University of New Hampshire Athletics
Left photo: Ryan Carty and his wife, Katie. Right photo: Amanda Webb and her husband, John.
Saying ‘I Do’ – UNH Field House-Style
8/18/2017 10:02:00 AM | Football, General, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Soccer, UNH Insider
DURHAM, N.H. - Two coasts. Two couples. Two weddings.
So there they were on a redeye flight – leaving San Diego on a Saturday night in early July and arriving first thing Sunday morning at Logan Airport in Boston.
This was getting married, University of New Hampshire Field House-style.
Newlyweds Amanda Webb and John Bowes towards the back of the plane and even-more-recently newlyweds Ryan Carty and his wife, Katie, towards the front.
June may be the most popular month to get married for the general populous: July seems to be the month of choice for Wildcat coaches.
Planning weddings around recruiting assignments, camp schedules and other duties is a way of life when it comes to coaching.
Webb, an assistant to women's soccer head coach Steve Welham, is in her fourth season at UNH.
Carty is in his 12th season with the UNH football team and sixth as offensive coordinator for the Wildcats.
"We weren't going to be planning a Sept. 15 wedding, that's for sure," Webb said of her nuptials with a laugh.
Carty was in a similar boat.
The UNH women's soccer and football season will be in full swing at that point.
"The week of the fourth of July seemed like a safe bet," Carty said.
It was.
And it led to the two couples being on the same redeye flight in early July.
Webb set her wedding for July 1 in Ipswich, Mass. Carty's was July 7 in San Diego.
The couples are friends and attended each other's ceremonies, six days and 3,077 miles, give or take a few, apart.
Then the squeeze was on.
Webb had to get back for the Monday morning start of the soccer camp put on by the UNH women's team. She had it easy.
Carty was due on campus at noon Sunday, July 9, for football camp.
Webb had an additional athletics challenge with pulling her wedding together. Her husband, John, is a college football coach, in his first season as the defensive coordinator at Fordham University after moving over from fellow Patriot League team Bucknell.
"We both knew July was going to be the best time to do it," Webb said. "So many of my friends from soccer and John's friends from football get married in July. You look at camps and recruiting calendars and the dates get narrowed down pretty quickly."
It's been a way of life for Carty for, well, forever.
His father, Kevin, coached football and his brothers, Kevin and Sean, do as well.
"We never went on vacation growing up," he said. "We were at football camps or we had football practice. In the summer we were at camp at Penn State or at Rutgers. It comes normally to me."
Planning ahead can be particularly difficult.
"We get time off, but we don't always know when it will be," Carty said. "It's based on NCAA rules and a lot of summer at our level is based on when the (bigger) FBS schools have their camps.
It's hard to know when we'll have a week off."
Not that he's complaining, mind you, and he's quick to point out that plenty of other professions offer plenty of timing challenges as well.
"It's part of the job, the life we choose," he said. "And sometimes you have to miss other weddings you want to be at. It's like Coach (Sean) McDonnell says, 'improvise, adapt and overcome.'"
Webb's and Carty's were not the only Field House weddings this July: Erin Rigby, who is headed into her fourth season as an assistant to head lacrosse coach Sarah Albrecht, was married to Joe Chase at Flagg Hill Winery in Lee, N.H. on July 29.
"It's a 'dead period' for recruiting," Erin said. "May, June and earlier in July are our busiest recruiting times and the last week of July there's nothing."
In addition, lacrosse is a spring sport.
"I'm lucky," Rigby said. "Unlike the fall sports, I didn't have to be back for anything right away."
She and Joe left the day after their wedding for a honeymoon in Italy.
Webb took a "mini-moon" trip to San Diego to attend Carty's wedding.
"One morning I had to answer some camp emails," said Webb, who also deals with the challenge of her husband coaching in one state and she in another. "John was great about it. He gets it. It didn't cut into beach time too much."
A longer, more traditional honeymoon will have to wait.
"It may be more like a one-year anniversary," Webb said. "Again in July. Hopefully Ireland or someplace else in Europe."
Carty again is thinking along the same lines.
"Who knows, it may be next July," he said.
It should be pointed out, too, that it's not only coaches who often have to work their personal lives and events around team schedules.
Neal Lavoie, UNH's equipment room manager, laughs now about the goings-on on his wedding day several years ago.
His wedding date was set for August 6.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the football team also ended up reporting on August 6 and that's a big day for the equipment room.
"I didn't know the start date for camp and I should have," Lavoie said. "I have to give a speech to the team on the reporting date and tell them about the equipment and the laundry process and what bucket they have to put things into. My wedding was at 3 p.m. and I think I was in here at 9 a.m. and gave my speech and left at 11:30 or 12."
In hindsight, it may not have been the best decision and wasn't fair to his wife, Meredith, he said.
"She was very understanding," Lavoie said. "And it is a lifestyle job."
