Between the Lines
Tom with the Heinz Field Crew
Thomas Goyne’s First Pro Season is a Trial by Fire
W
hen Heinz Field Sports Turf Manager Thomas Goyne started his new job with the Steelers organization last August, he was “thrown into the fire,” as he puts it. From covid mitigations to packed schedules, his new job brought one challenge after another. But his education and experience at Penn State prepared him well. “My goals are the same here as they were at Penn State,” he says, “to tackle problems and create solutions for providing a safe, playable, high-quality playing field. Same goals — but more pressure! The eyes on my work have almost doubled from the roughly 6 million who saw a Penn State game on TV or in person to the 11 million who see a Steelers game. I want to do right by the players and by the organization and make sure we look good.”
Challenges Tom with Paul Curtis
His first challenge came in the form of a change of venue for training camp. Traditionally held in Latrobe, it was decided to move it to Heinz Field because of covid concerns on the same day that Thomas Goyne was interviewing for the job. Grooming the field and getting it ready for the season had to work around training camp. Then from September to December, he notes, there were simply no weeks off to regroup. Two teams, the Steelers and the Pitt Panthers, share the facilities at Heinz Field, so at times the field is in use for back-to-back games, Pitt on Saturday and the Steelers on Sunday. Adding to the wear and tear of training and games by two teams is the occasional concert stage, he says. Even though a floor is put down to protect the turf from the heavy equipment needed to bring in a stage, the grass under the floor suffers from pressure and lack of light. When the Rolling Stones played at Heinz Field in October, the stage area itself required a quick resodding of 35,000 square feet before the Steelers game the following Sunday. Goyne heads a crew of four, two long-term groundskeepers and another associate hired at the same time he came on board. He takes his leadership role seriously and tries to keep the worst of the pressure away from his crew members, he says. It’s a young crew with an average age of 30 and the non-stop challenges had an upside in that it gave them a chance to bond quickly.
Tom painting for game day
Keystone Athletic Field Managers Organization 1451 Peter’s Mountain Road Dauphin, PA 17018-9504 www.KAFMO.org • Email: KAFMO@aol.com
12 Pennsylvania Turfgrass • Spring 2022
Contact: Linda Kulp, Executive Secretary Phone: 717-497-4154 kulp1451@gmail.com
Contact: Dan Douglas, President Phone: 610-375-8469 x 212 KAFMO@aol.com
