Opinion: MNU football fans deserve better

If I had a few million dollars, I’d happily fix the problem myself.

Even as a William Jewell College graduate — and a proud one at that — if I had the means, I would pay for construction of a new football stadium for the Pioneers.

Tragedy was averted Saturday during MNU’s stirring season-opening victory against Lindenwood University at Pioneer Stadium, which is on the south edge of campus near the Mur-Len Road/Sheridan Street intersection.

Angry that his team had just given up a touchdown, one of the Lions coaches took a swipe at the glass in the coaches box, which sits on top of the press box and overlooks the MNU fan section. To hear the coaches tell it, they were simply opening the window. Whatever.

It’s irrelevant really.

What matters is that the glass shattered and rained down on unsuspecting fans below. Fortunately, the light rain falling at the time had caused those fans to break out umbrellas, which prevented any serious injuries.

Such an incident, of course, could happen anywhere there’s glass. Carl Peterson famously shattered a window at Arrowhead Stadium during a playoff game. It happens.

But the incident Saturday during No. 12 MNU’s 26-16 victory against preseason Heart of America Athletic Conference favorite Lindenwood, the defending HAAC champs who opened the season ranked No. 9, highlights a larger issue with Pioneer Stadium.

Everyone who sets foot in that press box feels as if they are entering a death trap. The coaches box sits above the press box and scoreboard booth, and, get this, coaches must climb a ladder to get to their seats. It’s like a glorified tree house. It’s pitiful. The wood is rotting away.

I swear that one day I’m going to plunge into the women’s restroom when the plywood gives way during some third quarter. Or worse, some 300-pound Missouri Valley College coach is going to crash through the shaky floor above me and snap my neck.

Just walking up the stairs to the press box is an adventure. The old wood, with paint flecks chipped away, bows under my body weight. I cringe at the thought of trying to rescue half my leg when it cracks through the rotting bleachers. The field itself seems to be in relatively good shape. The bleachers across the field for visiting fans seem adequate, though I haven’t given them a thorough inspection.

But the press box and MNU fans’ stands are woefully inadequate. Chair legs literally stick through the press-box ceiling from the coaching box above. I had to push the power pack to one coach’s laptop back through a hole in the ceiling after Saturday’s game because it had twisted after falling through the hole.

The Pioneers are a program on the rise. Jed Stugart has built a wonderful program in his three seasons at MNU, a program rife with talented players and skilled and experienced coaches (many who have NFL experience).

It’s a program that may well be primed for a breakthrough season and magical run to the NAIA National Championship game in Rome, Ga. The Pioneers deserve facilities that reflect that excellence.

The stadium stands in stark contrast to the palatial Cook Center and its Bell Family Arena on an adjacent part of the property. In short, the MNU football team and its fans (not to mention the media who cover it) deserve better.