Which touches on another aspect of trying to squeeze a wedding and sometimes other life events into the oft-times irregular schedule of a coach or other member of the Field House staff: The
patience and understanding necessary to be the spouse of one of those people.
"That's another whole story," Carty said.
So there they were on a redeye flight – leaving San Diego on a Saturday night in early July and arriving first thing Sunday morning at Logan Airport in Boston.
This was getting married, University of New Hampshire Field House-style.
Newlyweds Amanda Webb and John Bowes towards the back of the plane and even-more-recently newlyweds Ryan Carty and his wife, Katie, towards the front.
June may be the most popular month to get married for the general populous: July seems to be the month of choice for Wildcat coaches.
Planning weddings around recruiting assignments, camp schedules and other duties is a way of life when it comes to coaching.
Webb, an assistant to women's soccer head coach Steve Welham, is in her fourth season at UNH.
Carty is in his 12th season with the UNH football team and sixth as offensive coordinator for the Wildcats.
"We weren't going to be planning a Sept. 15 wedding, that's for sure," Webb said of her nuptials with a laugh.
Carty was in a similar boat.
The UNH women's soccer and football season will be in full swing at that point.
"The week of the fourth of July seemed like a safe bet," Carty said.
It was.
And it led to the two couples being on the same redeye flight in early July.
Webb set her wedding for July 1 in Ipswich, Mass. Carty's was July 7 in San Diego.
The couples are friends and attended each other's ceremonies, six days and 3,077 miles, give or take a few, apart.
Then the squeeze was on.
Webb had to get back for the Monday morning start of the soccer camp put on by the UNH women's team. She had it easy.
Carty was due on campus at noon Sunday, July 9, for football camp.
Webb had an additional athletics challenge with pulling her wedding together. Her husband, John, is a college football coach, in his first season as the defensive coordinator at Fordham University after moving over from fellow Patriot League team Bucknell.
"We both knew July was going to be the best time to do it," Webb said. "So many of my friends from soccer and John's friends from football get married in July. You look at camps and recruiting calendars and the dates get narrowed down pretty quickly."
It's been a way of life for Carty for, well, forever.
His father, Kevin, coached football and his brothers, Kevin and Sean, do as well.
"We never went on vacation growing up," he said. "We were at football camps or we had football practice. In the summer we were at camp at Penn State or at Rutgers. It comes normally to me."
Planning ahead can be particularly difficult.
"We get time off, but we don't always know when it will be," Carty said. "It's based on NCAA rules and a lot of summer at our level is based on when the (bigger) FBS schools have their camps.
It's hard to know when we'll have a week off."
Not that he's complaining, mind you, and he's quick to point out that plenty of other professions offer plenty of timing challenges as well.
"It's part of the job, the life we choose," he said. "And sometimes you have to miss other weddings you want to be at. It's like Coach (Sean) McDonnell says, 'improvise, adapt and overcome.'"
Webb's and Carty's were not the only Field House weddings this July: Erin Rigby, who is headed into her fourth season as an assistant to head lacrosse coach Sarah Albrecht, was married to Joe Chase at Flagg Hill Winery in Lee, N.H. on July 29.
"It's a 'dead period' for recruiting," Erin said. "May, June and earlier in July are our busiest recruiting times and the last week of July there's nothing."
In addition, lacrosse is a spring sport.
"I'm lucky," Rigby said. "Unlike the fall sports, I didn't have to be back for anything right away."
She and Joe left the day after their wedding for a honeymoon in Italy.
Webb took a "mini-moon" trip to San Diego to attend Carty's wedding.
"One morning I had to answer some camp emails," said Webb, who also deals with the challenge of her husband coaching in one state and she in another. "John was great about it. He gets it. It didn't cut into beach time too much."
A longer, more traditional honeymoon will have to wait.
"It may be more like a one-year anniversary," Webb said. "Again in July. Hopefully Ireland or someplace else in Europe."
Carty again is thinking along the same lines.
"Who knows, it may be next July," he said.
It should be pointed out, too, that it's not only coaches who often have to work their personal lives and events around team schedules.
Neal Lavoie, UNH's equipment room manager, laughs now about the goings-on on his wedding day several years ago.
His wedding date was set for August 6.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the football team also ended up reporting on August 6 and that's a big day for the equipment room.
"I didn't know the start date for camp and I should have," Lavoie said. "I have to give a speech to the team on the reporting date and tell them about the equipment and the laundry process and what bucket they have to put things into. My wedding was at 3 p.m. and I think I was in here at 9 a.m. and gave my speech and left at 11:30 or 12."
In hindsight, it may not have been the best decision and wasn't fair to his wife, Meredith, he said.
"She was very understanding," Lavoie said. "And it is a lifestyle job."
Which touches on another aspect of trying to squeeze a wedding and sometimes other life events into the oft-times irregular schedule of a coach or other member of the Field House staff: The
patience and understanding necessary to be the spouse of one of those people.
"That's another whole story," Carty said.
Thursday, May 28
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Wednesday, May 06
Tuesday, May 05