SportsField Management ( SFM ): Congratulations on the Field of the Year win . What are you most proud of with this win ? Kevin McCaffrey : It is a huge honor to receive this award . There are so many beautiful facilities out there , and for ours to be chosen really means a lot . I am so happy for our turf class , as they help maintain the field . It is such a huge honor , and we were humbled with the announcement .
SFM : Please tell us a bit about your background and your experience in sports field management . McCaffrey : As a high school coach , learning how to take care of a field has been through hands-on experience . I don ’ t have any formal education in turf management . I have learned from other coaches , attended field days , developed relationships with turf professionals , and learned through things seen on social media . Coaching at a public school , we are always handcuffed by a lack of supplies and funding . You learn how to use what you have and make the best of it .
I truly believe that our athletes deserve to play on the best fields possible . When I took the head coaching job at Corona Del Mar High School in 2018 , I hit the ground running in an attempt to make Sea King Field one of the best facilities in Orange County .
Before I took over , the program paid a company approximately $ 50,000 per year to take care of the varsity field . As a result , the program didn ’ t have any tools or machines . I presented the idea of taking care of the field in an attempt to save our program money . Our booster club agreed that paying an outside company to take care of our field was not the best use of our funds . Over the next two years , we were able to purchase the basic equipment needed to take care of the facility . I did all of the mowing and major jobs , and trained our players how to do the basic field jobs . We now have a pretty good fleet of mowers , tools and carts to help take care of our fields .
I follow as many turf industry professionals as possible on social media . I follow several East Coast schools that have high school turf management programs , and I contacted a few of the teachers of those programs to ask how they got started . It was so refreshing how supportive and helpful everyone was .
After several great conversations , I developed a presentation to add a turf management class at Corona Del Mar High School . I wanted to show our administration how impactful a turf class could be to our school and
sportsfieldmanagementonline . com March 2025 | SportsField Management
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