The inviting rooms and halls of the Wise’s spacious home cover all traces of Mark and Mary’s careers. Aside from the noticeably roomy and luxurious house, the success of these parents, in addition to the accomplishments of their two sons, is hidden in a cozy abode filled with knick knacks and mementos symbolizing the adventures and quirks that make this family unit so close-knit and unique.
To learn about their work lives, you would have to bring up the fact that Mary is the head coach of the Florida Gators women’s volleyball team and Mark an analyst for the Florida Gators radio network because when the members of this family are together, they like to focus on the little things like Sunday dinners and Tuesday Glee nights.
The Wise family came to Gainesville in 1991 when Mary, who was the assistant coach at the University of Kentucky, landed the job as head coach of women’s volleyball at the University of Florida.
“I thought it was a long shot for me to get this job, but I took a chance and they offered,” Mary recalled.
When they moved to Florida, their oldest son Matt was 2 years old, and their other son Mitchell was born three years later.
“It took a village to help raise these kids with two full-time working parents,” Mary said. “There was lots of traveling for both jobs, and Mark took over a lot of the traditional roles like pediatric trips and meet- the-teacher nights.”
Mark’s job as a sports broadcaster for Gator basketball allowed him the freedom to be at home more often with their young children. Because the volleyball season goes from August to December, with recruiting year-round, and basketball November to April, the only downtime for the entire family came in two weeks—one in July and the other in April.
“We have kind of had a non-traditional setup,” Mark said. “With broadcasting, I also traveled a lot doing Gator games or other games, but it’s gotten much easier as [the boys] have gotten older.”
“If we weren’t at work, we were with the boys,” Mary added. “As they’ve gotten older, we’ve put more emphasis on getting away and doing something fun in the summer with the family—that has never changed.”
The family’s trips around the world can be seen through photographs displayed throughout their two-story home. In lieu of volleyball trophies and plaques on the mantle, hangs a photograph Mary took on a family trip to Venice, Italy. Most of the photos on the walls portray the happy family doing what they love and cherish most—spending time together and travelling.
“If there’s one thing I would like to think we did a good job of, it was traveling with the kids,” Mark said.
“That was the way I could balance both [work and family],” Mary added. “If Mark came with the boys, I could be with them.”
When they’re not travelling or working, most of the time spent together in the home takes place around the kitchen, with Mark as the master chef, or in the hot tub with “Sunday night hot tub nights,” where the family organizes their upcoming week, cherishing the moments of no phones, computers, televisions or distractions.
When the Wise’s built the home, they chose Mills Glen because of the proximity to Lawton Chiles, where both Matt and Mitchell attended elementary school. The family said it turned out to be their ideal neighborhood because of the communal feel, with elementary-aged boys constantly playing basketball, football and wiffle ball in the street.
“I love the location, especially because of my morning routine of running,” Mary said. “I enjoy the morning runs on sidewalks without heavy traffic, and I have the ability to do that and have a different route but an enjoyable one.”
Mark designed the home around his dream kitchen. He wanted plenty of room to move around, with an open area facing bay windows that led to the pool so he could watch the children swim while he cooked.
The house was also built with a bonus room upstairs, where Matt and Mitchell played in what little time of their childhood wasn’t spent outside playing. Because the busy couple relied on their parents and friends to help with childcare, they built a comfortable guestroom with its own bath.
They also knew the patio had to be large enough to accommodate the large dinners they would host. Each year Mark prepares Thanksgiving dinner for the entire volleyball program, including the sports staff, spouses and “a volleyball team that eats a lot.”
“I love being outside sitting at our outdoor table,” Mary said. “If we’re sitting at that table, it means I’m not working and we’re having a good night.”
Even when Mary is not working, much of her life still revolves around sports—with her husband’s job and both of her son’s playing basketball throughout much of their lives. Through the acting and piano classes, basketball was what truly stuck.
“That’s one of the great things about raising children in this community,” she said. “There are so many activities, but they always gravitated back to sports. There were lots of family road trips with the youth baseball team and weekends at basketball tournaments, but I loved them because we were together.”
“I’ve learned some of the best lessons from sports, especially with my mom,” Matt added. “She was on the road all the time, but I never felt like she was gone or absent. Balancing work and family was something I think both of them were so good about, it was never an issue.”
It was the same “village” that helped raise the children with the couple’s hectic work schedules that helped the family through Mark’s battle with throat cancer, something Mary said the family got through because of its strength.
“The hardest part was the timing of all of it,” Mark said. “It was five summers ago—the summer Matt left for school and around the time my dad died. All these things were going on at same time—that was very difficult.”
Mark has been cancer free for five years now. He is a sports analyst for ESPN, Fox Sports Net and the Florida Gators radio network. Matt, 23, is entering his second year of graduate school in the sports management program at the University of Florida, while he works as a graduate manager for the UF men’s basketball team. Mitchell, 18, is a 2012 senior at Buchholz High School, with plans to attend DePaul University in Chicago.
The family plans to visit Italy this summer, with plenty of Sunday dinners and Tuesday Glee nights at home in between.
“I never want this to be a shrine to Gator volleyball,” Mary said looking around her home. “This is my sanctuary.”