Deerfield High School is revered statewide for its excellent test scores and great success in athletics, both of which are aided by teachers who take their teaching skills from the classroom to the court. In addition to their students and athletes, these teacher-coaches all have families in addition to their jobs, giving them an additional item to add to what is now a trio of duties to juggle.

Now, in his 12th year as a math teacher at DHS, Dan McKendrick balances his classes with his varsity basketball coaching career. McKendrick believes the two have a symbiotic relationship, and that coaches are at an advantage if they teach.
“Coaches who teach probably understand some of the outside demands that the kids are going through . . . and they get a little more of the emotional and academic demands,” McKendrick said.

A challenge that McKendrick initially had in being both a coach and father of two is that he could not separate his life at home from that on the court. What he has learned from this is that when he is home he needs to focus on his children and forget about the game that just occurred. While McKendrick continues to make a work life balance, Jeremy Kauffman, after 18 years as head cross country and track coach has stepped down in order to spend more time with his children, specifically to be at their dance recitals and gymnastic meets.

“I was present but just so exhausted from the week or the day that I was just sort of there, I wasn’t really engaged that well … my daughters voiced to me [that] it doesn’t really matter if I [had gone] because I was missing so much anyway . . . I realized that I’m not going to get that time back and I better put the time in,” Kauffman said.  But the turning point for Kauffman was when his wife came to a meet, and after noting the family culture that DFDC and track have built, said to him, “that’s the guy I want in our house, and we don’t get that guy.” Kauffman gave notice of his resignation from coaching the very next day.

These teacher-coaches impact students daily in the classroom and during competition. One of these students is Brandon Keller, a senior on McKendrick’s basketball team and was previously a student in his geometry class.

“I see him as almost two different people,” Keller said of McKendrick. “[the two McKendricks] both help me in ways but in different ways.”

While McKendrick and Kauffman stressed keeping family and coaching balanced, Keller highlights the balance that is important for students: keeping the results of competition out of the classroom. Keller noted that McKendrick is both a great teacher and coach, but he never projects his emotions of the previous night’s win or loss on the students in his classes.

If there is one thing to be learned from all of this, as both coaches were sure to emphasize, it is that family is most important and always comes first. This is followed by teaching and then by coaching on the list of priorities. While coaching may be the most passionate of the three positions, raising a family requires hours of care and attention. And while the lessons can be transferred over between the three, they are ultimately separate and no emotions from one ever bleed into another.