SAN MARCOS — Since coming to Palomar College as a player in 1979, football coach Joe Early heard a parade of promises and saw grandiose blueprints of a new football stadium.
Decade after decade, the shovels stayed silent.
Hundreds upon hundreds of times, Early and the Comets suited up to play games somewhere other than the place they called home.
What does Early think of when he hears the word “bus”?
“I want to throw up,” he said. “I’m so sick of buses.”
Palomar College became college football’s reluctant southern California nomads, a football team without a place to hang its helmets.
Administration after administration delivered stadium plans, but not the structure itself.
Not in the 1970s.
Or ’80s.
Or ’90s.
Or … ever.
Now, in the program’s 78th season, the longest of waits has ended with a 3,654-seat, $28 million gem. More importantly, Early and those who patiently dreamed along the way can puff out their chests and walk a little taller.
As Dorothy reminded us in “The Wizard of Oz,” there truly is no place like home.
“This is the start of a new era for us,” Early said of the stadium, set to debut Saturday in the Comets’ opener against Moorpark. “If I stayed here, I wanted to be here long enough to play in a stadium on campus. I’d been told this would happen so many times.”
Then it finally did.
The stadium shimmers. The synthetic turf leads to end zones painted bright red with “Palomar” on one end and “Comets” on the other in white, neatly trimmed in black.
The Musco Lighting system is a first of its kind, according to Dennis Astl, the construction and facilities planning manager. Operators are able to darken the stadium and spotlight the 50-yard-line for the coin toss, National Anthem or a ceremony.
They can coordinate colored lights for a wide range of special effects.
The stadium dovetails into the entire campus’ designation as a certified arboretum and botanical garden. Plants ringing parts of the facility came from Asia. A series of trees behind the press box, Kashmir cypresses, grow from 4,000 to 9,000 feet in the Himalayan region of Tibet.
“Come back in three to five years when everything’s had a chance to grow in and it’s going to be even more spectacular,” Astl said.
The small details were bear-hugged.
There are hidden codes throughout, including a series of color-coded panels lining the back of the press box area.
The amount of gray and white panels correspond to 1-9-4-7, the year the football program launched. Another set of panels — 1-9-4-6 — represents when the college was founded.
The plan is to install QR codes linked to a website so fans can find the “Easter eggs” and read about them.
Why?
“Because it’s cool,” Astl said.
The Palomar College signage on the press box will be backlit at night. Builders included a tunnel from which the team can emerge. There are wireless access points throughout.
At every turn, a home comes with special polish.
“Seeing the nice turf, the big press box, it’s amazing,” Comets wide receiver Tate Reid said. “It’s a sight to see. You get goosebumps every practice. It’s a big deal.”
Reid played a season ago, when practices happened on an old field with grass that burned brown. Then the team would climb aboard buses to play.
“Even ‘home’ games, it’s like playing an away game,” he said. “You’re never home. Now there’s a sense of comfort. We all take a lot of pride in it.”
Early painted the contract more starkly.
“You don’t want to complain publicly because it sounds like sour grapes, but it’s tough when high schools around us have better facilities,” he said. “We didn’t have the bells and whistles.
“It makes use feel like we’re at a real college.”
No more games at local high schools or far away from campus. No more lowered heads, knowing that others have more … the minimum basics, really.
All those assurances that evaporated, delivered on decades later.
“Some schools have renovated their field two and three times over,” Early said. “The stadium can’t guarantee us any wins, but it’s a shot in the arm in terms of enthusiasm. Recruiting, too.
“This means a lot.”
And a lot less buses.
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