Late last month, David Given was in his car, in Arizona, with his wife, driving toward Lancaster and his future at McCaskey's football coach.
Then the phone rang, with terrifying news that almost changed everything.
Kris Given had recently had an MRI. She'd been complaining of headaches.
The call was from a doctor, and it was not good news. She'd had a brain aneurysm. They needed to get to the nearest hospital emergency room as quickly as possible.
At the hospital they stabilized her. Then she was helicoptered to a bigger hospital in Phoenix.
She was in intensive care there for four long, scary days.
"That part was really tough," he said Friday. "It looked like she might not make it."
Given, who's been a head coach at the high school and junior-college levels and played for Frank Kush at Arizona State, had just been hired to replace Scott Feldman, who resigned as McCaskey's head coach in March after 11 seasons.
Given, who spent the last two seasons as offensive coordinator at Marana High outside Tuscon, had already rented an apartment in Lancaster. He and Kris planned to spend about a week here, after which she'd return to Arizona, sell their house and clean things up there.
All of which was forgotten now.
By the third day in ICU, Given could catch his breath and think for a bit about outside-world things.
"I called Jon [Mitchell, McCaskey's athletic director] and told him, I want to let you know right now, I might not be able to take the job," he said.
"I didn't want to leave them twisting until August. That wouldn't be fair to the players. I told Jon, 'If you can give me some time, I'll let you know as soon as I know anything.'
"[Mitchell] told me he understood, that I should do whatever it takes to get her well, take all the time we needed."
It didn't take as much time as Given feared. Improbably, Kris recovered, at least to the point where her life is apparently not in danger, fairly quickly.
She now has lucid moments, even funny ones.
"Thank God," Given said. "At least I know that's her in there."
A long rehab is ahead, but the balance of it will take place in Lancaster.
"She looks to be on a path to making a full recovery," Given said.
Given will spend the rest of the summer shuttling between here and Arizona.
Last week was Given's first here since his final interview. He ran the team through conditioning drills, a quarterback camp and weightlifting sessions.
Damien Henry, the longtime McCaskey assistant coach and former multi-sport star there, will run the program when his boss isn't around.
To this point Henry is Given's only finalized, administration-approved staff hire, although more are coming.
It's not an ideal situation. Especially for a program that is at a historic low ebb, having gone 0-10 last year and 3-17 over the past two seasons.
But if Given, 50, has lost any enthusiasm for football, or McCaskey football, then he must have foamed at the mouth for football before.
"The most heartening thing has been meeting the kids themselves," Given said.
"I know what they say about McCaskey kids — they won't work hard. They won't show up.
"I haven't seen that at all. I see hunger in their eyes, They want to win so bad."
He said 80 kids showed up for the agility workouts last week, and a like number showed up to lift.
The agility drills were under a game clock, for four quarters, game length.
"No team I've been around has outworked these guys [in a session like that]," Given said.
"They did a terrific job, and the coolest part was when it was over, they knew it. They felt what it was like, and we're going to continue it forward."
Given is the sort of guy who gets more excited the more he talks about being excited.
"I told the kids, every team on our schedule is already putting up a W for us," he said.
"The only people we won't surprise is ourselves."
By now he's already back in Arizona, working on another project.
"When I was ready to go to come here, I talked to my wife, to explain to her what was going on," he said.
"She's laying there, tubes coming out of everywhere, and she says, 'Promise me you'll come back.'
"That broke my heart. Then I had to give her a pep talk. "
If you think McCaskey football has a mountain to climb ...
"People ask me, 'How are you holding up?' " he said.
"Hey, I'm on my own two feet, talking, eating, walking in the sun. ... How am I holding up?
"I'm fine. Believe me. How are you?"
Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com. 
