A few summers ago, we had a last minute opening come up on our student manager staff. Just a few days later, my office phone rang and the head football coach at Sahuaro called to tell me about a young man that he thought could help us out as a manager. I immediately thought this was great news, because generally when a coach calls he has a former player (which make really good managers) or manager that has worked very hard for him to recommend. When he told me that Jeff was in the band and on the tennis team my first thoughts were ....well, okay. As usual, we try to set up a face to face meeting with any potential manager.
The next day Jeff was in my office. Most kids just out of high school generally seem very nervous, quiet and very shy. Jeff was all of these. After doing some look at his references and doing other routine checks, and knowing he was a local kid from a GREAT high school, we offered him a position. What a great decision!
First day on the practice field I watched him closely to make sure he didn't get himself hurt by being in the way. First thing I noticed was that he worked extremely hard and HUSTLED in everything that he did. You would have thought he had spent his whole life running and shagging balls. He was also an immediate hit inside the equipment room too.
Today, Jeff is one of our top managers! One of his biggest duties is "watching the window" which means he is the person who attends to the players when they come up and need something. Obviously, that is an important position which requires a lot of trust. He is usually the last one to leave the equipment room before practice or games. He is also the manager who is responsible for packing our game uniforms for each game.
Jeff is a GREAT Wildcat, but he loves his Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Forty Niners. He hopes to have a career in Sports Management when he graduates from the UofA. Jeff is a great young man who will be successful in whatever he decides to do in life. I know we are LUCKY to have him!!!!!
One of the reason we put so much trust in Jeff is his attention to detail. Many of the task we give him are very important and require focus, like PACKING GAME JERSEYS!!!!!!
Jeff works with Coach Sonny Dykes and the quarterbacks at each practice.
From day one on the job, Jeff has ALWAYS hustled! He has always been a manager that pays attention to what we ask of them, but then he has also always followed through with actions.
Jeff is popular with all of the managers. He is a man of very few words, but when he does speak he has a good chance of putting a smile on your face!
Jeff was our designated manager to make sure our coaches were taken care of while we were at Fort Huachuca. Here he is putting out their laundry early one morning before practice:
Here Jeff is pushing a trunk to our make shift equipment room in the gymnasium at Fort Huachuca:
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