New sports facilities are in the process for the Golden Lions! 

For those unfamiliar, a new Garrard County High School was built just south of town around ten years ago. Athletic teams have continued to use facilities at the old school (current middle school) since then. This project is a modified Phase II of the initial build and is expected to include football/soccer/track, baseball, and softball, along with a game gymnasium. I'm not sure of the timeline since money is always an issue (and there are financial obligations to each of the three elementary schools), but it does appear that the plan is at least moving forward.

If you are unfamiliar with the area, the school is located on Ky. Hwy. 39 south of Lancaster. The school sits just to right (and off screen) of the image posted above.

9 minutes ago, CentralSports said:

New sports facilities are in the process for the Golden Lions! 

A little info regarding the above picture:

• The football/soccer field and track appear to lay where the current student parking and band practice lot is located.
• The large parking lot center/right in the picture is where the current football practice field is located.
• The baseball and softball fields are on the school farm, a functioning entity located on campus (I believe it is the only on campus school farm in the state of Kentucky).

This is awesome!! So happy for Garrard County! 

43 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

A little info regarding the above picture:

• The football/soccer field and track appear to lay where the current student parking and band practice lot is located.
• The large parking lot center/right in the picture is where the current football practice field is located.
• The baseball and softball fields are on the school farm, a functioning entity located on campus (I believe it is the only on campus school farm in the state of Kentucky).

So they are getting a bigger gym at there new High School?

6 minutes ago, Statsdontlie said:

So they are getting a bigger gym at there new High School?

Yep, will be a stand alone, I think they mentioned they had 42,000,000 if they spent their entire budget, the plan is over 82,000,000 so it will be a while, it will happen in phases, board meeting next week will prioritize what starts first, that’s including all the school upgrades as well, so they may start there before starting the new sports facilities 

Approval was made tonight, Starting first with the athletics complex, Football, soccer, track first. Exciting times in Garrard County excited for them! 

3 hours ago, Seybold24 said:

Approval was made tonight, Starting first with the athletics complex, Football, soccer, track first. Exciting times in Garrard County excited for them! 

Definitely exciting, especially for soccer and track. A little part of me will miss the Friday nights downtown at Dyehouse Stadium. A truly great place to watch a football game.

11 hours ago, gchs_uk9 said:

A little part of me will miss the Friday nights downtown at Dyehouse Stadium. A truly great place to watch a football game.

Agree. Started my first game at QB there in 1982. Jeff Hester was a captain for the Golden Lions and I was a captain for Mercer. Coached my first freshman game there in 1986.  Technically it didn't happen because of a penalty, but Trosper threw his first varsity TD pass there as freshman in 2018. Special place for HS football in this area. 

 

Sidenote.... on that first freshman game, I was torn all to pieces. I took the team over on the bus. The varsity DC had to do varsity practice and then he was going to drive over to call the defense for the freshman team.  The DC for our freshman team in 1986 was Chuck Smith. You could say we had a pretty good DC. 

On 1/21/2022 at 4:02 PM, Seybold24 said:

Yep, will be a stand alone, I think they mentioned they had 42,000,000 if they spent their entire budget, the plan is over 82,000,000 so it will be a while, it will happen in phases, board meeting next week will prioritize what starts first, that’s including all the school upgrades as well, so they may start there before starting the new sports facilities 

Wow, this is great. I'm confused on how they will pay for all this though. That's a lot of money. 

7 minutes ago, Big Mck Bearcat said:

Wow, this is great. I'm confused on how they will pay for all this thought. That's a lot of money. 

I thought that same thing. Where is all that money coming from..

1 hour ago, EagleRare20 said:

I thought that same thing. Where is all that money coming from..

Some of it I think was Covid money, and I think they implemented a nickel tax, plus they will have bonding potential from paying the high school off, I believe if I understand this correctly. 

46 minutes ago, Seybold24 said:

Some of it I think was Covid money, and I think they implemented a nickel tax, plus they will have bonding potential from paying the high school off, I believe if I understand this correctly. 

Fairly certain none of those funds can be spent on athletics. Seems like I read where another district tried to use COVID money. Maybe it was Pulaski. 

9 minutes ago, Big Mck Bearcat said:

Fairly certain none of those funds can be spent on athletics. Seems like I read where another district tried to use COVID money. Maybe it was Pulaski. 

Hmmm I’m not sure then? Maybe a grant or funds they have saved? I’m not 100% sure how school systems do things, they may not be using Covid money for athletics per say, maybe using funds they have and then using Covid money to replace the pot and use for other things? Not sure. 

I truly doubt any public school district has $40 million-$80 million laying around . As stated by @Big Mck Bearcat, a nickel tax and bonding funds can't be used for athletics. Unless someone donates a mass fortune, no major updates will occur.