Chapter 55

Coach Jason Merritt
Though he had his faults, Coach Clayton had been exceptional at organizing. He’d laid out a practice plan that looked like a blueprint Jason could live with. That freed him up to hire a special teams coach.

When he’d played college and pro ball, it had been apparent it was a man’s sport. The whole time he’d been playing, he’d dated and eventually married Emma, who, it turned out, knew more about football than many of his coaches. So much for it being a ‘man’s sport.’

After he retired from pro ball and became an NFL assistant, they’d landed in Arizona, where he coached defensive backs. Carl Stackhouse, the owner, had a daughter who was a kindred spirit to his wife.

Amy Stackhouse had grown up following her dad around as he oversaw the team. There were stories of her sitting in film sessions as early as age five. When she was a teen, her dad barred her from being around the players. She learned that her dad had heard a couple of players talking about his daughter in inappropriate ways. Both players were released, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Amy was growing into a woman.

Later, Amy came to the realization that she would never work for her dad, so she went to college and got her psychology degree. The summer before her senior year was when Jason began coaching for Arizona.

They’d drafted a wide receiver in the first round who’d won the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college. When he joined voluntary workouts, it quickly became apparent that something had changed because the kid looked very average. The coaching staff tried everything and couldn’t seem to get through to the young man.

Amy had gone to her dad and asked if she could work with the guy. By the end of summer, she’d fixed him and turned him into a solid contributor to the team.

After that, Amy set up her psychology practice in Phoenix, specializing in helping young athletes.

There was a knock on his door.

“Come in.”

Amy walked in. While Jason didn’t like to compare women’s looks, Amy always reminded him of Emma Stone. It was mainly in her eyes and her quirky smile that made you think you were in on whatever secret she had. He would admit that she looked good in her USC coach’s polo shirt, but as a married man, that was as far as it would ever go.

“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 you’re qualified, so put that out of your mind. What I want you to do first is 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 small changes that made a big difference,” Amy said. “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.”

“Good to know,” Jason said and then looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s time you met 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 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 the daughter of Carl Stackhouse, 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’s 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 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 want to say that I, for one, fully embrace that approach,” Coach Farrow said, adding his vote of confidence.

By the nods around the room, it looked like the rest of the coaching staff was on board.

Between meetings, Jason got a call from Drew Langford, who’d just had a meeting with Brent Allison, the Pac-12 commissioner. Brent had brought Drew up to speed on some of the goings-on at the conference level, and in particular with the interactions with the TV networks. It seemed that the TV partners all wanted to see David as one of the conference’s leading players and, in particular, wanted his star power.

Drew said Brent was insistent that he wasn’t dictating who Jason would play, but he did want to pass on the reality of the situation.

This was all that Jason needed—not!

Jason introduced Amy to the team at the start of the first practice. About two hours into it, 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, pausing 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. He’s a two-sport athlete who was named the baseball team MVP as well as All-Pac 12. And, by the way, he was the number one football recruit in the land when he graduated high school. If Matt hadn’t gotten hurt before spring ball started, David might very well be my starting middle linebacker,” Jason shared.

“So, what is David? A quarterback or a linebacker?”

“He was a quarterback in high school and a damned good one. But when he came here, Matt was already set to be QB1. David agreed to join us as a walk-on and play defense. Coach Farrow says he’s an outstanding athlete who can play almost every position on defense.”

“Okay, I’m sure there’s more to that story, but you can fill me in later. What’s Matt suspended for?”

“Matt didn’t handle David potentially displacing him as the starter very well; in fact, he reacted badly. 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 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’ move if I ever heard one. That’s something that could splinter your team. It sounds like the Dawson kid’s 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. In fact, it seems to have made their relationship even worse than it already was.