Missouri club lacrosse coach finds new family away from home
COLUMBIA — Becoming Missouri’s club lacrosse coach was a journey that started at the Mobil gas station nearby Keith Euker’s old home in Columbia, Md.
After filling up his Toyota 4runner, Keith Euker needed to pay. He noticed two men standing by a car next to his own, and as he walked back to his car, one of them stopped him with a question.
“Are you a coach?” the man asked.
Euker hadn’t thought much about the question before. He loved sports. He played football in high school and lacrosse in college. But he had never coached before.
Caught off guard, Euker said “No.” But realizing only two days had passed since accepting a job as an assistant varsity golf coach at the Boys Latin School of Maryland, he fixed his reply.
“Actually, I am,” Euker said.
The curious man wasn’t surprised that Euker was a coach or that he had been an athlete. After all, Euker was an all-metro lacrosse player and a good enough quarterback to have played in college, his father, Carl Euker, said. Keith Euker was the one surprised by the conversation.
At that point in life, he felt like he was far from a coach. He worked at a technology company called DP Solutions full time, but his work hours were lenient. It certainly wasn’t the $500 that he would be paid to be an assistant coach that enticed him. He was mainly trying to help a friend.
As he began to walk away, Euker stopped. He needed to know why the man asked him this question.
“Because you look like a coach,” the man said.
The answer shook Euker. He felt pride in being called a coach. But he was used to being a boss, not a coach. Rattled, he got back into his car. The words had hit hard. He didn’t know if he was meant to be working in an office environment.
