Renovated Welcome Stadium ready for Flyers as 2023 season nears

UD held its annual Media Day inside its home venue 13 days before its 2023 season opener. The renovations at Welcome Stadium had prevented anyone from seeing inside the place all spring and summer, but now it is ready with new seating, a new press box, updated locker rooms, etc. The players and coaches posed for a group photo in the stands and many separate photos involving team captains, position groups, players whose coaches played at UD, players from Dayton and Cincinnati and other areas and a number of other combinations.

For Andrews, a 1998 UD graduate who got the job in December when Rick Chamberlin retired after a 14-year run as head coach, seeing his old field brought back a flood of memories.

“You just have flashbacks to all the games we won in here,” he said. “You start to get into the pictures, and you start remembering doing this as a as a student-athlete. The guys are getting pictures with their coaches and their friends and their buddies, and I did all that.”

One Welcome Stadium memory from his playing days stands above others for Andrews, a former UD safety.

“We blocked a punt right down there,” said Andrews, pointing to the north end zone, “and I scooped it up and ran it in for a touchdown. I was all excited. But you can’t advance a muffed snap. So we got the ball, and the next play, somebody else scored the touchdown.”

The new-look stadium has already hosted two games involving Dayton Public Schools, which owns the stadium. Thurgood Marshall beat Dohn Prep 28-16 on Thursday. Troy beat Dunbar 53-6 on Friday.

Andrews won’t coach a game at Welcome Stadium until the second week of the season. Dayton plays Central State at 1 p.m. Sept. 9. The Flyers open the season Sept. 2 at Illinois State.

Dayton started practice Aug. 4. With classes at UD starting Monday, the practice schedule will change. The team will have 20 hours each week together.

“We’re going to start preparing for opponents here at the end of next week,” Andrews said. “(Practice) will be in the afternoon, so the weather will be a little different. We’ve had a great break in the weather. Other than a couple storms we had to dodge, the weather’s been good.”

Dayton held an intrasquad scrimmage Aug. 14 and another one Saturday.

“I thought we accomplished a lot in the kicking game,” Andrews said. “I feel like we’ve made some strides there. And we got out of there pretty healthy, which is always the goal. You hate to lose somebody in the last weeks before the season starts.”

Andrews has not settled on a starting quarterback. Dante Casciola, who started the first five games last season before suffering a season-ending broken thumb, and Cole Dow continue to compete for the job. He said he’ll make a decision well before the first game but won’t announce it publicly ahead of time.

“It’s close,” he said. “We’ve got some good guys. Both of them are good players. They both have slightly different skill sets. They both have strengths. It’s just a good situation to be in.”

Season Opener

Saturday, Sept. 2

Dayton at Illinois State, 1 p.m., 1290, 95.7