(Cushing, Okla.) You could feel the sense of excitement for the upcoming football season in the Lions Den on Tuesday as Cushing Lions Club welcomed Coach Barrett Shupe and his team of coaches to their regular weekly meeting.
Shupe recapped a little bit of last year’s season, but his main focus is on the upcoming season.
“We’re excited,” Shupe said. “We have 82 boys in the football program right now, grades 9 – 12.”
A big difference from the 26 he had when first coming to Cushing five years ago.
Shupe is humble when it comes to taking credit for the changes in the football program. “Coaches get way too much credit,” he said. “We have great kids and great parents…and now a great new facility.”
Shupe spent a considerable amount of time talking about the new 12,000 square foot facility that came about through excess funds available from the bond for the new middle school. He said because the new middle school came in under budget, administration made the committment to expand and improve Tigers headquarters by making it a state-of-the-art facility.
Aside from providing a better facility for the team, it also provides visiting teams with their own locker room – a first for Cushing.
“Visitors had to use the hallway before,” Shupe explained.
Along with a new locker room, Cushing Tigers now have a 3,000 sq.ft. weight room, which can accommodate 80 at one time, a training room, equipment room, team room and offices for the coaches.
“This is such a blessing,” Shupe continued. “It’s efficient and is comparable to any 6A school facility. We are very, very excited about it.”
Once everything is completed and in place, Shupe expects to hold an open house. “If anyone wants to come see it now, though, we’d be happy to show it off.”
When asked how the Tigers “stack up” against this coming season’s opposition, Shupe said the Tigers “match up pretty well,” but admitted it’s a tough league with teams such as Heritage Hall and Kingfisher in the mix.
“We have to be ready to play every night,” Shupe said. “But our main goal is to get better every day.”
Cushing Lions meet each Tuesday at noon in the Lions Den in downtown Cushing. You can now find them on Facebook by clicking here: Cushing Lions Club
The first regular game of the season is Friday, Sept. 4th when the Cushing Tigers take on the Bristow Purple Pirates in Bristow. Kick off time is 7:30 p.m. KUSH will be broadcasting the games LIVE – on air and via LISTEN LIVE streaming link of our website. You can also watch the game by clicking on the Cushing Tiger Sports LIVE Streaming link on our website.
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