Melanie Bennett has become all three.

Think about it. She awakes early and helps get 3-year old Jeb off to Noah’s Ark Daycare. She helps get 6-year old Hayes off to school. She helps get her oldest — and most lovable — boy, David, off to his job as Catawba College’s head football coach.

That’s the mothering housewife in her.

She then must get to West Rowan High School, where she can be found doing her job in the school office.

That’s the working wife in her.

And after work, she picks up the kids and attends every single Catawba football practice.

That’s the coach’s wife in her.

Actually, husband David points out, his wife hasn’t been to every single practice. She missed her first one three days before Newberry College came to town for last Saturday’s game.

Melanie had a good reason, of course. She had to get her hair done. Newberry is her alma mater and Saturday would be her birthday.

“I still can’t believe she missed a practice because of that,” Bennett scoffed in his familiar country drawl. “I didn’t think she was that prissy.”

Melanie shrugged but defended herself. “I did come back and watch film afterward.”

She did what? That, ladies and gentlemen, is true love.

And true love is exactly what the Bennetts say they share. Both preach family and God at home and it carries over to their Catawba football family.

In fact, it’s a good thing Melanie paid a visit to the beauty parlor, considering she was the center of attention after the Indians’ 34-3 win over Newberry. The players presented her — and her hair — the game ball.

n

Neither of the Bennetts were out looking for a spouse when they first met.

“I hate to tell the truth but I was a single guy and she was a cheerleader,’’ said David, a Newberry assistant at the time.“I would say, ‘Who is that pretty girl? She’s sure loud!’ ”

A friendship turned into much more. In 1990, when Bennett was hired at Catawba, they couldn’t wait to wed any longer. In August, they eloped to Spartanburg, S.C.

That’s when Melanie received the first hint of what being a coach’s wife was all about.

“We had a one-day honeymoon,” she laughed. “It started at 7 on Wednesday night and he had to be back at Catawba at noon on Thursday.”

There were no problems moving to Salisbury, either, a city that fit their small-town roots.

“We love the schools and the church (First Methodist in China Grove) we belong to,” Melanie said. “This is such a great place to raise kids.”

And to be friends with the head coach.

“In Sunday School, we were talking about what makes a marriage work and being friends was my No. 1 thing,” she said. “You gotta like ’em too.”

n

A plus for both Bennetts is that Melanie enjoys the sport. She was the child — not her studious brother — who watched football on Sundays with Dad. She took football classes in college and knows the difference between a 3 and 4 technique. And she joins a group of coaching wives at Catawba who are athletic as well.

Jack Yelton’s wife is an assistant women’s basketball coach at Wake Forest. Chip Hester’s wife, Trish, is a head coach at North Rowan. Jamie Snider’s wife, Rebecca, is a head coach at West Rowan.

“We like to say the real Coach Hester and the real Coach Snider are at West and North,” jokes Chip.

“But you need that for the understanding,” stresses Bennett, the coach. “A coach’s wife has to be there for the love and family to still be there”

“The staff eats together each Sunday night and it’s so tremendous,” says Bennett, the wife. “There are probably staffs all over the nation that don’t have the bond we have.”

Her husband smiles. He insists he is married to the ultimate coach’s wife during the season.

“I’ve never been a neat freak and she doesn’t get on me when I throw my clothes on a chair or come in at 11 at night.” he said. “One night, I came home at 9:30 and she was like, ‘What are you doing here? Get back over there and watch some more film.’ ”

n

The head coach’s wife doesn’t hide on gameday. She can always be spotted pacing a hole through the asphalt track.

“I’m worse than David when we lose,” she admits. “One of the coaches’ wives even said I couldn’t sit beside of her anymore because I make her so crazy.”

David enjoys her fiery spirit.

“I couldn’t have found anyone that I’m more compatible with,” he said. “You grow up playing ball all your life and your teammates are your best friends. Then you meet a girl and she becomes your best friend. Melanie is my true soul mate.

“The Good Lord was looking out for me. He showed me her because I loved kids and wanted kids so bad. I said ‘Lord, if I have kids, they’ll all have my brain and the only thing they’ll know is ball.’ Along comes Melanie — and thank goodness our kids are as smart as she is.”

n

Last Saturday at Shuford Stadium was like every Saturday in the fall for David and Melanie Bennett. They spent their afternoon together on a football field.

Even in the heat of battle, she called him a “kind, gentle and loving person to everybody (except, maybe, those guys in the striped shirts) “and he genuinely cares for people.”

David was thinking of his friend too, giving her the best possible birthday gift — a win.

Watching Melanie Bennett walk out of the stadium after the Newberry win gave you the feeling that being in a coach’s family could be a really neat thing.

After all, didn’t she look happy? Didn’t her kids look happy? Didn’t her husband look happy?

And didn’t her hair look good?

n