AUBURN, N.Y. -- When it comes to Auburn Maroons football, there's another name that comes to mind.

It's a place that's 80 years old, a stadium treasured by players, coaches and community.

"Holland Stadium, that's the place," Auburn Athletic Director Tamela Ray said. "That's the place you go for the games on Friday nights, and it's just a rich tradition."

For all that tradition, the decades-old Holland Stadium has several firsts in 2017, the end result of a $2.8 million renovation. The biggest, and most noticeable, is the surface.

"Every school we compete against has got turf," Coach Dave Moskov said. "We haven't seen it this year, but if it's raining, we get that muddy October, we're in the mud [and] other teams are out there practicing."

The turf levels the playing field. School leaders say it also provides greater scheduling flexibility.

"I think this opens it up for tournaments, it opens up for the community, it opens it up for our kids," Ray said.

Last week, it opened up for everybody. The school celebrated the stadium's renovations with a ribbon cutting. Hundreds of people saw the new turf and other improvements: new goalposts, benches, surrounding chains and the Auburn 'A'. While the stadium is very much in with the new, it's not exactly out with the old. Holland Stadium is still a true reflection of Auburn's past.

"Anything they did, they made sure they maintained that beautiful, historic feel of the stadium," Moskov said. "I'm very appreciative of that."

It's that feel that keeps Holland Stadium connected to the past.

"The history of the stadium is what makes everything so aesthetically pleasing," Moskov said.

Its historic look goes all the way down to a rock celebrating the man that gives the stadium its name: Brud Holland.

"There [are] a lot of great debates about the best Auburn football player. He is by far my favorite," Moskov said. "I think he's the best in terms of what he did, what he overcame."

Holland is the first African-American football player at Cornell, and he later became president of the New York Stock Exchange and U.S. ambassador to Sweden.

"Phenomenal role model," Ray said. "To be able to name this and have that kind of role model for the kids in our city is amazing."

Holland's name lives on in a stadium that carries his name, a stadium that continues to build on an already rich history, and a stadium synonymous with the Auburn Maroons.