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Friday Feature - My First Job

Drake coaches talk about their first foray into the workforce.

This week's #FridayFeature shares the Bulldogs' head coaches' formative occupational experiences in their own words as they describe their first jobs. Some began in athletics, others took a more meandering course before finding their calling in coaching. Read below to see how the fine head coaches and stewards of Drake's teams earned their first paycheck.

62374Jay Koloseus - Men's & Women's Cross Country - Lifeguard
My first job was as a lifeguard in my hometown in Connecticut. It seemed fun at first thinking I would get to enjoy days in the sun. But it quickly became hard to train for track and cross country after eight or 10 hours in the blazing heat. I probably would've quit but I needed the money really bad to save up for a car. In hindsight, the job taught me a lot about patience and work ethic and how to prioritize things such as training. Of course, I got a great tan from it but in the long run, those were some grueling days.


67239Darian DeVries - Men's Basketball - Cemetery Caretaker
My first real job – outside of farm work – was mowing cemeteries. My brother and I would push, ride and trim around and between every stone at the cemetery. The biggest thing I learned from it all was that there were a lot of headstones in a cemetery. 

My first job in athletics was as a graduate manager at Creighton University. We moved to Omaha with our belongings in the back of a hog trailer that we had cleaned out for the move. Upon arrival in Omaha, the apartment wasn't ready so we had to keep everything overnight in the hog trailer. I'm not sure our couch ever recovered.


68600Asha Gibson - Men's & Women's Track and Field - Science Center Retail
My first job was at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, Ala. It wasn't very glamorous as I was responsible for tending to the retail store. At the end of each tour, patrons would visit the retail store for memorabilia, gadgets, snacks, etc.  I can say that this experience confirmed K-8 education was not my calling.
  
I was fortunate to begin my career in athletics at my alma mater, Jacksonville State. Throughout my career, I was faced with a number of soft tissue injuries, particularly chronic hamstring strains. After a great start to my senior season, my outdoor season was cut short. As the season neared its end, it pained me to think about the upcoming conference championship. After determining I didn't want to attend, I was encouraged otherwise. Our head coach, Steve Ray, explained to me that despite my physical inability, I was in a position to be a great teammate. At the end of the season, he gave me two options: return as a 5th year redshirt, or return as an assistant coach. I never dreamed of coaching, but I was thankful for option No. 2.
 
As I concluded my final semester as an undergraduate, I worked as the volunteer assistant. Following graduation, I was hired as a full-time assistant overseeing sprints, hurdles, jumps and relays. Twelve years later, I am grateful that Coach Steve Ray introduced athletics as a profession to me.


68021Jennie Baranczyk - Women's Basketball - Hospital Archives
I worked in the hospital archives at Mercy Hospital in the basement next to the morgue. I clocked in and clocked out during the summer. We sorted through outdated charts and removed any binding, paper clips or taped up ripped paper to prepare the old files/charts for the shredder. Some days I sorted through charts, other days I spent shredding charts and some days I would spend the day in the file room and pull outdated charts.

My coaching job I was an assistant director of basketball operations at Kansas State while I pursued my master's degree. My primary responsibilities were film exchange and breakdown – which consisted of only VHS tapes and turning it into digital scouting onto computers. I also spent a lot of time on tracking/recording statistics throughout practice and games. My boss gave me a lot of projects and responsibility that enabled me to learn a lot.
 

58804Rachael Pruett-Hornbaker - Women's Golf - Restaurant Hostess
My first job in high school was as a busser and hostess at a nice restaurant in my hometown of Linton, Ind. I mostly ended up being the hostess as I had a knack for managing guests and the waitstaff. It was my job to manage the expectations of customers, distribution of tables to the waitstaff, and flow of orders to the kitchen. This job taught me a lot about interacting with different personalities and how to adapt my communication style accordingly. 


28456Lindsey Horner - Women's Soccer - Park & Rec
When I turned 16, I had to start paying for my sports camps and was certain I had the meanest parents ever. I took up various odd jobs like babysitting, I stripped wallpaper, and even detassled corn for a few days. I did whatever I could to raise the camp fees.  Looking back I did appreciate my opportunity to improve, compete, spend time with my teammates, and get recruited because I had worked to pay for the experience. 

When I was in college I came home every summer to work for the Des Moines Parks and Recreation department. I really enjoyed my coworkers and of course sports, kids, and having fun. I packed my lunch each day, worked outside from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., then I would come home to take a nap and then my training in. I think being responsible for someone else's child forced me to grow up, but I had so much fun with the campers. It was apparent though that I was wired to be in the competitive side of sports and not the recreational side. Think of me as the camp counselor throwing a dodgeball at a small child!


49451Todd Stepsis - Football - School Custodian
Growing up, we had a rule that 'as long as you are playing a sport, you don't have to get a job.' So my first real job was the summer before my freshman year in college working at an elementary school cleaning desks and scrubbing and waxing floors. It was a 6 a.m. -2:30 p.m. job that paid $4.35 per hour. This job started the long string of summer jobs that had a common theme – making me grateful that I was getting a college degree and that I didn't have to do something like this for the rest of my life.  

My first ever job in athletics was as a graduate assistant at Otterbein College. A stipend of $4,000, free grad school classes and one meal a day lasted for two years. I coached the defensive backs, was the video coordinator, recruited northwest Ohio and helped in the weight room. All while bartending at a local golf and country club. I'll never forget driving the school van to away games and meeting the next opponent on Sunday mornings to exchange VHS tapes of our game the day before. I did learn a very valuable lesson in regards to this profession while I was there. If you like who you work with (the student-athletes were awesome and I still think of them often), and you like who you work for (the defensive staff and head coach were phenomenal, giving me complete control and autonomy within my areas of responsibility), while having the opportunity to win, it'll be a fantastic experience, regardless of what the win-loss record is at the end of the year.  


63555Davidson Kozlowski - Men's Tennis - Assistant to the Tennis Pro
I can't remember how young I started, but with my dad being involved in the tennis industry I have been around tennis courts my entire life. I can remember picking up tennis balls during lessons when I was around eight years old. A couple years later, I moved onto stringing tennis racquets for club members and then ended up feeding tennis balls during around age 12 while the tennis coaches were giving instruction.  




 
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