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Football
Mom Gisele Kates has one daughter and 120 sons, and they all attend TCU. “I know why God gave me a girl,” Kates said. “Because he knew someday he was going to give me about 120 sons. I would like to adopt them all.” Kates types on a keyboard at her desk with purple fingernails, wearing the pendant from the Mobile Alabama Bowl around her neck and a lapel pin in the shape of a football helmet.
Kates, the administrative assistant in the football office, is the front-line that football players and coaches go to when they need assistance. Kates’ job does not end when the football season is over. Now that the team has finished with spring training, Kates is typing up evaluations of spring ball for the coaches to use in the fall. Kates also plays a large role in the recruiting process. She gathers information from the high schools along with videos of the athletes. She works with the recruiting coordinator and the director of football to get information about prospects they are going to consider. Kates works for nine assistant coaches also. But her job is not all work, she said. Kates said she develops personal relationships with the players and jokes around with them when they come in to meet with their coaches. When junior defensive tackle John Turntine comes into the office, she jokingly tells him he wears more jewelry than she does. On top of her other duties, Kates helps run the Purple Hearts. She said she tries to develop a personal relationship with all of the students with whom she works. “We definitely come to her with our problems and our crushes,” said junior Purple Heart Amanda Harrison. The Purple Hearts each have a football player to whom they are assigned, and they also help on game days with the recruits. Kates said she had to start everything over again when coach Gary Patterson took over as head coach in December of 2000. “Everything you had been doing is thrown out the window and you start over again,” Kates said. “Every coaching staff is different as for their individual needs.” Kates gets a lot of help from coach Patterson’s secretary, Ruth Casey. “She’s a good person and does anything in the world for you,” Casey said. “She takes care of everybody.” Kates, who was born in Japan because her father was in the Air Force, did not even come to the United States until she was nine years old. “I feel like I have been here all of my life,” Kates said. Kates moved to Fort Worth when she was 11 after her parents divorced and she went to live with her grandmother. Kates graduated from Fort Worth Carter High School and married her husband soon after graduation. Kates worked in the counseling office at Richland High School until her daughter Tiffany, who will graduate in April with a master’s degree in accounting, got accepted to TCU. Kates went to work for Media Relations hoping to help with tuition payments. An opening in the football office came along and Kates has been there for the past three years. Nothing goes on in the football office that Kates does not know about, whether it is reserving conference rooms for alumni or making sure that the coaches have purple M&Ms during the week and Big Red gum to chew before practice. Kates knows all and sees all. “She is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done,” Casey said. “She runs the show.” Blair
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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