Sara Wiley played softball at the University of Evansville. "I wasn't very good,'' she said. "I was better at training than playing.''
One day she walked into the weight room and the athletic department's first-ever strength trainer made her an offer she could have refused. "He said, how about you intern for me, and I won't pay you a thing, but I'll give you a T-shirt?' " Wiley said. "I said, 'Sure, that sounds great.' "
She never got the T-shirt, but that was the start of a career that led, this week, to her receiving the Breaking Barriers Award at the National Girls & Women in Sports Day at the Minnesota Awards annual celebration
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Known as "Coach Y" on campus, Wiley has become a beloved figure in the athletic department.
She worked with the women's basketball team when Lindsay Whalen led them to the Final Four. Wiley played in a rugby match first, then flew on her own to New Orleans in 2004. When she got to the team hotel, the elevator doors opened and Kadidja Andersson popped out and gave her a big hug. "We can't lose with you here,'' Andersson said
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