Once Mr. Block recovered his composure, he invited Andi, Jamie, and Coach Dunphy into his office. Ms. Dumas came in and asked if anyone would like anything to drink—a first in Andi’s previous visits to the principal’s office.
Mr. Block asked for some coffee—Andi suspected he might prefer something a lot stronger—and Coach Dunphy said a bottle of water would be nice. Ms. Dumas scurried out.
Mr. Block looked at Coach Dunphy and said, “Coach, it’s an honor to meet you, I’ve followed your career for a long time…”
“Too long,” Coach Dunphy said with a smile.
Mr. Block laughed uncomfortably at the joke, then continued. “That said, with all due respect, what are you doing here?”
Coach Dunphy looked at Andi and Jamie to make sure they didn’t want to answer the question before responding.
“I understand you need someone to coach your sixth-grade girls’ team the rest of the season,” he said. “As you know, I’m retired, and my weekday afternoons are free right now. So I’m here to offer some help.”
“You mean coach the team?” Mr. Block said—in a tone that made it clear that if Coach Dunphy had said he was here to buy the school he wouldn’t have been any less stunned.
“Yes, exactly,” Coach Dunphy said.
Mr. Block was about to answer when Ms. Dumas returned with a mug of coffee for Mr. Block and a bottle of water for Coach Dunphy. Mr. Block took a sip of the coffee, leaned back, and said, “I’m curious, how exactly did you hear about our problem?”
He was looking at Andi when he said it.
“Well, Tom Michaels and I have been friends for years,” Coach Dunphy said. “Tom came to speak to my class at Temple last night, and he and his son Jeff filled me in on what was going on here. Very unfortunate situation, obviously. I’m sure you don’t want the girls to lose their season, so I said I thought maybe I could help.”
“If the season ends, it’ll be the girls who brought it on themselves,” Mr. Block said, the ice that had been in his voice a day earlier returning.
Coach Dunphy shrugged. “I’m not here to judge that,” he said. “I’m here to see if I can help a bunch of kids out.”
Mr. Block took another sip of his coffee, then folded his hands on the desk. Andi sensed he was stalling.
“Well, it’s very generous of you to want to help out,” he said finally. “But, unfortunately, it’s impossible for a nonemployee to supervise students in any capacity.” He shrugged as if to say “end of story.”
Coach Dunphy smiled. “I understand that. But I’ve talked to a couple of lawyers who tell me that I can sign a contract—you can pay me one dollar—making me an employee.”
Block seemed surprised by the quick response, but rallied: “There’s also the union issue. You can’t possibly join our teachers’ union.”
“You have lots of employees on staff—your assistant out there, I’d imagine for one,” Coach Dunphy said, nodding in the direction of the outer office, “who aren’t in the union.”
Mr. Block was silent. He sat back in his chair, leaned forward, picked up the coffee again, drank, and sat back one more time.
“I’m going to have to give this some thought,” he said. “I need to talk to the superintendent of schools and see what she says.”
He stood up to end the meeting.
Coach Dunphy didn’t move.
“The girls have a game tomorrow,” he said. “They didn’t practice yesterday. I’d like to be able to meet them and get to know them a little as players before coaching a game. I understand they practice at four fifteen. Can we try to get this done by then?”
Mr. Block shook his head. “Well, even if we get approval, even if I decide to go ahead, I don’t see how it can be done by then.”
“Why not?” Coach Dunphy said. “You must have a standard employee contract that just needs to be filled in with my information, dates, salary. That shouldn’t take long.”
Mr. Block was clearly taken aback by Coach Dunphy’s aggressiveness. Andi was surprised, too. The Fran Dunphy she’d always read about was about as polite as anyone in sports. Clearly, though, he didn’t have much patience for bureaucratic stalling tactics.
“Leave me your cell phone number,” Mr. Block said. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Soon, I hope,” Coach Dunphy said.
He stood up, put out his hand, and said, “Look forward to working with you.”
After shaking hands with the principal, he led Andi and Jamie out of the office.
The word that Fran Dunphy had been in the principal’s office volunteering to coach the sixth-grade girls’ team spread through the school like wildfire. The entire cafeteria knew before lunch was over, and so did the faculty—tipped off, apparently, by Ms. Dumas.
As soon as last period was over, Jeff went to find Andi. There was a text from Coach Dunphy waiting for him when he turned on his phone: Nothing yet.
Andi had gotten the same text. She and Jeff were talking in front of her locker when both of their phones buzzed. A new text from Coach Dunphy.
Block just asked me to come to his office—alone. I think you and Jamie should be there.
Andi looked at Jeff. “What do you think?”
“I think he’s right,” Jeff said. “It’s your team.”
Andi texted back asking when the meeting would take place.
Five minutes. I’m right down the street at the Madison Diner.
See you there, Andi texted back, and then called Jamie to loop her in.
Getting to the principal’s office was a challenge, since it seemed as if everyone in the hallway wanted to know what was going on.
She was—unfortunately—the first to arrive.
“I believe this is a private meeting,” Ms. Dumas said when she walked in. “Adults only.”
Before Andi could respond, Coach Dunphy walked in with Jamie right behind him.
“I asked the girls to join us,” Coach Dunphy said. “It’s their team.”
“Well, we’ll see what Mr. Block has to say about this,” Ms. Dumas said, just as Mr. Block—right on cue—appeared in the doorway.
“It’s fine, Ms. Dumas. Come on in, everyone.”
