Leatherneck Nation

rocki wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2026 11:15 am

NewNeck wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2026 11:59 am Are they doing anything about the west side stands and pressbox?  Those are the same chair back seats from the 1970's.  Has to be worst/most unsafe home side stadium in FCS and probably tough to recruit to.

 

I thought there had been a big push to renovate the home side - what happened with that? Unfortunately, I don't have mega bucks to donate to the cause.

 

I don't remember exactly what the timeline was, but it looks like the renderings that we saw came out late 2016 (I have a post on AGS about them in December 2016), which would have been right in the middle of the state budget impasse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_budget_impasse). It wasn't too long after that when we had the valid issues with President Thomas (and highly-publicized racism in the community), and then COVID hit, which I think all contributed to the lack of focus on big projects and more just trying to survive each week. It looks like the plan was to try to raise $10M to get the project started, but my guess is that never panned out.

It's now been just under 10 years since the renderings came out and with all that happened between now and then, I think you can pretty much consider the project dead at this point.

I guess I didn't realize it had been that long. Still, if they are going to continue to use the stadium, they need to make it safe.

rocki wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2026 12:02 pm I guess I didn't realize it had been that long. Still, if they are going to continue to use the stadium, they need to make it safe.

 

Agreed. I wonder what it would take to remove the seats, fix up the concrete, add railings at the stairs, and put in new seats. Cheaper than rebuilding the entire thing, I'm sure. Idk if it's feasible though.
 

As of ~3 PM on Friday, July 24th:

ST_Lawson wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2026 1:36 pm

rocki wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2026 12:02 pm I guess I didn't realize it had been that long. Still, if they are going to continue to use the stadium, they need to make it safe.


 

Agreed. I wonder what it would take to remove the seats, fix up the concrete, add railings at the stairs, and put in new seats. Cheaper than rebuilding the entire thing, I'm sure. Idk if it's feasible though.
 

 

I'm sure nothing will get done or moved forward until there is a new AD in charge, but would be nice if they make that one of their top priorities.

Looks like '26 roster is up... https://goleathernecks.com/sports/football/roster

NewNeck wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2026 1:47 pm Looks like '26 roster is up... https://goleathernecks.com/sports/football/roster

 

The grid view of roster is broken or at least it is for my Ubuntu/Chrome browser.

From facebook

Western Illinois Football looking to turn close losses into big wins in 2026.
From KHQA-TV Sports:
https://www.khqa.com/sports/find-19-wes ... e82fe.html
 
 

Originally I thought the gold on the sideline looked orange, but now that they have some of the other pieces on there, it does look gold...just a very "rich" gold.