One of the biggest controversies in the industry is grass mowing height. “Most pro fields are mowed to 11/4 inches,” says McNitt, “but we’d like them to be lower. New England’s down to an inch. There’s an adage that says ‘mow higher, get deeper roots.’ But in football, we don’t need deeper roots. We’ve got an irrigation system.”

Instead, according to McNitt, mowing grass lower produces what’s called a higher “tiller density.” This means that even though the total root mass decreases, the root mass in the top inch of soil increases—and there are more grass plants per square inch. In professional stadiums, where the field beds are 90 percent sand for drainage, surface stability and divoting are important issues. McNitt contends that tightening up the turfgrass/soil interface by mowing lower could reduce divot injury to the turfgrass, and some of his current research is testing this theory.

Al Capatos and his crew prepare a Camden Yards field decoration commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“Another misperception about mowing is that it works immediately,” he says. “You sometimes hear coaches say ‘Go out and mow the field, it’s slowing up my kids,’ but that’s a fallacy. Mowing right before a game doesn’t affect the field’s traction right away. Instead, the grass adjusts over time, and eventually the tiller density will go up. If you maintain a lower cutting height, traction will improve, and you’ll have a faster track.”

McNitt knows students can learn the nuts and bolts of the turfgrass industry on the job, but he believes the science his students learn will help them think faster on their own. “We’re giving them a science degree,” he says, “not just a management degree. We mix in the practical stuff, but we mostly want to give students the problem-solving skills and the background to help them make independent decisions, evaluate new technologies as they come out, and see if they make sense for their turf programs.”

For example, what do you do if you’re managing a brand new field with a profile as high as Heinz Stadium, but have to cover the grass for a week, just four days before the season-opening game? Tim Keene faced this issue because of an N’Sync concert. “The area directly under the stage was covered for a week,” he says. “The ‘ego ramp’ onto the stage and the sound mixing tower areas were covered for four days, and the seating areas were covered for two days. These situations wreak havoc on the grass.”

However, stadium managers routinely handle these types of problems. “There’s a whole witches brew of stuff we put on the grass to try to shut it down,” McNitt says. “We mow it lower, put a growth regulator on it two weeks ahead of time, dry it down, add a surfactant spray to protect it from dew and disease, and add preventative fungicides. These techniques sound extreme, but they’re all in a day’s work for a manager at a multipurpose facility—like Hershey Stadium, for instance.”

Dan Douglas knows these issues well. He’s the field manager for the Reading Phillies and president of the Keystone Athletic Field Manager’s Organization, the largest chapter of the national Sports Turf Managers’ Organization. His grass is pummeled each season by 71 Eastern League home baseball games and about 20 other events, including boxing, concerts, all-star games, and sports camps.

“When a fan comes up the concourse ramp and looks onto the field and sees the green, manicured grass,” he reflects, “we know that’s the first impression we’re giving them—that’s the image they have about the field and the game. But Mother Nature always finds ways to throw wrenches into managing a field, and that’s when the Penn State training and connections come in handy. I’ve only been in the business 15 years, but guys like Andy McNitt and others at Penn State have decades of research experience and expertise upon which to draw. It’s invaluable.”

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For more information about Penn State’s Turfgrass Science programs, visit

http://www.agronomy.psu.edu/Academic/TurfgrassUG.html.

Andrew McNitt is assistant professor of turfgrass science in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Penn State.