Brevard To Play 2010 Football Season At Asheville High School

BREVARD, N.C. - The Brevard College Athletic Department and Athletic Director Kim Pate announced during a press conference today that the Tornados Football team will hold its 2010 home games at Asheville High School in Asheville, N.C.

The Tornados open their 2010 season on August 28 at home against Edward Waters College. After that, the Tornados play four home games against SAC opponents: October 2 vs. Carson-Newman; October 16 vs. Lenoir-Rhyne; October 23 vs. Wingate and November 6 vs. Newberry.

Brevard College President Dr. Drew Van Horn and South Atlantic Conference Commissioner Patrick Britz were also on hand for the announcement.

Kim Pate
Athletic Director
Brevard College

"I want to thank the media and community members in attendance for joining us today as we announce where we will play our 2010 home football schedule. Let me start by saying that we want to play in Brevard; Brevard is our hometown and we want nothing more than to play in front of our home crowd. Since the reinstatement of football in 2006, we have had tremendous community support and are very appreciative of how the community has got behind Tornado Football.

As a member of the NCAA and the South Atlantic Conference we value student-athlete welfare and are committed to providing a safe playing environment for our student-athletes to compete. Due to the unprecedented field failure experienced in the 2009 fall season at Brevard Memorial Stadium as a result of a high amount of rain fall, drainage problems, coinciding with a large volume of usage, we feel the venue is currently not a viable option for us. In consideration for the safety and welfare of our student-athletes including the youth in this community who rely on the venue for multiple sporting opportunities, we feel it is in the best interest for us to move our games temporarily until the field can be addressed. We have established a one year agreement with Asheville High School to play our fall schedule.

This was not an easy decision; and in the process we considered all options including the possibility of securing a backup location. Logistically this would not be conducive, most notably since our backup location requested 8 days prior notice, and the Board of Education indicated in the new contract that they would attempt to notify us of cancellation of our game within 4 days of a contest due to inclement weather. Based on these circumstances, the Brevard Memorial Stadium would not be a reliable venue option in that we would not be guaranteed a location to play and would run this risk of not being able to line up an alternate site.

These circumstances are out of everyone's control and we certainly don't fault anyone (the weather, the economic constraints, and the facility demand). I want to express our appreciation to the school board and high school for allowing us the opportunity to play at the Brevard Memorial Stadium for the past 4 years. It is our hope that our community and fans will continue to support Tornado Football and will travel over to Asheville to support us during this adjustment year.

This is a photo from the Brevard vs. Catawba football game in 2009 played at Brevard High School's Memorial Stadium.

On behalf of Coach Hamilton who could not attend he wanted me to share the following comments: "I greatly appreciate the support from everyone within the Transylvania County community and look forward to continually building the relationships that have been established with ours and your football program. Your help has been a big part of the strides that we have made over the last several years."

In closing, I want to express my appreciation to the conference office for their support in working through the circumstances surrounding our home venue and appreciate the South Atlantic Conference commissioner, Patrick Britz, for joining us today for this announcement. Before I turn it over to both he and President Van Horn, I want to once again thank the media and community members in attendance.

Patrick Britz
Commissioner
South Atlantic Conference

"The South Atlantic Conference support's Brevard College's decision to move its home football games for the 2010 season to an alternate location that has field turf. This was not an easy decision for neither President Van Horn, Director of Athletics, Kim Pate nor Head Football Coach, Paul Hamilton. However, Brevard College and the SAC experienced unique situations last season with two home football games - one required moving the game on very short notice to an alternate location due to wet playing conditions and the other required playing the game on an extremely muddy and unsafe field - and it was important to make every effort to avoid similar situations for future contests.

One of the priorities of the Conference's strategic plan is to protect the health of and provide a safe environment for all SAC student-athletes. It would have been very easy for Brevard College to sit back and say we hope what happened in 2009 does not happen again. By ensuring that the unfortunate situations that occurred in last season do not occur again in 2010, Brevard College has embraced the priority of protecting the health and safety of the student-athletes and the SAC applauds them for it.

The SAC anticipates this is a short-term resolution and Brevard College football will be back competing in the wonderful community of Brevard in 2011 and future years. Further, we are hopeful that the terrific community and student support that has been present the past few seasons will continue with the short drive to Asheville for the five home games this season."

Dr. Drew Van Horn
President
Brevard College

"As mentioned by Ms. Pate and Commissioner Britz, this was a difficult decision for Brevard College. The ultimate safety and welfare of all student-athletes is a priority for our conference, the NCAA Division II and Brevard College. Brevard College sees this relocation as a one year solution and hopes to return to our great town next fall. We do ask our boosters, fans and community to understand the reasons for our decision and to support our student-athletes this fall.

While this is difficult for our College and our community, we do appreciate the hospitality offered to us by Asheville. We hope that the citizens of Asheville will come and experience the wonderful excitement that South Atlantic Conference football offers. There is a reason that student-athletes choose Division II athletics and we hope that the Asheville community will choose to come and experience the high quality athletic competition that our Conference and the NCAA Division II offers."