PROFILE
“ The first three or four years back , my primary responsibilities were overseeing the baseball facilities ,” said McKenna . “ The first day on the job , we were at the stage of construction that I pulled into the parking lot and I could literally see through the stadium . We were standing in the parking lot and could see the field .
“ That presented all its own unique challenges ,” McKenna added . “ There were days when they were like , ‘ We have to park a crane on home plate .’ There was a construction fence wrapped from the foul pole around home plate back up to the other foul pole . That was how we played that entire fall , and the field got put back together in December and January . It was a good experience to go through to learn how to balance all those different dynamics .”
McKenna continued in his role overseeing the baseball facilities until Goertz ’ s untimely death – at the age of 55 – in December 2015 . As a result , the timeline of Potts moving into the head role and McKenna transitioning to the role of assistant athletic field maintenance manager started not because Goertz retired , but because he unexpectedly passed away .
“ Craig and I had to develop our own dynamic ,” said McKenna . “ It took us a year or two just to figure out how he and I would work together , and how those responsibilities would balance out . We ’ ve reached a really neat , fun dynam-
22 SportsField Management | February 2021 sportsfieldmanagementonline . com