For more than two decades, Tony Senio has helped shape the landscapes, playing surfaces, and natural spaces that define the University of Iowa's athletic footprint. Today, as grounds manager for the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, Senio oversees everything from high-performance sports turf to prairie restorations — but his path to this role began long before he stepped onto campus. It began on his family farm.
Stewards of the family homestead
As a fifth-generation caretaker of the 155-year-old family farm in rural West Branch, Senio grew up learning what it means to take care of soil, water, and land for the next generation. That early education continues to influence his work at Iowa.
"When you manage athletics grounds, you're still caring for a living system," he says. "Fields, waterways, and native areas are all part of the job. It's similar to caring for a farm."
After high school, Senio came to the University of Iowa on an academic scholarship intending to become a pediatrician. But a desire to keep the family farm operating, and his love of baseball, reshaped his plans. A summer job tending to baseball fields for the city of Muscatine sparked his interest in turf. Encouragement from mentors led him to Kirkwood Community College for turf management classes and to Iowa State University to study agriculture and animal science.
From sports turf manager to land manager
Senio's UI career began in 2004 as a seasonal employee at Finkbine Golf Course. In 2005, he joined the Athletics grounds crew, where he found his niche supporting Division I competition. By 2008, he was promoted to supervisor, an early step in what would become a long-term career.
Over time, the nature of his work has shifted. The move to artificial turf in football, baseball, and softball stadiums reshaped priorities, expanding his team's focus to include landscaping, native plant restoration, and campus collaborations.
"The reduction in high-end grass pushed us to elevate the landscaping around our athletic facilities," he says. "Tree planting, no-mow areas, native expansions — we've completely changed the way we take care of our spaces."
Working with partners across campus, including the Office of Sustainability and the Environment, has been one of the most meaningful aspects of his career. Projects like the Ashton Prairie Living Laboratory, an eight-acre restoration site used for research, athletics, and community events, reflect his passion for connecting athletics to ecological education and broader university goals.
Striving toward sustainability
Today, Senio leads a team of three full-time staff members and a rotating group of seasonal employees, supporting year-round operations from sports turf management during busy competition seasons to snow removal in the winter.
"The goal has always been to be a manager," he says, "but the thing that has brought me the most fulfillment over the last several years has been the work we've done that's crossed outside of Athletics and made connections with academia and a variety of campus departments."
Working at Iowa gives Senio the unique opportunity to blend his passion for sustainability with a career in Athletics. He served on former UI President Bruce Harreld's Sustainability Charter Committee, is an active member of the Bee Campus committee, which strives to protect Iowa's native pollinator population, and has partnered with the non-profit Beyond Pesticides program to work toward an organic certification for the soccer field.
"No one in the nation has achieved that certification for a Division I field with high-level performance grass," Senio says, noting the department's efforts to reduce the amount of synthetic fertilizer, herbicide, and fungicide used on campus.
At Iowa, he sees his work as an extension of a lifelong passion: caring for the land, building partnerships, and contributing to something that will last for generations.