Sisters grad lands a dream job

Thomas Arends didn't watch cartoons when he was a little kid; he watched ESPN's Sports Center. He helped his grandpa, Toby Poole, make his football picks. The kid - the son of Phil and Susan Arends - was always "a football guy."

Now the Sisters High School alum and former Outlaws football player is at the heart of one of college football's most prestigious programs, as the Assistant Director of Player Personnel for the Oregon Ducks.

"I'm going into my sixth football season with the Ducks," he said.

Just like a player working hard to make the team, Arends had to prove himself to the staff at the University of Oregon. He started in 2008 as an unpaid intern, helping research recruits to the football program. Most interns fall away from work in the summer. Thomas buckled down in those months and went above and beyond the call of duty. He worked all four years of college.

And when Chip Kelly left the program for the Philadelphia Eagles, taking a recruiting guy with him, a position opened up for the newly minted college graduate.

"I think I was only on my parents' couch a week before I had a job," he said.

That job is a big one. He checks the background of potential recruits, calling high school athletic directors and counselors to get an understanding of who a player is as a young man. It's not just about talent.

"A lot of what we do is making sure we recruit the right type of player," Arends said, noting that the program operates from the premise that "it's a privilege to play here."

Arends and the staff look for character and for intangibles like how a player reacts to plays on the field. It's all part of the alchemy of the "behind the scenes process of how a team is made" - a process Arends finds fascinating.

The process is more exacting than it appears to fans, who see the results on Saturday afternoons.

The fans don't see "the amount of work that goes into it," Arends said.

The players work hard. They train in the morning, then practice, then watch film, then go to class, followed by more film in the evening.

"Their day is just jam-packed," Arends said.

The coaching and administrative staff is equally busy.

"It's not uncommon for me to get (to the Ducks' state-of-the-art football complex) at 7 a.m. and not leave till midnight, 1 or 2 o'clock," Arends said. "It's truly not really a job, it's a lifestyle for the coaches, the administrative staff."

Arends told The Nugget that his career as an Outlaw made him want to pursue that way of life.

"I was fortunate to be part of some really successful football teams at Sisters High," he said. "Some of the best memories I have of my school was wearing those jerseys, being part of a team."

Arends' team nowadays is one of the very best in the nation - and the pressure is always on.

"We have a really tough schedule," he said. "The spotlight's on us. We're everybody's Super Bowl - everybody's gunning for us. But that's what makes it fun."

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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