Mike Van Diest couldn't stay away from football.
"I graduated with a degree in community recreation. I wanted to work at
a boys and girls club or YMCA and work actively in sports and youth programs.
But I missed the game of football," says the former college football player.
"I missed the excitement of football...the workouts, the strategy."
It's no surprise then that he felt like he'd scored a touchdown when, just
six months after college graduation, he was offered a coaching job in Wyoming.
He's now head coach of the Carroll College Fighting Saints in Helena, Montana.
"Every day is the best part," he says. "Getting to come to work and being
around coaches and players. I enjoy the game of football, the camaraderie.
"I don't know how to say it really, but I want to give back a lot to the
game because it's given so much to me."
That enthusiasm is echoed by Brian Towriss, head coach of a university
football team. "I've been fortunate along the way to have some great opportunities
both to learn and to work with some good people and we've turned it into a
fairly successful run here."
Towriss has been with the team since 1980. The highlight of his career
is not necessarily the exhilaration of victory.
"The thrill of the competition for me is still a huge motivating factor.
But it's really very rewarding working with the young kids...to see them develop,
not only as athletes but as people. I think that's the real appeal of the
job," says Towriss.
The first time Christie Martin tossed a pigskin, she knew there was no
turning back. Today, she's the defensive coach of the SoCal Scorpions of the
WPFL (Women's Professional Football League).
She says it was the love of the game that first attracted her to job of
coaching. "As a former player and as a former player of many different sports
at many different levels, I think football is definitely the ultimate sport.
There's no other sport like football, once you've played it."
Not that coaching football is all rosy. "The fund-raising part of the job
is the hardest. And recruiting is not easy because the academic standards
here are so high," says football coach Lou DesLaurier.
For Van Diest, one of the toughest parts of the job is dealing with injuries.
"There's nothing worse than seeing a young person lying out on the field,
hurt...not knowing if their career is over. Whether it's going to be a permanent
injury that may hamper them later on.
"I think that's really tough to struggle with. It's part of the game,
but it's not anything I can ever get used to. It still affects me in a tough
way."
For Towriss, time is often the most formidable opponent. "The hardest part
of my job is the time commitment. We all love what we do or we wouldn't do
it because nobody at the amateur level is getting rich.
"But we spend countless hours and weekends, because that's just the nature
of the position. The time commitment and the time away from family is the
toughest part, but when you do something you love, it makes it a little easier,"
says Towriss.
Time -- or the lack of it -- is often on Van Diest's mind too. "I want
to try to impart to these guys that they only have a short window of opportunity
while they're in college. Those four or five years really fly by very fast....I
want them to enjoy their experience with football the way I did."
Martin is concerned about short-changing her players in the time department
also. "You always want more time with the players to coach them, and it always
seems like there's just never enough of it."
Towriss says you need commitment, a strong work ethic, honesty and integrity
to be a football coach. "And you have to have the willingness to admit that
you made a mistake and to work hard to correct those kinds of things as well,"
says Towriss.
"It's important, too, to be flexible and open-minded. If you're not willing
to change or adapt, then things are going to pass you by pretty quick."
"A misconception might be that coaching football is easy and you don't
have to work hard at it," says Martin.
"Just the couple of years that I've been doing this, I've spent hours and
hours researching different positions that I coach, different ways for strength
training, conditioning, drills. I've gone to weekend clinics. It's hard
work. But it's definitely rewarding."