As a 5-year-old, Kelsey Curry used to wander the sidelines of her grandfather’s youth football team, whistle in hand.

She would offer her tips to players and coaches alike, extending good old-fashioned tough love to them.

“My mom says I used to grab the face mask of players back then,” Curry said.

She has turned her passion for the game and competition into a career few other women have even considered. Curry is in her fourth season as the director of football operations at McNeese State.

It is a job she never even knew existed let alone thought about having.

“I didn’t know what football operations was and didn’t know any women were involved,” Curry said.

Not only did Curry grow up with football, she lives with it today. She is married to an assistant coach at Lake Charles Prep who moved back to the area after spending time on the staff at Western Illinois. When Curry learned she was pregnant, he moved back to be with the family.

“He is my biggest supporter when it comes to this,” Curry said.

Most if not all of what Curry does goes unnoticed by fans, but the players and coaches say they would be lost without her.

“What doesn’t she do for us is the question?” said McNeese head coach Gary Goff. “Everything runs through her. She is very organized and a very strong person who can handle both the players and coaches.”

Curry’s job ranges from travel agent to helping with the program’s budget and everything that doesn’t include hands-on coaching. For example, Curry leaves a day early for away games to make sure all the arrangements from hotels to meals are set before the team arrives.

“I could not ride the bus with coach Goff, I would be too anxious things weren’t ready for us,” Curry said. “Going early gives me a chance to fix anything if needed.”

Curry also serves as the keeper of Goff’s schedule, setting his time with the media and other outside obligations.

She also is often somebody players confide in.

“She is a blessing to us and she is in it for the right reason: she cares,” Goff said.

Curry must play different roles to different people in different situations. She has become one of the important parts of their college lives.

“At times I definitely feel like their mother,” Curry said. “I tell people I have 120 kids and 16 husbands.”

Her time at McNeese did not get off to a great start. Just a couple months into it, COVID shut down most of college athletics and then the fall season was called as the Cowboys were scattered all over the place by hurricanes.

When the games restarted, it was spring, and on her first trip — a game at Tarleton State — the Cowboys won in double overtime at night in the cold, the bus she was on got stuck in a ditch for about 90 minutes.

“The driver just turned it right off the side of the road,” Curry said. “I couldn’t do anything and we didn’t get back until the next morning.”

There was also the game at LSU when she was serving as equipment manager. Curry said one of the starting defensive back’s jerseys was left behind in the locker room in Lake Charles.

Without telling the players, she called the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office and got them to get into the locker room, find the jersey, and drive it to Baton Rouge in time to meet the bus.

“You have to be ready for anything and everything,” Curry said. “A lot of things happen, especially on the road.”

Her ability to fix and organize things has the attention of the entire athletic department.

“Kelsey has a great energy about her,” said McNeese Athletic Director Heath Schroyer. “I truly respect the job she does and more importantly how she does it.”

What Curry does for the Cowboys may not be noticed by the public, but it remains one of the most important jobs in the program. Just ask those who count on her each game.

She simply does it all for McNeese, except maybe grab any more face masks.