David and Brit Daugharthy met while coaching Iola High School track and field. Their relationship has been bonded by high school sports ever since.
While the couple also coach other sports, it’s track that brought them together.
“She’s a distance coach and I’m a sprints coach,” said David. “It was our first year coaching together and I thought she was attractive. After the season ended, I asked her out and she said no. A year later when COVID happened, she reached out to me knowing I would have no other interest.”
“We both did collegiate track as well so we kind of had that passion for track already built in,” David continued.
The couple teaches and coaches at IHS and share a deep love of developing kids’ characters both in the classroom and on the sports fields. David, 34, coaches football and track while Brit, 29, coaches cross country and track.
This fall, Brit’s cross country team fielded three runners at the 4A state meet in Wamego while David’s football team made the state playoffs for only the sixth time in school history.
The couple loves seeing their athletes succeed but know that coaching goes beyond winning on the scoreboard.
“I love to coach, no matter the sport,” said Brit. “There’s a special relationship between a coach and students. I love to see happy kids when they are out there, doing their thing. I love seeing them compete. It’s really rewarding to see kids grow and that’s what fuels the fire even more.”
Helping kids grow comes with the territory of being a coach. Having another coach in the house also helps the Daugharthys talk through problems.
“From a relationship perspective I think it is nice,” David said. “We can relate to what the other person’s going through a lot of the time which is very helpful and a lot of people probably don’t have that. It is a nice perk. There will be times when she comes home feeling down or I do and we can offer insight into what we’re feeling and what needs to change as a result.”
Both are teachers. Brit is an adapted PE teacher and David teaches chemistry.
“Now that we’re married we still talk about coaching and things that we can do better,” said Brit. “Just trying to play off each other’s brains is important. In season, I’d say about 40% of our conversations are about coaching. Our responsibilities as teachers is also a big part of our conversations.”
David and Brit said they continue to learn from each other’s experiences, which helps with not only building their programs but also growing as teachers and coaches.
The young couple understands they have a unique relationship that they wouldn’t trade for the world.
“I think that’s what sort of built the relationship early on because we could relate a lot to the struggles that the other went through,” said David. “We could offer sound advice”
The Daugharthys will be back in action when the spring track and field season rolls around.
