When Joanna McCain was a sophomore at Corpus Christi’s Calallen High School, she was a cheerleader, cheering on a team that included a senior offensive lineman named Austin Adami. They didn’t spend any time together; she knew who he was, but she didn’t know him. She just didn’t interact with the players.

Joanna McCain and Austin Adami.

And even at that young age, she already had something of an idea of the type of man she wanted to marry. Austin Adami was not that man.

"Oh give me a break," she laughed. "I was going to marry a man who wore a three-piece suit and worked on the New York Stock Exchange."

That plan has changed. McCain and the newest graduate assistant coach on the SMU staff will marry July 10 in Corpus Christi. Those around him suggest that McCain’s influence in Adami’s life will contribute to his success as a coach.

"Austin was always a real fiery player," said Trey Bandy, who played on the offensive line with Adami and who will be a groomsman in Adami’s wedding. Since he met McCain, Bandy said, Adami is "calmer, more mature. He still has his moments, don’t get me wrong. She’s just added some stability to his life ... he sees more of the big picture. He’s more grown up, more responsible. She’s made him a better person."

Adami’s brother Allan, who will be a senior defensive tackle for the 2004 Mustangs and who will serve as his brother’s best man, said the changes in his older brother since the couple met are more subtle than those Bandy sees.

"I’m not sure he’s changed too much," Allan Adami said. "He’s always just been my older brother, Austin. He picks up a little more. I remember coming to his apartment at college when I was in high school, and let’s just say it was ‘less than perfect.’ Other than that, he hasn’t changed much.

"But her impact on him is hard to describe. She’s been real supportive of him right from when they met. They moved to Houston so he could coach. When he got hired at SMU, she stayed in Houston until she found a job here, and then she moved up here to be with him again. She’s been overly supportive of him."

Adami said he has wanted to coach ever since he was in high school, but he didn’t get into the profession right away. After his playing days as a center at SMU (from 1996-99), he said he "got kind of wrapped up in the business world in Dallas. It kind of clouded my judgement a little.

"I had all these friends who were working good jobs, making good money, and I got a job in sales."

But it was evident early on that he wasn’t cut out for a "regular" job. Shortly thereafter, he moved home to Corpus Christi where he became a "roughneck" in the oil business.

"It’s a different world, doing that for a living," he said. "Every day, you start the day talking about how not to die. I remember thinking, ‘how did I get here?’ It was good for me, going from SMU to wearing a hard hat."

One reason it was good for him was that it served as inspiration, reminding him that he didn’t want to do that the rest of his life, and that he still had a desire to coach. Adami landed a job as an assistant coach at Spring Woods High School in Houston. Although admittedly not a football lifer -- yet -- McCain said it was evident that Adami had found his career.

Austin Adami played center for SMU from 1996-1999 (photo by SMU Athletic Dept).

"I’m a big believer that you’ve ‘been there, done that,’ you’re going to be a better leader," McCain said. "Austin played. He knew what he was talking about. When he got to Spring Woods, some of his players said ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Austin said he didn’t have to tell them his qualifications, but he said ‘I can show you.’ Then he’d come home hurting, because he’d be out there showing these guys what he wanted, and he wasn’t in pads. Some of the kids went home and looked him up on Google and found all these articles about him when he was at SMU, and suddenly they all started listening to him."

His passion for the game was one of the things that caught SMU head coach Phil Bennett’s attention.

"Austin had mentioned to me that he wanted to coach," Bennett said. "I told him that I wanted him to show me some commitment, to go get a high school job. He did, and his coach told me he was the hardest-working coach they had."

Bennett hired Adami in December as a graduate assistant coach for the offense (Adami will work largely with the offensive line.)

"I always knew he wanted to coach," Allan Adami said. "I knew he wouldn’t be happy unless he got into coaching."

The passion that Bennett saw also was part of what made him such an effective player, Bandy said.

"The funnest thing about playing with Austin was that he always knew what to say in each situation," Bandy said. "He’s real quick-witted, real sharp. He would say things to the other team, or to us in the huddle, that helped us remain focused but also stay loose. Sometimes it was all I could do keep from falling over (laughing).

"It’s kind of the nature of the (center) position -- he’s the one making the calls for the whole line. He has to know what’s going on at all times. Austin’s a real smart guy, but he also has a gift for being loud. He gets his message across."

