If there was a two-minute warning for responding to the unanswered correspondence that distinguished his office, it would be ringing now, Huygens President and Offensive Line Coach Durango Palacio-Earle thought as he contemplated applications for Athletic Director and related correspondence, which in this case was a letter from Coach Griff McGuire's Father-in-Law, Mac O'Brien, head of a National chain of sporting goods stores. From his personal funds, Mac offered substantial funding for an Ice Skating Arena that would support both hockey and figure skating teams, as well as skating instruction for students. Given NCAA regulations that Huygens continue to have a required number of sports teams to be a D3 school, this was a formidable offer.
"The Huygens Ice Arena!" Durango said to himself. Reverently. Although a Brooklyn born former cultural attache at the Leningrad Embassy was not whom Durango sought as Huygens Athletic Director, sooner or later someone would be hired to oversee hockey team development.
Durango's first choice for Athletic Director was Kekoa's brother, Akoni Alualu. Akoni had played both baseball and Football for the University of Hawaii. He had also been a competitive swimmer. His undergrad degree in analytical chemistry initially led him to beer, but his honors degree in this STEM field would fit well on the Huygens campus.
However, the Huygens Board had insisted that the Athletic Director could not distribute beer, and Durango was not certain that for the stressful Athletic Director job, Akoni wanted to give up his rewarding job as West Coast Hawaiian beer distributor. Akoni's career path would soon become clear. Durango was about to offer him the Athletics Director job -- with the condition that he no longer distribute Maui Lager or the equivalent.
Meanwhile, if the board approved the ice skating arena, Durango was seriously considering hiring Yuri, initially in a hockey team development capacity. Would it, he wondered, be possible to offer scholarships to Russian astrophysics students, who also played hockey? It was a thrilling idea, but there were probably diplomatic issues that would preclude this.
