Orlando, Fla. ? When George Matsakis was growing up in Shadyside, Ohio, his father, Michael, was a high school football coach, and all three of George’s brothers followed their father into the coaching ranks.

George Matsakis had other ideas.

“At Kansas State, I saw what coaches go through,” said Matsakis, who was a punter for the Wildcats from 1988-92.

But Matsakis, 33, shared his family’s love for football. He befriended KSU administrative assistant Sheahon Zenger and his successor, Bruce Van De Velde, and found a career path of his own.

“I always got along with Sheahon,” said Matsakis, KU’s director of football operations. “It was intriguing. I saw him doing it, and Bruce Van De Velde. I just never got into coaching.”

That’s fine with KU coach Mark Mangino, who credited Matsakis with the Jayhawks’ smooth stay here while preparing for Monday’s Tangerine Bowl date with North Carolina State.

“He’s taken so much pressure off me because everything has gone so well,” Mangino said. “George is my right-hand man. He is so valuable to this program. He’s organized. He’s a good people person. He’s a good planner. This trip is going smoothly because of George Matsakis.”

The Tangerine Bowl will mark KU’s first bowl game since 1995, and it’s the first bowl trip Matsakis has planned. But he did have some experience to fall back on.

Matsakis was an assistant video coordinator at Kansas State 1993-96, and the Wildcats made four bowl trips in that period.

Kansas University director of football operations George Matsakis, right, goes over a schedule with his boss, coach Mark Mangino. Matsakis and Mangino were discussing travel plans during practice Saturday morning in Orlando, Fla.

Zenger and Van De Velde showed him the ropes.

“I would help do little things, like hand out tickets to Disneyland and hand out the kids’ per diem,” Matsakis said. “Each year I would do a little more. It was a learning experience. I was basically doing gopher work, little things like getting coffee and handing out room keys.”

But Matsakis learned how to get other people the things they needed to do their jobs, and he spent three years as director of football operations at Wyoming and two more at Houston under former KSU assistant Dana Dimel.

Matsakis joined the staff of another former K-State aide when Mangino was hired at KU after the 2001 season.

Matsakis woke at 7 a.m. Saturday and made sure the Jayhawks received their wake-up calls, then made sure breakfast went smoothly for 98 players and KU’s 221-member travel party.

He then kept in contact with head athletic trainer Carol Jarosky, administrative assistant and equipment manager Jeff Himes and video coordinator Lance Wright to make sure things were set up and ready to go for a 10:45 a.m. practice.

“I try to make sure there are no issues,” Matsakis said.

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Matsakis and assistant athletic director Sean Lester planned the fine points of KU’s trip, with Matsakis focusing on the team and Lester dealing with the athletic administration.

Matsakis also had help from a less obvious source.

“What really helps with the coaches’ families is Mary Jane, coach Mangino’s wife,” Matsakis said. “She gives them their spa passes and the name tags they need for all their functions, which helps me out a lot. She takes care of the coaches’ families and all their children.”

Both of Matsakis’ mentors have moved up in athletic administration. Zenger, who also worked in KU’s athletic office, now is an associate athletic director at Kansas State, while Van de Velde is Iowa State’s AD.

Matsakis has no such ambitions, at least not for the immediate future.

“Maybe some day I might want to do that,” he said. “I like to come out to practice and see all the kids. I’m still young. Right now, I like this just because I see all the players. They treat me like any other coach. “

Oh, and what about the coaching brothers?

Manny Matsakis, 42, is head coach at Texas State (formerly Southwest Texas State) after stints as an assistant coach at Texas Tech, Wyoming and a head coaching gig at Emporia State.

Jimmy, 38, is a high school coach in New Jersey, and younger brother Louie, 26, is Manny’s special-teams coordinator.