“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.
Jason had hired her to be USC’s special teams coach.
“There are now female officials, Tampa has a female trainer, and the NFL has twelve female assistant coaches. I know this is what you’ve always wanted to do, and your dad really couldn’t hire you … so …” Jason said with a shrug.
“It’s just that I don’t have any actual coaching experience on my résumé,” she worried.
“We both know that you’re qualified, so put that out of your mind. What I want you to do first is to coach the kickers and the special teams. I also want you to observe the rest of the players and provide their position coaches and me with your insights.”
“When working for my dad, I loved evaluating talent, dissecting a player’s technique, and suggesting little changes that made a big difference. It’s the actual coaching part I’m a bit worried about. I’ve been more of an observer and consultant than an actual coach who shouted orders and blew a whistle. But if you think I can do this, then I’m your gal,” Amy said.
“Good to know,” Jason said and then looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s time you meet your fellow coaches.”
◊◊◊
“First day, gentlemen,” Jason said as he walked into the room. “And now we have a lady to add to the mix.”
“Hi,” Amy said as she took her seat in the only available chair left.
“This is Amy Stackhouse. She’ll be coaching special teams. She may be young, but she’s grown up around football. Amy is Carl Stackhouse’s daughter, Arizona’s NFL franchise owner. When I coached there, Amy was hired to help players improve. I’ve asked her to observe while she isn’t coaching special teams. You’ll find she knows what she’s talking about.
“I’ll leave introductions for later, so let’s get started on what we want out of today’s practice,” Jason said.
“Did you mean it when you said there is no depth chart the first week?” Coach Farrow asked.
“I did. Our first week primarily focuses on technique, understanding their position’s responsibilities, and conditioning. We’ll have a scrimmage on Saturday to see them in game action. We’ll sit down and do a three-deep depth chart on Sunday.
“My goal is to find players that we may have missed. I’m serious. If a player gives us the best chance of winning, I want him on the field. I don’t care if he’s a walk-on or a four-year starter. And the ones that aren’t going to be starters, we’re going to develop them so they’re ready to step in when needed. Are there any questions about that?” Jason asked.
“I just wanted to say that I, for one, fully embrace that approach,” Coach Farrow added his vote of confidence.
The nodding around the room looked like the rest of the coaching staff was on board.
◊◊◊
About two hours into the first practice, Amy found him watching the quarterbacks throw basic routes.
“We have a serious problem.”
“Jesus, we’re only a couple of hours into this, and you have a serious problem,” Jason said as he rolled his eyes.
“We,” Amy said and then paused for effect, “are in desperate need of a replacement placekicker. The two walk-ons can’t even kick extra points consistently. And don’t get me started on kickoffs. They’re lucky to get it to the ten-yard line.”
“Talk to Bryant and tell him to start scouring the transfer portal.”
“I’ll do that,” she said and then pointed. “You’re screwed.”
Jason gave her a side-eye glance that told her to explain herself. He was also amused that it was ‘we’ when it was her problem and ‘you’ when it was his.
“You have two starting quarterbacks.”
“The one on the right is Matt Long, who Coach Clayton had penciled in as the starter. Matt has to sit out the first game for a team matter. On the left is David Dawson, who just got here in the spring. If Matt hadn’t gotten hurt before spring ball started, David might very well be my starting middle linebacker,” Jason shared.
“What’s he suspended for?”
“Matt didn’t handle David potentially displacing him as the starter very well. We’re going to have to handle the whole situation carefully, or we might lose one or both of them. And you know how injuries go. If we lose one, it would be nice not to miss a beat when their backup came in.”
“I’ll keep an eye on them and see if there are any signs of stress, if that helps,” Amy offered.
“I’ve no doubt that it’ll blow up at some point. They’re both leaders who are fighting for the job of field general. As a side note, David is dating Matt’s ex-girlfriend. I’m not sure how that happened, but …”
“Well, that sure is a ‘fuck you’ if I ever heard one. That’s something that could splinter your team. It sounds like the Dawson kid is a dick.”
While Jason hadn’t thought in those terms, he could see how Amy had jumped to that conclusion.
“Like I said, I don’t know the details. But you’re right; it is sort of a dick move. It happens all the time, though, on football teams. I’m sure you’ve seen it,” Jason said.
“Don’t I know it. But if there’s a conflict between two players on the field, the off-the-field stuff just adds to it.”
“Something else you ought to know: Matt got into some sort of fight off-campus, and David came in and saved the day. There’s even a video of it online. There’s some sort of story there, but neither of them is saying anything about it. It seems to be another bone of contention between them, though.
“You may want to talk to some of the other coaches to get their perspective.
“Anyway, anything you can think of that might keep them from killing each other would help.”
“Could I talk to them?”
“Of course. I plan on meeting all the players over the next few days. You could sit in on those talks,” Jason suggested.
“Let me know when.”
She left him to go find a new kicker.
◊◊◊
Jason stepped out of his office when Rachel—Coach Farrow’s daughter—buzzed to let him know that Matt and David were there. Amy was sitting between them, and they were each interested in the opposite wall. That didn’t look good.
He saw Amy bite her bottom lip so she didn’t react to his look of disgust.
“Come on in. Coach Amy Stackhouse will be joining us,” Jason said.
She tried to grab an outside chair, but Matt all but knocked Amy down to grab it. David had an amused look and purposefully went to take the middle one.
“Let Amy take that seat,” Jason said as he wondered if David was a dick or not.
When everyone was settled, he kicked things off.
“How was your first day of practice?”
“Fine,” Matt said.
“Good,” David said at the same time.
Amy looked at both of them, stood up, and sat on the edge of the desk to effectively block Jason’s view. She wanted the two boys to focus on her, not their head coach.
“Let’s get the elephant out of the room. Matt, are you mad that David is banging your ex?”
Jason got out of his chair in case they went for each other.
David tried to swallow a laugh as Matt’s face went bright red.
“Well?” Amy pushed.
Matt looked at his lap and then glared at David.
“Did you do it just to mess with me?” Matt asked.
“Honestly, no. If you remember, I was with Colleen.”
“Yeah. And that was fucked up. You were just banging her all day and night to make Crystal think she was missing out on something,” Matt said.
“I’ll own that, but Colleen was a wildcat in bed. That was as much her as it was me,” David said.
“Then why dump her for Crystal? Was it just because you could?”
David looked taken aback.
“Dude. You broke up with her … Or Crystal broke up with you. Plus, I caught Colleen in bed with some pencil dick at the same time. Crystal didn’t want to go back to your apartment, and I wanted to get out of town, so I flew us to San Francisco. She wasn’t as horrible as I first thought, so I let her move into my townhouse until you moved out.”