Fresno State Athletics
Hills Love Working Together
6/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | General
June 25, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - For some people, it would be an absolute nightmare.
Many people fear that working with a spouse would ruin their relationship and be added stressors in their life, but for Fresno State athletic trainers Tony and Mandy Hill, this is a dream come true.
"People ask me that all the time, `Don't you get tired of seeing your husband at work? I could never work with my spouse,'" Mandy Hill said. "But for us, it has always been easy and it has always been fun. Maybe that is because our relationship started in a working environment."
The two met while they were working on undergraduate degrees at Fresno State, but it wasn't exactly love at first sight. They worked together as student athletic trainers and said things slowly developed into a relationship.
They even dated for six months without telling anyone in the athletic department. But when it got serious, Tony said that they finally had to tell their supervisors about the situation - but not too worry, everyone was fine with their relationship.
Shortly after, Tony took a job at Florida as an athletic trainer and the two decided to stick it out and try a long-distance relationship. A really long-distance relationship.
Luckily for the couple and their budding relationship, they wouldn't be apart for too long. Mandy decided to move across the country to be with Tony without even a job offer or anything lined up.
"I was just sitting at dinner with my boss," Tony hill said. "He was talking about a position [at UF] that they couldn't get filled. He asked me, `Isn't your girlfriend moving out here?' I said, `Yeah.' Then he said, `Does your girlfriend need a job?' I said, `Yeah.' I hadn't really though about it."
Mandy and Tony worked together as athletic trainers and studied for their master's degrees over the next few years. The worked at Florida, Kentucky and Texas together, marrying along the way.
But it wouldn't be too long before the two would again be in a long distance relationship.
While Mandy was an athletic trainer for the Texas track team in the middle of her season, Tony was offered a position at Cal. He couldn't pass up on the chance to move back to California and Mandy couldn't leave her team mid-season.
Tony came to Cal and Mandy had to stay in Texas. The newlyweds spent five months of their first year of marriage apart. After the Texas track season ended, Mandy got a job at Saint Mary's and the couple was again reunited.
But their journey wasn't quite over yet. Their long and winding road would eventually bring them back home to Fresno State.
The timing was perfect. There were two openings for athletic trainers at Fresno State: head football athletic trainer and head women's basketball athletic trainer.
"When they [Fresno State]said they would be creating another position with the new lacrosse program, I felt pretty good about it," Tony Hill said.
And his gut feeling was right. Tony and Mandy, a sort-of "package deal," were both hired back at Fresno State, and after a few tough years they are together again.
After understanding all that the Hills have been through, it becomes much easier to understand why they can appreciate working together and how they are able to balance both work and home lives.
"It can be challenging, but we do our best," Mandy Hill said. "It's really just acknowledging each other's time, understanding what our job is and making sure we don't waste time."
And for two people so busy, it is easy to see time slip away. With differing practice schedule and road trips, finding time to see each other away from work can be hard.
"For what our jobs are the amount of travel we do, it is nice to be able to see each other at work as opposed to one of us having a different job all together," Mandy Hill said.
So they make the most of the situation and enjoy seeing each other around at work, but they don't let their personal relationship get in the way of work. In fact, they have a hard time treating each other like spouses at times. When Mandy goes on trips with the football team as a guest and Tony's wife on the annual "spouse trip," she usually ends up working anyways.
But when you love your job and love your husband, it isn't so bad helping him out on a road trip on your day off.
"He's my best friend and it is great being able to spend the time with each other," Mandy Hill said.
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