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Robert Johnson Eager To Share What He's Experienced First-Hand At New Hayward Field

Published by
DyeStat.com   May 15th 2020, 2:09am
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As Pac-12 Conference Weekend Looms Without Meet, Oregon Coach Offers Insight Into What Makes New Facility 'A Spectacle'

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Heading into a weekend that orginally held the Pac-12 Conference Championships and a supposed grand opening of the new Hayward Field track on the campus of the University of Oregon, head track coach Robert Johnson said he chooses to treat each new day "upbeat and positive."

Johnson, Oregon's eighth-year head coach, spoke Thursday evening live on an Oregon-produced "Happy Hour With The Ducks" stream with questions coming from athletic department digital editor Rob Moseley

With the unversity closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Oregon's shiny new track stadium is nearly complete and would have been ready to host the conference championships. 

Johnson is one of the few people outside of the construction crews to walk through the facility and get a sense of how it feels. 

"It's a spectacle to be seen and it's been absolutely awesome to be part of this (building) process for three-plus years," Johnson said. "The level of detail that the guys who are doing this project is uncanny. I could sit here and talk for days on end about the intimacy and level of details that they're going through to make this facility the best in the world."

Johnson has been included in meetings throughout the process and given suggestions on details that could benefit the track and field program. 

For instance, during a planning meeting to decide how to finish the covered concourse, Johnson suggested that some of it be covered with track surface so that athletes would have a place to work out on rainy days. 

"They valued my input and it impressed me to be included," Johnson said. 

The stadium was slated to open this weekend and also be used for the Oregon high school track and field championships, the Prefontaine Classic and the U.S. Olympic Trials. 

But for now, everything is in a holding pattern. Additional detailing is going in simply because there is time to do it. 

"The thing in this whole process that's been first and foremost is that it's a theater for track and field," Johnson said. "The intimacy of the old Hayward Field, we wanted to capture that and not let it get lost in the new facility. 

"One design element, the lower bowl seating, in that front row, it's like being at an NBA game. Your feet are on the court. If you are sitting there, your feet are on the track. The ninth lane is eight feet away."

Johnson is looking forward to the day when he can open the new track to the team, first, and then to the media and public. 

There is still no timeline for that to happen.

"We want to have one reveal and not have it done in pieces," he said. "We are waiting for one moment to unveil it to our athletes."

Johnson said the waiting is like being a child at Christmas, patiently and expectantly awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus "to come and eat the milk and cookies that you set out for him. That's the type of feeling."



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