Page 6 of One on One
“Coach!” Ted bellows.
Taylor’s shoulder blades snap together. Jess rips off her hat and slides her granola bar to the side. The energy in the room evaporates, like when a teacher enters an unsupervised classroom full of chattering students.
Assistant head coach Travis Williams is tall, closer toseven feet than six. I need to get used to that, otherwise it’s going to be a long day of noticing everyone’s heights. I’m back in basketball, for shit’s sake.
Williams is fair-complexioned with fine blond hair, and his skin has the withered texture of an overripe bell pepper. “Morning,” he says. His eyes are the darkest part of his face, which gives him a severe look. He doesn’t smile, not even in a perfunctory way. Nobody tells him Jess is hangry.
He sits directly across from me at the table and folds his hands. He puts nothing in front of him, not a notebook or cell phone or coffee cup.
Apparently he’s the last person we were waiting for, because Ted starts the meeting. Sort of. “So, Annie, how was your move to Ardwyn?”
Williams rubs a hand across his forehead.
“It went pretty smoothly,” I say. “It’s nice to be back. Although I was sad to see my favorite ice cream place is gone.” I hesitate to add more, looking back and forth between Ted and Williams and fiddling with my necklace. Ted clearly loves small talk. Williams seems like a guy who would roll his eyes if you tried to wish him a happy birthday.
It would be nice to know who I’m supposed to try to please here. Jess and Taylor are no help. They’re both engrossed in their laptops, and based on the dueling-pianos rhythm of their typing, I’m pretty sure they’re messaging each other.
I used to understand the politics of this place, but there’s a lot of turnover in college sports, and everything is different now. The year after I quit, Coach Maynard got a new job making big-time public school money at Arizona Tech and took most of his staff with him. His replacement, CoachMarshall Thomas, brought in his own assistants, including Williams and Eric.
Ted is still going. “Do you have a lot of friends in the area?”
“Um. A few.” My hand is on my necklace again.Stop that,I chide myself.
“How long has it been since you graduated?”
“Eight years.” I force a smile and widen my eyes like I can’t believe so much time has passed. Here’s an approach to satisfy everyone: I’ll answer his questions in as few words as possible, like I’m paying for them by the syllable, but with my friendliest facial expression.
Ted launches into a story about Jess’s first day on the job, and that’s Williams’s breaking point. He shifts in his seat and clears his throat. “I have to leave for the airport in a half hour, so we need to get started.”
Recruiting trip? I had him pegged as an Xs and Os coach, not a schmoozer.
He leans forward on his elbows. “Please explain to me why we need someone like you on our team.”
Ted laughs, a ho-ho chuckle from deep in his belly. “She just got here, Coach!”
Williams gives him a dead-eyed look.
“Um, I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” I say. “Wasn’t I hired because you thought you needed someone like me? You, or—someone.”
He’s silent for a moment. I uncross my legs and recross them in the other direction. Taylor’s typing is feverish.
“I’m asking what you do, on a basic level. I don’t spend much time on the Internet.”
“Oh. Well, I used to do this type of work for the team when I was a student, as Eric probably told you? I’m sure therole will be a little different this time around. But generally, I’ll produce videos for social media. Behind-the-scenes stuff, interviews? And hype videos.”
“Hype videos,” he repeats blankly, his face giving nothing away.
“Like movie trailers, but for basketball games?” I clear my throat, trying to knock the upspeak out of my voice.
Williams makes a steeple with his hands, each fingertip pressed against its counterpart on the other hand. He looks up, talking to the ceiling. “When I heard Coach Thomas was creating a new position for a video person—to me it didn’t seem like a good use of ourlimited resources.” He emphasizes the last two words carefully, like they have a secret meaning I’m not meant to understand. “I’m old-school, so maybe that makes me biased. But our director of analytics is a modern guy, and he agreed with me. We made our opinions clear to Coach Thomas.”
Ted opens his mouth and then thinks better of it.
Williams’s eyes drop from the ceiling to me. “But now you’re here.”
I want to laugh. What an ass. I didn’t even seek out this job. Why should I sell him on it?Talk to the people who did the hiring. Talk to Eric, especially.
Speaking of Eric, I should’ve given him a lump of fucking coal as a wedding gift instead of a fancy Dutch oven. He told me Coach Thomas is desperate to top the innovative ways other schools use video. He neglected to mention that others on the coaching staff adamantly disagree.
