FINLEY STADIUM

Name: Finley Stadium / Citizens Bank Field
Capacity: 3,500
First Year: 1987
Address: 204 Tiger Way Campbellsville, Ky. 42718

Finley Stadium and Citizens Bank Field has been the home of Campbellsville University football since the program was reinstated as a school-sponsored sport in 1987. It became the full-time home of men's and women's soccer in 2010.

The original football field was built by the players who played on it. Some of the early Fighting Tigers helped lay sod, cut from a farm off Kentucky Highway 61, as Campbellsville College built the program from the ground up in 1987-88. The original field had a crown in the center of the field for drainage purposes, known as "The Hump". Tiger Field, as it was known at the beginning, played host to Fighting Tigers' first varsity football game on Sept. 10, 1988 vs. Centre College.

In 1997, additional seating was added to Tiger Stadium at Tiger Field with the construction of a four-level press box in 1998. In 2006, the stadium was renamed Finley Stadium in honor for the football program's first varsity head coach, Ron Finley. During the 1997-98 rennovation, the seating capacity grew to 3,000 seats. The press box provided a first floor concession stand and bathrooms, second floor storage, third floor President's Suite and fourth floor press box, coaches boxes and video rooms.

Another field and stadium renovation took place in 2007, adding additional seating in the northeast end zone, raising the capacity to 3,500 seats. The renovation also laid the groundwork for the addition of lights and synthetic turf a few years later.

During the winter and spring of 2010, lights and synthetic turf were added to the facility as part of the "More Than a Game" campaign, which raised more than $2 million for the project. The first home night game in program history was also the first game played on the new turf, a 34-7 victory over Kentucky Christian Unviersity on Aug. 28, 2010.

Timeline

1987: Sod was laid for the first on-campus football field, Tiger Field, at Campbellsville College.
1988: The first-ever varsity football game was played on Tiger Field, Sept. 10, 1988.
1997: Capacity expanded to 3,000 seats at Tiger Stadium
1998: A four-leve press box was constructed at Tiger Stadium.
2001: The first-ever home postseason game was played in the NAIA Playoffs.
2006: On November 5, 2006, the stadium was dedicated as Finley Stadium, in honor of Campbellsville's first four-year program football coach, Ron Finley.
2007: Seating capacity was increased to 3,500.
2009-2010: The "More Than A Game" campaign raised more than $2 million to install lights and synthetic turf at the facility for the first time.
2010: The first-ever night game at Finley Stadium was played Aug. 28, 2010.
2011: Campbellsville University won its first-ever postseason championship on HIG Field in the NCCAA Victory Bowl, Nov. 19, 2011.
2012: Playing surface was dedicated as Citzens Bank Field on Sept. 1, 2012.

About Ron Finley

The Campbellsville University football stadium is named in honor of its first varsity football head coach, the late Ron Finley.

Finley kick started the program in 1987 after football sat in a holding pattern for 30 years. The program began with a junior varsity program in 1987 before varsity football began in 1988.

Finley ended his college coaching career in 2002 with a 77-81-1 record, but compiled a 43-32 record in his last seven seasons, including two postseason apperances - the KWTO Bowl in 2000 and the NAIA Playoffs in 2001. The Tigers also made the NAIA playoffs in 1997.

Campbellsville won two Mid-South Football championships after beating rival Georgetown College in 1992 and 1997.

In addition to the CU football stadium bearing his name, the program also has an endowed scholarship in his honor.

A native of Louisville, Ky., Finley graduated from Male HIgh School before attending Eastern Kentucky University. He began coaching in 1954 and coached high school sports in Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. Prior to coaching at Campbellsville, Finley collected more than 100 wins in 11 years as head coach at Russell County High School.