Five people, three days a week, equating to around 80-plus hours of manpower — that is what it takes to paint the field at Scott Stadium.
Those numbers do not even include the mowing, blowing, fertilizing or seeding that occurs to make sure that the grass looks too perfect to be real. Those numbers do not include the potential maintenance for other events in the stadium, which are becoming more common as Virginia aims to generate more revenue in the NIL era.
The man in charge of keeping the fields in tip-top shape? Jesse Pritchard, director of sports turf maintenance,
Whether in the form of concerts, such as Luke Combs in Scott Stadium or hosting the NCAA men’s lacrosse National Championships in 2026, Pritchard’s fields are seeing more action than ever imagined. Even less grand events, like Davenport Field being rented out for travel baseball showcases during Varsity’s away weekends increase pressure — with that comes even more meticulous planning and preparation to keep the fields in top shape.
“We’re getting more pressure — it means baseball showcases on the baseball field on the weekends that our team is not playing, camps for all of the coaching staff,” Pritchard said. “[There’s] just more pressure than I think there was definitely 20 years ago, but even 10 years ago.”
Pressure aside, during football season by Fridays at 4 p.m., Pritchard and his staff are walking the field one last time, checking every yard line and the Virginia logo.
This has been Pritchard’s routine for over 20 years, ensuring that, when the Cavaliers take the field, the surface beneath them reflects the same standard of excellence they play for.
Pritchard is not only in charge of field management at Scott Stadium, but also Klöckner Stadium, Disharoon Park, Palmer Park, University Hall Turf Field and Lannigan Field, dealing with 12 different NCAA Division I varsity sport programs at all times of the year. Stressful but enjoyable, he has learned to balance it all through years of experience in a career that began long before he ever set foot in Virginia.
For college, Pritchard was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to the University of Tennessee’s Herbert College of Agriculture. Initially, he did not know exactly what he wanted to do after his time in school with an agriculture degree, but when he got a job his sophomore year for the athletic department, it all suddenly clicked.
“[I was in charge of] painting the checkerboard end zone on a Thursday before a home football game that has 108,000 people and that was kind of exciting,” Pritchard said. “I knew pretty quickly then my sophomore, junior year that I wanted to do this.”
After graduating, he spent some time working as a contractor for athletic fields in Atlanta, but Pritchard knew that his end-goal was to work for a school in the SEC or ACC. So, he and his wife, Amy, made a list of where they could see themselves settling down, with Virginia ranked in their top five. As a Tennessee graduate, he knew that he did not want to work at rival Florida or Alabama, so when a position opened up at the University in the summer of 2005, Pritchard pounced.
Since then, Pritchard has worked on a variety of projects for the University, upgrading several varsity fields, a notable one being Klöckner Stadium in 2018, where he and contractors designed a field that could handle drainage and wear and tear the best. When Davenport Field was renovated in 2018, Pritchard chose the best variety of grasses and materials for the infield, even adding a brand new irrigation system.
Over the last two decades, Pritchard has seen Virginia sports evolve before his eyes — not just in the fields he has helped build, but in the teams that have played on them. Whether it has been the development of Coach Tony Elliott’s football program or Coach Steve Swanson’s women’s soccer program, he has gotten to see teams become nationally acclaimed.
He even remembers when Virginia softball played at The Park on less-than-ideal field conditions compared to the rest of the NCAA. Now, with Palmer Park, the team finally has a state of the art facility and field.
“[It’s] a huge upgrade for them,” Pritchard said. “I’m so happy for their staff, that they can now compete and even be ranked way up there with the facility that they have now, getting quality student athletes.”
Among all of the upgrades, renovations and seasons he has witnessed, one game sticks out in his memory — a historic highlight for the baseball team, next door to softball. That highlight is the Cavaliers’ 2011 baseball win against UC Irvine, advancing the team to the College World Series. Pritchard watched the game with a few other staff members on top of an old shed in deep right field.
“We were down… there were two outs,” Pritchard said. “There were two strikes on the guy in the bottom of the ninth. Nobody was on base, and we found a way to win the game for the first time. “I nearly jumped off the roof of the shed. That was probably my best moment.”
For Pritchard, moments like that are not just about the players or the scoreboard, they start with the field itself. Every victory, every highlight reel, every special play depends on the playing surface being ready and reliable. Behind every great performance, Pritchard’s work makes it possible.
However, with collegiate athletics in a new era of NIL contracts, that job has become a lot harder. Universities across the country, including Virginia, have had to start increasing outside revenue to compete with other programs. One of the easiest ways to do this? Renting out their sports fields for a plethora of events.
Despite these challenges, Pritchard is still excited to host these events, even if it is more work for him and his team. It is events like these that bring more attention to the University in some of the best ways possible — even if it means 10,000 students storming his perfectly procured football field after a huge win versus Florida State.
“I mean, we were here until 12:30 that night, cleaning the field,” Pritchard said. “[The field] was just really angry. 10,000 people were just stomping on it for about 45 minutes, and it just needed some time to breathe.”
When Pritchard is not manicuring the University’s fields, he is on the McIntire fields coaching little league baseball or assisting with Albemarle High School’s teams — and when he retires, he said he even hopes to umpire, unable to stay off the field.
“It’s the best times of your life when you’re having fun out there coaching your kids,” Pritchard said.
Through it all, Pritchard’s focus has remained the same — giving the athletic programs the best possible stage to compete on. Seeing the Cavaliers perform at a championship level makes the early mornings and late nights all worth it.
After nearly 21 years at the University, Pritchard has become a part of Virginia Athletics’ history, quietly shaping the experiences and memories of the athletes, coaches and fans.
“I’ve been fortunate that [the administration] has given me most of what I’ve asked for to provide the best facilities that I possibly can,” Pritchard said.
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