SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WJZY) — Any time he clocks in for work, Andy Kiah knows it’s going to be a battle.
“It’s like a game,” he says. “Either you win, or you lose. If it looks bad, you’re losing. If it looks good, you are winning.”
Doing that isn’t easy. After all, his opponent is no slouch.
“Mother nature is undefeated,” he explains.
But Kiah is being modest. After more than two decades on the job as Wofford College’s director of athletic facilities, he’s figured out all the tricks to make the fields look so darn good.
It’s one of the big reasons why the Carolina Panthers love coming back to Spartanburg, South Carolina every summer.
“If you want to grow grass, Andy is your guy,” said Wofford Athletic Director Richard Johnson.
By this point, the 51-year-old Maine native has taken care of 13 1/2 acres a day down to a science. But Kiah admits that wasn’t always the case.
“In ’96. I didn’t know anything,” he admits.
That’s because back then, Kiah was coming off a stint as the assistant coach of the Terriers baseball team. But what he lacked in knowledge, he more than made up for in curiosity. Hence why he believes got the gig.
“If you have a half a brain, you’ll listen to everyone else and use their ideas to help you,” Kiah said.
And then, of course, he says there’s this too.
“I was the cheapest,” he smiles.
While he’s quick to make a joke at his expense, Kiah is all business when it comes to his job, especially when the Panthers are in town.
“They just expect the highest quality of what we can possibly give them,” Kiah said. “My saying is, ‘If they haven’t said anything, that’s good.’”
Kiah scores those days as wins.
