Chippewa Staff Members Tie The Knot
Aug. 5, 2002
By Dan Mazei, Sports Information Assistant
Jill McCrea's first time fishing was not like most others.
With a brand new rod and reel in her hands, McCrea sat on her boyfriend's lap, struggling to haul in the bite on the other end. When the battle was over, McCrea sat exasperated, staring at her first catch.
"Do you want it, or should we throw it back?" her boyfriend asked.
Dangling from the end of the line was a small box, and inside was an engagement ring. At 1 a.m., December 23, 2001- in the middle of his living room- Greg Nagel asked Jill McCrea to marry him.
"I'm kind of a big fisherman- well, not kind of- I am a big fisherman," Nagel said. "I would tease Jill about what she was getting for Christmas, always telling her she was going to get a fishing rod.
"When the time came, I just tied the box on the end of the line, gave it to her, and told that we needed to go fishing for the first time."
The unique story is befitting of the two, who had met six months earlier under somewhat unusual circumstances.
After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1996, Nagel worked as a student athletic trainer with the UM football and basketball teams. In 1998, after hearing about a graduate assistant opening with Central Michigan University, Nagel began to weigh his options. He wanted to expand on his training, and UM's former head athletic trainer was at a fellow Mid-American Conference school, but he was leery about moving so far from home. After heavy consideration, Nagel decided to join the Chippewas.
"I was given a great opportunity with CMU, and I had an excellent two years working with wrestling and soccer," Nagel said. "When the opening with basketball came, I did even more contemplating, wondering if I should stay or go back home. I just prayed, and felt that I was led to stay with CMU."
McCrea, also a Missouri native, was a graduate assistant basketball coach at Findlay University in Ohio. The school's head coach, Eileen Kleinfelter, was offered the top spot at CMU, leaving McCrea with the opportunity to follow. Becoming an assistant coach at the Division I level was a goal of McCrea's, but she had also held a prominent position with Pfizer Inc., in Missouri, where she worked as a microbiologist and quality assurance release coordinator. When it came time to make her career decision, McCrea found herself at a crossroad.
"Coach Kleinfelter was headed to CMU, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do," McCrea said. "I didn't know about going back to Missouri or going back to Pfizer. I just prayed a lot, and I felt that the Lord told me to stay with basketball."
After arriving at CMU in June of 2001, McCrea was shown around the campus and facilities by former graduate assistant Juli Grant. The two stopped by the training room, where McCrea had her first conversation with Nagel.
"After we talked, Julie mentioned how Greg was from Missouri as well," McCrea said. "A little later, we worked at a camp together. We got to talking, and I found out that I knew someone that went to his high school."
"After that first camp, it felt like we had only scratched the surface with small talk," Nagel said. "So, we decided to go on a date."
The two began dating immediately, but ran into difficulties just as quickly.
McCrea had to begin preparing for her upcoming season, which meant going on the road for recruiting. The two had to part ways less than two weeks after their first date.
"We didn't see each other all of July," McCrea said. "It was hard, but it was the best thing for our relationship. We learned how to truly communicate."
McCrea returned to CMU after her month-long absence, and the relationship continued to grow as if the two had never been apart. Both full-time assistants now in their respective positions, Nagel and McCrea were taking everything in stride. Their time apart not only helped them to communicate, but to deal with other issues that may seem laborious to the "normal" couple.
"There is definitely time constraint issues with our careers," Nagel said. "Our hourly commitment is similar, but with me working with men's basketball, and her being a women's assistant coach, there are spans when we don't see each other at all. That's our biggest challenge. We just make the most out of the time we do have together."
"We're both so busy with our own jobs," McCrea said, "that when we began dating, we made sure that we would keep business separate. We always remain professional in the sense that I don't ever ask him 'why don't you do this as far as training' and he never asks me 'why aren't you doing this with that recruit.' We decided never to take our work home with us, and we've been able to do that."
After their "fishing trip" in December, things started to really change for Nagel and McCrea.
"Being a head coach at a D-1 school was the goal I had in mind," McCrea said. "But like people say, 'goals change.' I want Greg to be a head athletic trainer; that's what I'm shooting for now. After all, what is the chance that I'd be the head coach and he'd be the athletic trainer at the same school. Even if we were, we'd never see each other."
"Short term, I'd like to like to expand my knowledge with administrative skills," Nagel said. "I'd like to continue education with injuries and rehab, and get a head position somewhere, not necessarily D-1. Long term, I'd like to get back to a Division I school as a head athletic trainer. I've also considered being a physician assistant as a second option. It's all subject to change, though, pending a family."
Nagel and McCrea became husband and wife on August 3 in St. Joseph's, Missouri, just north of Kansas City. For now, the two are just trying to enjoy what they are doing.
"At some point, I'd like to get back closer to home in Missouri," McCrea said. "It would probably have to be an upward move that would bring us there, but it's definitely not something that will happen soon."
"We're happy with our situation right now," Nagel said.
Chance encounters, uncanny semblance, availing obstacles and an extraordinary proposal. Greg Nagel and Jill McCrea seem to have found a rare kind of love, as unique as it is pure.