provides clarity and sets the Racers up for a great future. The 14-month evaluation process was meticulous and thorough and it provides a vision for a pathway to accomplish the largest advancement of athletics facilities in the history of Murray State University. An in-depth study of each athletic facility was done in consultation with university leadership, architects, engineers and construction professionals to determine the current viability, create a needs assessment and outline scope of work for each venue. The plan is part of the larger capital campaign for Murray State University. The athletics venues that will be touched include the CFSB Center, Roy Stewart Stadium, Bennie Purcell Courts, Pat Spurgin Range, Cutchin Field, Johnny Reagan Field, Marshall Gage Track, Miller Memorial Golf Course, Racer Arena and Racer Field. A new Athletics Performance Center is included in the plan. Those interested in learning more about or how you can support these facility projects can contact Director of Development-Athletics, Taylor Mudd at (270) 809-3517 or tmudd3@murraystate.edu for further information.

Murray State University Athletics

Making Our Move - Athletics Facilities Master Plan Focuses on Football

Players Mentioned

Malik Honeycutt

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