Chapter 4 #2
“Wait a minute,” Layne said. “Why would the new guy have anything to do with you hiring a coach?”
“Jon Earl Horton is stepping down as the district’s athletic director,” she informed her friends. “He wants to focus on football and return to the classroom, so he and Dad thought Carson might be a good choice to take over the open AD slot.”
“That’s a lot on Carson’s plate,” Piper observed. “Especially since I’m not seeing anything online about him having been in that role before.”
“No, it’s new to him, but he’s a really sharp guy.”
Layne grinned. “He’s at least smart enough to know to let you hire the person you want for the job and just let him rubber-stamp it.”
Mila laughed. “And on that note, I’ll talk to you both in a couple of weeks.”
Quickly, they all pulled up their phone calendars and agreed to a date for their next group call. While she texted almost daily with both women, it was nice to see her friends over these FaceTime calls and interact together.
“Thanks again for letting me share boring work stuff that neither of you cares about,” Layne said, looking serious. “Jeremy never seems to be interested in work talk.”
“We’re always here for you,” Mila said. “Especially when you dumb it down enough for us to have a clue what you’re even talking about.”
“Bye, everybody,” Piper said, leaving the call.
Mila did the same and then clicked over to a set of questions she would be using in her interviews tomorrow.
Some were standard ones provided by the district’s HR office, while others were more in-depth ones which would allow her to see how well the candidates she interviewed knew about volleyball.
Mila needed to find a coach who not only had decent knowledge of the sport but was willing to align the middle school program with hers at the high school.
Too many times in a small town, staff was hired to coach a sport they’d never played, much less one they had personal knowledge of.
She definitely wanted someone who had played volleyball and shared her philosophy regarding the sport and coaching athletes.
Taking time now to review their applications and résumés, she wondered which one would be the best fit.
The first candidate was twenty-seven and had bounced around to three schools already since graduating from college.
His résumé was solid, though, and she thought he was worth talking to.
The second candidate was a recent college graduate, but she had played volleyball for almost fifteen years, from everything to the Y to club to her high school’s team.
She hadn’t played on a university team, but she had run a coed intramural sports league for her college.
That had included playing and reffing volleyball and other games, such as basketball and flag football.
Mila liked that she was female and had organizational experience.
She wasn’t against hiring a male coach for a female sport, but she thought it was important for young ladies to have strong female role models.
The final woman she was interviewing was the wife of one of the new football coaches at one of Corpus Christi’s high schools.
Mila knew in a marriage where both the husband and wife coached, they would move to the job which was the most prestigious.
The football job was with a 6-A school, several divisions higher than Driftwood Bay.
Texas broke up competition based upon the population of a school, with new districts being drawn up every two years as student enrollments were updated.
While this third candidate had taught in a larger school than Driftwood Bay, it was obvious she was taking a step back in her career based upon the direction her husband’s football career now headed.
Because of the hours the husband would put in, most likely the couple would live in Corpus.
Mila would have preferred a coach who chose to live locally, but she was still willing to interview this final candidate, seeking the best qualified coach for the position.
Satisfied with her list of questions and knowledge of each person seeking the job, Mila closed her tablet and got ready for bed.
She had trouble falling asleep, though, playing bits and pieces of her conversation with Carson Andrews in her head.
Frustrated, she sat up, turning on the light on her nightstand.
Picking up her phone, she googled him just as Piper had suggested.
Mila read several articles about the teams he had coached before turning her attention to his wife’s murder.
Angie Andrews had been a nurse, well-beloved at the hospital where she worked, and had been married to Carson for eight years before her death. Lily had been their first child.
As Mila scrolled through several news stories, the witness accounts shocked her with just how brutal and senseless the murder had been. She couldn’t imagine the hurt Carson carried in his heart, having lost his college sweetheart.
Setting her cell on the charger, Mila turned out the light again.
Carson’s life was going through huge changes right now.
He was bringing his motherless daughter to a new town.
He would have to find housing and childcare.
Meet his new coaching staff and players.
Learn an entire new job as the AD for the district.
Like Mila, becoming involved with someone was the last thing either of them needed.
Or was it?