Matt Kovich must give a pretty good interview.
After working five Kansas University basketball camps over two summers, Kovich interviewed to become a KU student manager. He got the job and has kept it the past four seasons.
Recently, Kovich interviewed with United Space Alliance a subcontractor to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He’ll have a full-time job with U.S.A. awaiting him when he graduates from KU in May.
“This is a field where 95 percent of graduates find a job,” Kovich said. “But not a lot get hired right out of school by U.S.A./NASA. I don’t know what I did. I must have had a good interview.”
That was the case four years ago, when he interviewed to become a student manager for the Jayhawks.
“I wrote coach (Joe) Holladay a letter to work camp,” Kovich said. “After working my fifth camp, they interviewed me, liked what I said and accepted me.”
After graduating from Wichita Carroll High, Kovich wanted to be involved in KU men’s basketball, but he knew he’d never play for the Jayhawks.
“I played basketball in high school, and I wanted to play basketball at the college level, but obviously not at the Division One level,” he said. “I was always a Jayhawk fan. I figured this would be the next best thing to playing for the Jayhawks. And it is. I’ve enjoyed the heck out of it. I would have done it all over again. I’ve been fortunate, really, really fortunate.”
As a student manager, Kovich helps coordinate practices, do laundry, keep statistics and run the clock at practices and maintain equipment for road games.
“I don’t get to play,” Kovich said, “but it’s the next best thing.”
Kovich used a good GPA and a series of summer internships to wrangle an interview with U.S.A., and the interview led to a job.
“It was a big relief,” he said. “Now I can worry about school and not worry about looking for a job.”
It’s a prestigious job. U.S.A. manages NASA’s space shuttle and space station missions.
Kovich will work in U.S.A.’s cargo operations group, which is in charge of all the cargo stored and carries on the shuttle and the space station.
It will take Kovich about a year to become certified to sit in mission control.
“When I get certified, I’ll sit in mission control and coordinate and talk to the astronauts,” Kovich said. “Before the shuttle flights, I’ll be able to train the astronauts.”
Unless he becomes one. Kovich’s father is an aerospace engineer, and Kovich grew up around airplanes. As he progressed at KU, Kovich increasingly was drawn to the “space side of things.”
“Our program here at KU focuses more on the aircraft side of things, but they just hired a professor from NASA to teach space classes,” Kovich said. “All the theory’s the same for aircraft and space, but it’s manipulated differently.”
Kovich hopes to move up the U.S.A. chain of command, unless he pursues becoming an astronaut himself.
“I may decide to take the astronaut route,” he said. “It depends on my physical ability. I may take that road. It’s really risky, and if I start having a family, I might not take that road. But I have thought about it.”
