Since her freshmen year, Sarah Proctor has been a staple of the DePauw football team. In her four years as a manager, she has been an instrumental part of the preparation necessary for the Tigers to succeed on game days. As a senior, she also serves as the Head Video Coordinator for the program. The DePauw sat down with Proctor to discuss her role on the team.
TDP: What are your daily responsibilities as a manager?
Proctor: I head over there and move all the practice pads, cones, and footballs. Then I go get my camera ready. It’s a camcorder on a big long metal pole, and I’ve got a screen and a little remote that controls it so I can move it higher up and still be mobile.
TDP: How did you get started as the football manager?
Proctor: My dad got on my iPad one day before I began my freshman year and started looking and saw a thing on the e-services bulletin board and saw an ad for football manager. So he looked at it and was like “I don’t care if you want to do this or not, you’re going to contact the coach.” He was a high school football coach. He stressed to me that if I didn’t like it I could quit, but emphasized that it would be a great environment to be in, I’d have a new group of people that I’d immediately know on campus right away. I did one season, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I thought I was going to absolutely hate it and it turned out to be the best thing ever.
TDP: What is your favorite part about managing?
Proctor: My favorite part of it is people watching. Football players in their natural habitat are the best people to people watch, and it can be hilarious. I also never did team sports in high school so feeling part of a close knit team, even though I’m not part of it as a player, is really intense and rewarding.
TDP: What’s the worst thing you’ve had to do as a manager?
Proctor: One of the seniors last season made me bandage his toe because his cleats were too tight. He sat there with his foot out and asked “can you put a Band-Aid on my toe.” I told him he could do it himself, but he insisted and I swallowed my pride and helped him out. It was gross and sweaty and I definitely didn’t enjoy any of that.
TDP: Have you built a camaraderie with the players and coaches on the team?
Proctor: I was terrified of the players for the first years and now I’ve built some great relationships with the players. I’ve got friends on the team that I eat with and hang out with, but when I see a lot of the players out and about we give each other the ‘dude nod’ when we pass by each other.
TDP: Do you have any Monon Bell predictions?
Proctor: This is the best shot we’ve had in the four years I’ve been here. This is Coach Lynch’s first full team that he recruited entirely. All of the guys intimately know each other on the field and we have 22 seniors and a bunch of juniors. So right now we have a much older and experienced team.