Introduction

I am a football wife.

I am NOT a writer. 

I am a lot of things.  I am an artist, salon owner, hairstylist, mother of two, and a wife.  A football wife.

I decided to start writing about my experiences as  more or less of a way to preserve these memories for myself.  If anyone else ever happens to read this lowly "blog", maybe it will give them a better perspective into this crazy life we lead on the other side of the sport.

When you think about the people involved in the sport of football, three come to mind- coaches, players, fans.  But the person most people don't really think about is the wife.  A coach's wife is a rare breed.  Like most good wives, we support our husbands and their job choice.  But to a coach, it is WAY more than a job.  I know plenty of women who have husbands with stressful jobs.  I know wives of pilots, over-seas military men, farmers, police officers, and surgeons.  These wives experience a type of stress that I will never experience.  I can relate to the long hours, low pay, time away from home, and the responsibilities of being a single mom at times.  But what is different for a coaching family is knowing that your husband's career is in the hands of CHILDREN and during the times of losing programs, you can be the most hated person in town.  Take a moment to imagine this scenario:  Your husband goes to work, but has a 14 year old perform his tasks.  Then your husband will have "his" performance evaluation judged by 100 bosses and experts. Imagine that level of stress!  This is a level of stress that is only understood by the small sorority of coaching wives.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this life.  I do not want my husband to ever be anything BUT a football coach,  Nothing gives me greater pride than standing behind my man who has PASSION for his job.  Maybe because I'm the same way as a hairstylist.  We are both blessed to have jobs that we love going to every single day, even if the hours are long and the pay is terrible.  My coach has a serious love for the game and for the individual athletes.  He loves teaching and becoming a mentor to boys.  And I love him.

So from here, I will reflect on some of our highest of highs and lowest lows.  All in the name of High School Football.

My coach and I met in 2002 while in college at Delta State University.  He was a 5th year transfer football player from Mississippi State, and I was a 19 year old sophomore. I knew from the time we met that he was going to follow his dream of coaching high school football.  I was completely not a football fan, or any sport for that matter, but have grown over the years to finally be able to understand what's going on down on that big grassy field.  Coach has had his feet on a football field for 28 of his 35 years of life:  from peewee, Jr High, Highschool, SEC, Division II, to 12 years of coaching.  This is his life ride, and his family is in the passenger seat!

love and football,

Jamie Wallace