Office move: A new view in McCann

After more than 20 years in the same office space, I’ve been moved! Don’t worry: I won’t be sending out “I’ve moved” letters or postcards in the mail with a new address, because the address is the same. It’s just a few strides and a turn or two down the hall in the Coaches Complex in the McCann Center. Here’s the deal: Back in the fall, the athletic department expanded its sports information/multimedia space with an excellent, large office and studio near where the McCann classroom is located. The sports info/multimedia assistants’ office, where 3-4 young professionals crammed in on a daily basis, became vacant. Athletic administration asked if I would be willing to move into their old office (which is actually a bit larger than my original office) so that the lacrosse team assistants (men’s and women’s, crammed into one small space) could expand into my old office while remaining close to the lax head coaches. Does this make sense?

Anyway! It made no sense to move Coach Chuck, who has an actual, viable office with a nice couch and is very well organized. So I said sure, why not? For the past several years, my “office” has really morphed into a repository for large boxes, old sneakers, the team tent, the team tarp, etc. In other words! It wasn’t an office but rather a large storage space; there were times where forging a path to my desk was akin to a technical hike on the Appalachian Trail. You think I’m kidding? Ask Coach Horton, or anyone else who dared to navigate this hazardous space (much to the dismay of CUESTA, who spent the better part of a week two summers ago organizing my office … only to see the Old Man have it returned to the haphazard disarray that it has been for a while). Because of this, a whole generation of Marist athletes – the current team – has known that the last place to look for Coach Pete was in Coach Pete’s office. When I recruited them, we met in conference rooms; when we have individual meetings, we do that in conference rooms or the Enhancement Center. Not my office. Never in my office.

Well. This may change! The new office is, shall we say, neat. Maybe not literally neat, but we’ll try to keep it that way (I can hear Cuesta snickering already). The upshot of the move was that I filled up two huge garbage bags of stuff I didn’t want or need anymore – detritus of decades of coaching a large team. We moved the boxes of team gear to their rightful place, our storage area in the bowels of the McCann Center. The new office has counter space – not really a desk – which is excellent as there is storage below that and more open space for when the office inevitably does get cluttered again. Here’s the thing! We’re going to try to keep it uncluttered (shut up, Cuesta) and useful as a meeting place and space – for recruits, team members, etc. In other words? Actual work may get done in my office. Don’t hold your breath … but it’s possible. Stop by and check it out, if you can find me. OK!