It’s no wonder Joan McDermott is a resource in work/life balance issues. The 10-year athletics director at Metropolitan State College of Denver not only administers a 17-sport program, but also six children and husband Dan, who’s in his eighth year as the baseball coach at Metro State rival Regis University (Colorado).

With the parents in demanding athletics administration roles and the kids ranging in age from six to 26, you’d think the lifestyle would be chaotic.

“It’s busy,” Joan admits. “Every day is different – it’s always like that in athletics, but with our kids, too, it’s a day-to day operation and it can change within hours.”

For example, here’s a typical day at the McDermott household:

• Dan is at Regis running a baseball camp.

• Joan takes 11-year-old daughter Claire to the airport to visit family in California, then drives to the office at Metro State.

• She meets about replacing her assistant, who took a position with the NCAA Eligibility Center in Indianapolis.

• Immediately after that, her cross country coach informs her that he’s being interviewed for a similar position at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

• Dan calls later and says 14-year-old son Tim has a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. He can drive him there but can’t pick him up. Joan can’t either because she’s promised to meet with Claire’s soccer team.

• Dan calls 22-year-old son Scott, who’s a senior at Regis, and asks him to be Tim’s chauffeur. If that doesn’t work, there’s 26-year-old daughter Katie, a school teacher in Denver, or Dan’s mother, who Joan says “is always a reliable contingency plan whenever we need her.”

And that’s in July. The main madness is in March when Metro State’s perennially strong basketball teams enter the playoff stretch and Dan’s baseball season leads off with a spring trip.

“While I’m a proponent of the work/life balance, we know it’s tough to achieve because in athletics, it’s a lifestyle,” McDermott said. “Athletics administration is not just an 8-5 job five days a week; many weeks you are working every day and in the evenings.”

But even within that competitive framework, McDermott said, coaches and administrators can find a balance and make it work for their family. To understand how, she said, listen to the people an administrator’s lifestyle affects most – the kids.

“Our two oldest told us when the balance was out of whack in the early years,” said McDermott, who used to coach two sports at Metro State. “We weren’t taking any vacations or making as much time as we should for the kids. We responded to their concerns and now we block out a couple weeks a year for family vacations, and we’ve gotten into a routine that accommodates everyone.”

The proof is in the morning ritual during the academic year of taking 6-year-old Jackson to the school at which Katie teaches.

“I drop my youngest off as I say hi to my oldest,” McDermott said.

It’s a full-circle balancing act.