RUSTON ? Louisiana Tech University will be receiving its own field of dreams this summer as the athletic department announced Friday that it will have newly-purchased fieldturf installed at Joe Aillet Stadium.

Tech Athletics Director Jim Oakes said the athletic department purchased the actual turf from a company called FieldTurf Tarkett, the leading company in the business which started in the sports surfacing industry in 1988 with the manufacturing of synthetic grass for tennis courts and has grown into developing synthetic turf surfaces for other sports, including soccer and football.

Track Masters, Inc. ? a sports construction specialty company out of Mansfield, Texas ? will handle the excavation work on Joe Aillet Stadium field starting Monday, preparing it for the installation.

Oakes said the entire project would cost approximately $700,000 and would be paid for with funds from an anonymous donation.

?This will provide significant benefits to our athletic program,? Oakes said. ?It will be beneficial for football, women?s soccer, the Tech band and even on occasions, our intramurals program. It will be a huge boost for our athletic department.?

Chuck Bailey, who is the director for sales for FieldTurf Tarkett and a former Louisiana Tech Bulldog baseball letter winner in the late 1970s, said the product ? which is called FieldTurf Mono ? is considered the top of the line and currently being installed at a number of Division I venues including Rice, Wake Forest and Purdue.

?FieldTurf Mono is made of an improved fiber that will give the (surface) a couple of more years of life cycle,? Bailey said. ?Aesthetically it is absolutely gorgeous.?

Bailey said that Kent State University was the first Division I program to play an entire season on FieldTurf Mono last year.

Brett Allen, the President of Track Master?s Inc., said that the actual excavation of the field would take anywhere from four to six weeks.

?Basically this will be done in two parts,? Allen said. ?We will do all the civil work; the sub-base construction which will take about four to six weeks depending on weather. We will excavate the existing field and scrape the dirt down to desired elevation. (Joe Aillet Stadium) field has a lot of crown and we?re removing a significant amount.

?We?ll shape, compact and test it; put in a non-permeable liner and install underground perforated drainage pipes and a gravel drainage base.?

Oakes said that the plans are to have the dirt that is being removed from the field dumped in the north endzone of Joe Aillet Stadium to build that area up approximately six to eight feet and level it off.

Following the excavation process, FieldTurf Tarkett will test the base and then begin to install the turf. Bailey said that the installation process would take about 30 days.

The Louisiana Tech Bulldog football team will have at least four home games on the new surface this season, including its regionally televised season opener Sept. 16 against Nicholls State.

Head coach Jack Bicknell said he couldn?t be more pleased with the newest upgrade to Joe Aillet Stadium.

?It?s going to be great to have a field that we can practice and play on in any type of weather,? Bicknell said. ?One of my main concerns since I?ve been here is that when we would get rain, the field would be almost unplayable. We definitely couldn?t practice on it. That?s a worry off your mind.

?Rain or shine we will have a place to go and practice. It?s a great comfort to know that the field will always be ready. I don?t even think we have begun to think of all the uses for it. If you don?t have an indoor facility, every school should have this type of playing surface. It?s the top of the line.?

Oakes said with the installment of the new surface, the Louisiana Tech Lady Techster soccer team will now be able to play all of their home games at Joe Aillet Stadium.

During its first two seasons of competition, the team had to play the majority of their contests on the rugby field across from the Lambright Intramural Center due to conflicts with home football games.

?It?s going to be great for our program because playing in the stadium is a lot better atmosphere for our fans and our team,? said Tech head soccer coach Jennifer Burns. ?This will allow us to play Friday night games under the lights, which our kids enjoy. We will have use of the sound system and music and that is all a part of the game atmosphere.

?It?s also going to be great for recruiting to tell potential recruits that this is our stadium as well and that they will get to play all of their games on this field.?

According to Oakes, the project is set to be complete by the end of August, and the first scheduled event for the new surface will be the Louisiana Tech soccer match against Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 1.

Joe Aillet Stadium, which was opened in 1968, has always had a natural grass surface. The Bulldogs have posted a 113-43-2 mark their in 37 seasons of competition in the stadium.