Contrary to what some might assume, Adami hasn’t always been the most vocal coach in his brief career.

"The first time I saw him coach (at Spring Woods), there were other coaches out there screaming, all red in the face," McCain said. "Austin’s not that kind of coach. When a player messed up, he sat him down on the bench and talked to him. The maddest I saw him get was when he pulled his hat off and put it back on -- that was it."

For his part, Allan Adami doesn’t anticipate any difficulty with having his brother on the coaching staff during his (Allan’s) last year on the field.

"I’m going to treat him like all the coaches," Allan said. "He was there before me, and he knows what he’s doing. If he’s going to correct me, I’ll take it like I’d take it from any other coach, because I don’t want to let him down. It’s the same thing when we’re in the weight room. When he’s down there, pushing us - I’ve got a coach, a family member there. I want to push myself."

If Adami’s impact with the SMU offensive linemen comes anywhere close to the impact he had on McCain, the Ponies’ quarterbacks should have hours to find an open receiver, and the running backs will find themselves looking at running lanes big enough to stroll to the end zone.

"We met when a mutual friend introduced us, after I saw a picture of him. We met on a Saturday night," McCain said. "I was supposed to go the next Monday to join the Air Force, in the JAG (Judge Advocate General’s office), and I told my parents I didn’t think I was going to go, because I’d met this guy that I wanted to marry."

The impression Adami made on McCain was that sudden, that immediate.

"I tried to get him to marry me the second day I met him," she said. "I begged him to elope with me - and he might not admit it, but he thought about it. He told me he wanted to be a football coach, and that he had some (career) things to work out. He said he would ask me to marry him as soon as he got his feet under him."

The proposal didn’t come immediately, but it came quickly enough. Shortly after Adami and McCain met, he got the job at Spring Woods, and McCain followed him to Houston. Then she invited him to visit her family on Thanksgiving, which that year fell on her birthday.

"There were about 35 people there," McCain said. "We have this family tradition where we go around in a circle and say what we’re thankful for. When we got around to Austin, he said he’d be thankful if I’d marry him, and then he got down on one knee."

Which leads to the obvious question: Adami clearly loves SMU and is passionate about football - so which was more exciting for him: getting hired to coach at SMU or when McCain accepted his proposal?

Once a warrior on the field, Adami will now be guiding the Mustangs as a coach (photo by SMU Athletic Dept).

"I’ve got to go with the girl," Bandy said, laughing. "SMU is real important to Austin -- he loves SMU. When you put enough into the school like we did, you’re always going to care for the place. But Austin and Joanna -- that was a match right from the start."

Allan Adami said that while McCain’s place in his brother’s life is beyond question, his brother’s passion for his alma mater is more significant than that of just an alumnus who enjoyed his time in college.

"He has such a fire, such a passion for the program," Allan said of his brother. "He wants it, more than anyone else, to be back on top (because he’s) a former player. After the way last season went, that’s what this team needs. He was here for the first winning season (since football returned in 1989), and he’d do anything to help us get that back."

"I think I was probably more of a ‘given,’ because of the way we started out," McCain said. "The SMU thing was a little more up in the air. His dad is actually the one who called me and told me he got the job. And it’s such a big deal, because of the way he feels about SMU, so for me to be a part of the whole process - as a G.A., there are a lot of sacrifices, but we both know that it’s going to be worth it."

The sacrifices that go along with the profession are many: minimal salary, marathon hours, the possibility of moving every few years, etc. McCain seems ready to adjust to all of them.

"Austin has completely changed my outlook on life," McCain said. "He’s such an upbeat person, he’s always in such a good mood. G.A. hours are insane, but at the end of every day, he always has a smile for me. I really think, now, that I was destined to marry a football coach. I enjoy my own time, and friends, but I still want to take care of him.

"Like I said, I never would have believed it if you’d said I was going to marry a football coach, and even though I was a cheerleader, I was never really into it. I went to Texas A&M, and maybe because they didn’t win when I was there, I still didn’t get into it. But last year, I went to a bunch of SMU games with his family to watch Allan, and their mom is the greatest football mom, she’s a great example. So I guess I’m learning."

So what happens when a Mustang marries an Aggie and they start planning the future of their children?

"I’m a big-time Aggie -- I bleed maroon," she said. "But somehow I have a feeling that our kids are going to go to SMU."