Behind the helmet

An inside look from the equipment manager

Football is one of the most popular sports here on campus, but one of its most important team members goes rather unnoticed — the equipment manager.

The head equipment manager for Flames football is Chris Dunfee. Dunfee, who graduated from Liberty in 2007, was appointed to the position in early 2013.

While Dunfee is the man in charge, he is not alone. With a team of two assistant managers, a graduate assistant, and 18 student workers, it certainly makes game days and other weekly activities much more manageable.

“We could not do it without them,” Dunfee said “(It’s because of) the support that we’ve been given from the administration that we have been able to bring in this
many people.”

The equipment team is in charge of anything even remotely related to equipment. They take care of the jerseys, pads, helmets, facemasks, cleats, footballs and make sure the lockers are nice and neat for the players.

Dunfee said for the typical home game, the players will usually get to Williams Stadium around two hours before kickoff. The equipment team usually gets there four or five hours before the players.

“When we first get here, we go into the locker room and lay everything out for the players in their lockers,” Dunfee said. “They can just focus on getting ready for the game, and we make everything look nice so when they walk in they can tell it’s game day.”

There are no weeks off, even during away games. While the list of things that need to be done for away games is not as long as it is for home games, the equipment team is still needed. There are only six student workers who travel with Dunfee, the two assistants, and the graduate assistant, but the team still needs everyone to do their part.

The equipment team is not just there for the players — they help the coaches as well by getting the coaches’ game day apparel ready. According to Dunfee, each coach likes something a little bit different on game days. The team also has to set up all of the radio communication done on the sidelines.

“We go out and set up the coach (communication) system which is something very important to set up early,” Dunfee said. “That way, if anything comes up (when tested), we can fix any issues, and it’s technology, so things tend to go wrong. We want to make sure if anything comes up, we know what the issue is and can get it fixed.”

The team makes sure the footballs are inflated to the regular standards and then allow the officials to monitor them to make sure everything is the way it should be. And thanks to the often-unnoticed equipment team, the Flames step onto the field on game day looking their best and the games can be played with little to no holdups.

Day is a sports reporter.