They sat in the same three seats they had occupied earlier.
Mr. Block got right to the point. “I’ve talked to the superintendent of schools and I’ve also talked to counsel and I’m told that we can do this,” he said. “I’ll be honest and tell you, Coach Dunphy, I’m not thrilled by this. I understand you want to do this for the girls, but I’m not a big believer in rewarding misbehavior.”
“The misbehavior here was Coach Josephson’s,” Jamie said, surprising Andi—especially since she was thinking the exact same thing.
“We’ll agree to disagree on that point, Ms. Bronson,” Mr. Block said, waving a hand.
“Mr. Dunphy, I’m going to allow this—at least for now. I know my faculty won’t be happy, but for the moment I will say I made the decision for the sake of the players.”
“That’s the only reason for you to make it,” Coach Dunphy said quietly.
“I’ll need you to fill out paperwork before practice today, which I’m told is at four fifteen. Ms. Dumas will give you what you need.”
He stood up. The meeting was over. He didn’t extend a hand, just waved in the direction of the door—and Ms. Dumas.
Andi didn’t care. They had a coach—a real coach.
Jeff had wondered if Coach C would have anything to say about the possibility of Fran Dunphy coaching the girls. By the time the boys gathered for their three-fifteen practice, the entire school was aware of what was going on, so there was no reason to pretend otherwise.
He didn’t have to wait long for an answer.
“I know you guys have heard about what’s going on with the girls’ team,” Coach C said when they got to center court for their prepractice talk. “I can tell you the faculty isn’t going to be happy if Mr. Block allows Fran Dunphy to coach the sixth-grade girls. The support for Coach Josephson is pretty close to unanimous.”
Then he smiled. “On the other hand, we’re talking about a Hall of Fame coach and I’m sure he is doing this for good reasons, not bad ones. But we’ll see if it happens. Right now, we’ve got a game at King of Prussia tomorrow and they’re the only unbeaten team in the league. We beat them, we’re a game out of first place. So, let’s focus on that.”
They practiced hard, with Jeff and Ron Arlow back to splitting time at the point. Jeff knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t help but wish that Arlow had been a little bit sicker and hadn’t come back to school so fast.
At 4:10 p.m., Jeff noticed members of the girls’ team coming into the gym dressed in practice gear. That had to mean Mr. Block had decided to allow Fran Dunphy to coach the team. Sure enough, a moment later, Coach Dunphy himself walked onto the court, wearing a maroon T-shirt that said TEMPLE BASKETBALL on it. He stood at the baseline with Andi and Jamie and watched as the boys wrapped up.
Jeff knew Coach C had seen the girls and their new coach, but he gave no indication that he’d noticed anything unusual. A moment later, practice was over and they circled their coach again. He reminded them to be on the bus at two thirty the next day, asked Arlow and Jeff to lead a cheer—“Beat KOP!”—and sent them to the locker room.
As the girls took the court to warm up, Jeff was amused to see Coach C stopping to shake hands with Coach Dunphy. They spoke briefly, before Coach Dunphy gave Coach C a friendly pat on the back and headed to midcourt. Jeff thought for a second about running over to say hello, then decided it was a bad idea. Arlow had already made a crack in the locker room about Jeff and “his daddy” riding to Andi’s rescue again. He didn’t need to make a point of the fact that he knew Coach Dunphy.
Coach Dunphy had told the girls to warm up the way they normally did—which meant two layup lines. Andi could feel the adrenaline pumping through her and could tell everyone else felt the same way.
After several minutes, she heard Coach Dunphy say in a clear voice: “Everyone, here please.”
He wasn’t wearing a whistle. It was pretty apparent he didn’t need one. Everyone raced to the center jump circle.
“Before we start, I’d like each of you to introduce yourself to me,” he said. “I will try to be sure I learn everyone’s name as quickly as possible. I already know some of you, but I need to know all of you. And, even though I should be able to figure it out watching you play, tell me what you think of as your position.”
He looked directly at Maria Medley. “You can skip the part about your position.”
Everyone laughed.
They went around the circle. Andi and Jamie went last.
Then they did some warm-up drills and returned to the circle.
“I asked Jamie and Andi to give some idea of how you guys have been lining up. On their recommendation, here are the five I want as starters—at least for now: Bronson, Carillo, Medley, Dove, and Carmichael.” The second team—for now—will be Jolie, Allison, Mearns, Lee, and Eisen. Jensen and Bonilla will sub in as the day goes along.”
The scrimmage was spirited. Coach Dunphy occasionally said “Stop, everyone” or “Hang on” to make corrections on things like footwork or how to set a screen. It was the first teaching the girls had received all winter.
When they were finished, he gathered them again and told them he was honored to have the chance to coach them. “I don’t know a thing about King of Prussia’s team,” he said. “We’ll all have to learn as we go tomorrow.”
He looked around the circle and then added, “Jamie has suggested to me that I make Andi Carillo her co-captain. Any objections?”
Everyone shouted, “No!”
Coach Dunphy nodded. “Okay then, Jamie, Andi, get ’em in.”
Jamie hadn’t warned Andi about this. Now she looked at her and said, “Lead the way, captain.”
Andi was beaming. She stepped into the circle and waited for Jamie, and they put their hands up together: “Let’s go one and oh!” she said—her meaning clear.
They stepped in and shouted, “Let’s go one and oh!”
Everyone was grinning as they headed to the locker room.