2025 RISING STAR AWARDS MARCUS ELSWICK
Marcus Elswick
HEAD SPORTS TURF MANAGER, UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY ATHLETICS been the head sports turf manager at University of Kentucky Athletics since.
“ I was a huge UK fan growing up, so coming here and making it my own has been really fun,” said Elswick.“ I love being able to work with my hands and being outside every day. There’ s always something new and challenging.”
Elswick added that he enjoys being part of the UK team, and being in the transition zone.
“ Our softball field is 365ss bluegrass with a little bit of artificial turf around the outside,” he said.“ Game soccer is Ironcutter bermudagrass and practice soccer is NorthBridge bermudagrass. Baseball is synthetic turf with dirt mounds. Practice football has 4 acres that are Latitude 36 and NorthBridge, and we have an indoor facility that’ s synthetic turf. Our stadium field is synthetic turf, and our track and field complex is Ironcutter.”
According to Elswick, a typical day begins with a 7:30 a. m. meeting with his crew,
Maintaining sports fields at the University of Kentucky( UK) started early for Rising Star Award Winner Marcus Elswick— very early. When Elswick was only 11, his older brother was already working as a sports turf student for Donnie Mefford at the University of Kentucky. Elswick, who grew up an hour from UK, would visit his brother on weekends, and would hang out with his brother and help with the soccer and softball fields.
After high school, Elswick was hired by Marcus Dean, CSFM, to work as a sports turf student at UK— a role which he held for three years.
“ I put in a lot of hours, and a lot of hard work with Marcus, and then he offered me a full-time job,” said Elswick.“ I worked with Marcus fulltime for three years, moved around a little bit, helped at soccer and softball, went to baseball, then back to soccer and softball.”
During that time, Dean left to pursue a sales position and was replaced by Sam Cahill, who left three years later to take a job as a golf course superintendent. Elswick applied for the open position, and has
sportsfieldmanagementonline. com October 2025 | SportsField Management
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