Jessica Johansen says Roy Williams isn’t a perfectionist when it comes to his team’s gear, but he has expectations.

“When he wants a Coke or whatever, it should be there,” Johansen said of Kansas University’s head men’s basketball coach. “It’s not laid back, but it’s not stressful either.”

As head equipment manager for the men’s basketball team, Johansen leads a team of five students who see that the Jayhawks’ equipment is in place for the games. That means doing laundry, airing up basketballs and finding dry-erase markers, among other duties.

Johansen, a senior from Dannebrog, Neb., is in her fourth year as an equipment manager. The first year, managers are volunteers. They’re paid minimum wage after that.

“But we also get a lot of perks,” she said. “I’ve traveled to Hawaii and to New York three times. They’re places I probably wouldn’t have gone.”

The job also includes a second-row seat behind the bench for games and the chance to be in the locker room for team chats.

The routine for managers on practice days goes like this:

For a 4 p.m. practice, managers arrive at Allen Fieldhouse at 3 p.m. They set up the clock, sweep the floor, check the air in the balls, get towels ready and rebound balls if players arrive early to shoot around.

Jessica Johansen, a Kansas University senior from Dannebrog, Neb., heads up the equipment managers staff for the men's basketball team and is in charge of setting up the court before practice.

During practice, managers keep score and statistics for competitions and wipe the floor if players fall.

On home game days, they arrive four hours before tip-off. Their many tasks include getting uniforms ready for players to don and making sure the locker room is clean.

They usually have to get a second jersey ready for Nick Collison because he sweats so much that he generally switches shirts at halftime.

“Our job is basically to make sure the little stuff is taken care of so the coaches don’t have to worry about it,” Johansen said.

After the game, managers wash towels and uniforms at the fieldhouse.

“It’s basically like going to the Laundromat,” Johansen said. “The toughest part is if it sits in the dryer too long, it gets all wrinkly. You have to plan it.”

The most common complaint managers hear from players is not having enough towels in the locker room.

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For Johansen, a human development major, balancing 17 hours of coursework with 30 to 40 hours of work as a manager can be difficult, especially when she’s often out of town for games.

But after doing it for four years, she’s settled into the routine.

Johansen said one of her favorite parts of the job is being around the players and coaches — even if the managers, and especially the three women managers, take a ribbing from Williams at team meals.

“The main thing with the girl managers is how much we eat,” she said. “He’ll say, ‘Guys, you’d better get to the food before the female managers get there.'”