Dressed To Coach

You know the old saying, 'Clothes make the man.' If you are a long time reader, you might recall how my lovely sister in law, Sally, convinced me over the course of several years to completely revamp the way I look at dressing for work. It took patience (on her part) and numerous trips to Jos A Bank along the way but now even I admit I'm at least a decently dressed guy. During the academic year, I bring shirts/pants/ties/shoes/socks/belts to school each week and my teacher's aide lays out what I'll wear the next day. This year my aide is Cristina, an amazing young lady, and her choices have been earning me rave reviews for dapperness. But her wardrobe selections only cover Monday through Thursday. Like many schools with uniforms, WCS celebrates a Spirit Wear Friday in which faculty/staff and students can wear approved WILDCAT gear with jeans. I resisted for several years but have become a convert to the Levis-Westbury Christian t-shirt, again due in large part to Sally. But I have this quirk- I won't wear polo shirts. And most coaching tops fall into the short sleeve with collar genre. When they are issued to me, I always give mine to another faculty member, usually a volunteer or adjunct coach. During games, I dress nicely in my school garb with dress shirt/pants/shoes/tie. For me, there is no in-between the extremes of t-shirts and the Jos A Bank look. That is, until last Friday.

Two weeks ago, our Athletic Director, Mark Krimm, handed out a new pullover to all of our coaches. Mine is shown above. They look sharp and don't have the typical pointed down collars. So, I took, for me, a leap of faith and wore it for Friday's Spirit Wear. The compliments came almost, to quote a movie title, fast and furious! It seems the new look sported by many of our coaches is a hit. I was asked if you can buy them in the Wildcat Store but alas, they are reserved for those who patrol the sidelines of our fields and courts. Throughout that Friday, one comment stood out. It came from Caelan, a senior and one of our multidimensional Wildcat athletes. His statement to me?
"Now you look like a real coach!"
A real coach? I chuckled. I have more coaching experience by far than anyone on our staff. What I take that Caelan meant was that he'd never seen me dress like his other coaches dress which I'm sure is true. In that light, I take his seven words as a very nice compliment!

Without an exhaustive concordance check,  I can't recall the Scriptures speaking of the wardrobe any of the main characters with one exception. Well, also maybe not including  Adam and Eve and their fig leaf and we know the soldiers gambled for Jesus' clothes at the cross. The exception in my mind is John the Baptist. My students all know he wore camel's hair and a leather belt, living out in the wilderness. He could have dressed like a priest- he was the son of a priest but he followed God's calling and set the stage for Jesus. But John also dressed like Elijah, the prophet of old who many believed John was. It doesn't look like any of the other seers dressed like Elijah or John. They had their own ways and their own manners. But they had this is in common with John and Elijah- they spoke the word of God. I ask my students if John could could get a preaching job today and the consensus is he would not- too many red flags! At the top of the list, he didn't dress the part. Neither do I, most days. I can blend in now when I need to visually but I hope my effectiveness rests on my words and actions and not my new threads..... even if they are kind of cool! And I can attest, much less scratchy than one made of camel hair!

Applicable quote of the day:
If you see me walking down the street, you're gonna see the same guy as you do on stage, dressed the same, looking the same, and nothing changes. I'm just one person.
Daryl Hall

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
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E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com