COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES simulating traffic and indoor stadium conditions for surfaces that will host 104 matches across 16 stadiums in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It’ s hard, daunting work.
“ But it’ s also about the most fun you can have while getting paid,” said Gibbons.
“ We’ re a hidden gem,” said Brandon Horvath, Ph. D., one of a core of four professors in the UT turfgrass program. Horvath recently took the reins as the undergraduate coordinator from Distinguished Professor of Turfgrass Science and Management John Sorochan, Ph. D., who is leading the research project for FIFA.“ A few years ago, we worked with an advertising agency and the first thing they told us was,‘ Nobody knows about you.’”
But they should. Besides the university’ s collaboration with FIFA to develop the field surfaces for the Club World Cup last summer and FIFA World Cup 26, UT’ s teaching, research and Extension faculty— which includes Horvath, Sorochan, Jim Brosnan, Ph. D., and Becky Bowling, Ph. D.— has placed students at the Super Bowl and the Masters at Augusta National, among many other prestigious locations. A December 2025 alumnus from New Jersey, Andrew Evans, interned with the Philadelphia Eagles— his favorite pro football team— and worked at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
The result of these prestigious internships is evident in the program’ s 100-percent job placement rate. According to a network map that Bowling updates regularly, there are hundreds of UT turfgrass alumni presently working across 17 states in golf courses, parks and recreation departments, and for sports teams.
“ Very few people understand the level of science and depth of knowledge it takes to maintain a world-championship-level golf course or soccer pitch,” said Horvath.“ But at UT, that’ s what we’ ve always sought to teach our students.”
The expertise they gain during their undergraduate years opens a wealth of career opportunities. Take for example, Ivan Navarrette, who came to UT from nearby Loudon,
Tennessee, and earned his bachelor’ s and master’ s degrees in plant sciences. FIFA representatives were so impressed with Navarrette when he was a student working on the AgResearch Farm that they offered him a job as a stadium pitch operations supervisor in Mexico ahead of the FIFA World Cup 26 tournament. And there are numerous other areas in which graduates make an impact every day.
“ The turfgrass industry has five major sectors,” said Bowling.“ Golf, sports turf, seed and sod production, community turf, and lawn and landscape. Nationally, we’ re estimated to contribute approximately $ 60 billion to $ 100 billion to the economy. UT students and alumni play a role in every facet of that contribution.”
UT’ s alumni are also prominent in academia. Master’ s and Ph. D. graduates of UT at high-intensity research universities include Adam Thoms( MS‘ 08, Ph. D.‘ 15) at Iowa State, Jay McCurdy( MS‘ 08) at Mississippi State, and Matthew Elmore( MS‘ 11, Ph. D.‘ 14) at Rutgers.
Conlan Burbrink( BS‘ 20) earned a master’ s degree at Texas A & M before returning for his Ph. D. studies in 2022 under Sorochan, who was his undergraduate mentor. While at UT, the Cincinnati native has worked the Super Bowl, the Cricket World Cup, and interned with the Cincinnati Reds Urban Youth Academy, Orlando City Soccer Club, and Surrey County Cricket Club in England. From a research perspective, he’ s curious about two areas: growing grass indoors, particularly the effect of light and color, and how the field of turfgrass science can be advanced through data analytics.
“ Turfgrass isn’ t just growing grass— it’ s how the athlete interacts with it, how the environment interacts with it,” said Burbrink.“ I’ m using statistical techniques that aren’ t typically used in agronomics, like machine learning and AI, to answer more complex questions about turf performance.”
Burbrink was on the pitch in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup tournament, where the heat was so stifling that large air conditioning units sportsfieldmanagementonline. com March 2026 | SportsField Management
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