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It's a typically hot mid-July day in Greenbelt when Eleanor Roosevelt High School football coach and athletic director Tom Green walks out onto the football field.

He carries with him a bag of grass seed that he spreads over dead areas on the field in hopes of filling the barren spots before the season begins. The field still shows the scars of last fall, when Roosevelt's varsity and junior varsity football and boys' and girls' soccer teams used it for home games. Green and his players have spent time this summer getting the field ready for another fall season.

Although field maintenance isn't listed as one of his job duties, it becomes a virtual necessity for Green and many other coaches across Prince George's County.

"The last thing you want is someone getting hurt because the field isn't in good shape," he said. "I am just hoping we can get the field ready and green before the start of the season."

The Prince George's County Schools began contracting with lawn and landscape company TruGreen prior to the 2006-07 school year. Based in Memphis, Tenn., TruGreen was brought on board to improve the girls' softball fields to help Prince George's County comply with Title IX, the federal law passed in 1972 that requires public schools to provide equal funding and facilities for boys' and girls' sports and other activities.

Prince George's County Schools spokesperson Lynn McCauley said the TruGreen contract is renewed on a yearly basis with a price tag of $783,646 per year. That price includes weekly, monthly and yearly maintenance on 30 middle school and 22 high school fields. TruGreen cuts the grass and lines the fields once a week and does monthly edging and weeding, but heavier maintenance is only done between December and March.

Suitland football coach Ed Shields, who also is the head of the Prince George's County Football Coaches Association, said a lot of the football coaches do extra work on their fields in the summer to get them ready for the season.

"It's almost a pride thing because you don't want the shape of the field to reflect badly on the school or program," Shields said. "It's a difficult situation, but most coaches do what they have to do to get the fields ready."

Central High School's softball field is one of several that benefited significantly from TruGreen's help. Falcons' coach Luanne Smith said a few years ago there was a gravel road in right field, no dugouts or benches for the players to sit on and the fences were rusted. Central's new softball facility, which TruGreen helped design, has dugouts, new fencing and a field that's in good shape.

"It was a safety hazard and there were times when I wouldn't play on it," she said of the old field. "We were the poster child for how bad the fields were, but now we have one of the best fields in the county. There are some things that could be done better, but I don't think there is a perfect solution out there."

Although TruGreen has helped with the maintenance of county fields, many coaches say they still do most of their own work in order to get the fields ready for games or practices. A lot of times the coaches have to hold fund-raisers or pay out of their own pocket to help with any extra expenses needed to maintain the fields.

Smith said she pays for extra dirt and turface, a soil conditioner that helps field drainage and absorbs excess water, out of her own pocket. High Point High School baseball coach Brian Rau said he gets help from fundraisers and the community.

"It's a lot of work for coaches because most of us are also full-time teachers that just don't have a lot of time," Rau said. "I am lucky that I get a lot of help from the community when it comes to getting everything ready and fund raising for things we may need during the season for the field."

Gwynn Park High School baseball coach Matt Cooke is one of the coaches who is happy with TruGreen's work on county fields. Cooke, who has guided the Yellow Jackets for 12 years, said he used to spend several hours a day on the Gwynn Park baseball field before the county and TruGreen came together.

"I still work on the field on a daily basis, but TruGreen has definitely saved me some time," he said. "They only make it out to our field about once a week to cut the grass and line the field. They aren't perfect and I am sure there are things coaches wish were done a little bit better, but anything is better than nothing."

E-mail Joshua Hudson at

jhudson@gazette.net.