A long walk through the dimly lit corridor of the Iowa football facility leads to a set of double doors. Past that barrier, a football practice unfolds like any other. Wide receivers trace articulate routes on the green artificial turf, quarterbacks sling spirals into tight windows, and players stand in huddled masses around a laminated play sheet. A clock operator mimics in-game scenarios while a camera records all the action.

Yet this Thursday night scene isn’t some covert training for the Hawkeyes, but rather a practice opportunity for the people who don’t wear a uniform. Iowa football’s 12 student managers attend every practice, travel to every game, and perform myriad tasks, ranging from equipment needs to team operations.

The group’s objective centers on the Hawkeyes winning games, but they also have a contest of their own: an annual flag football game against Wisconsin’s student managers dating back decades. The weekly practice in the facility is one of many methods Iowa employs in preparation for the one-game season, played the Friday night before the Hawkeyes take on the Badgers.

Iowa co-head student manager Elio Celentino knows an outsider may be skeptical, but he holds no doubts as to the game’s importance. The stakes for the matchup include an aptly named Rusty Toolbox trophy, but for the players, it might as well be made of gold.

“We take this pretty ridiculously seriously for a flag football game,” Celentino said. “But when you only got one game a year, and you got an entire lineage of managers counting on you, you need to win it.”

The Rusty Toolbox was once the nondescript item of Bill Dervich, Iowa’s former equipment manager and director of football operations. His Wisconsin counterpart, John Chadima, wanted to create an eight versus eight flag football game for the managers of the two schools but needed some added incentive. When  Dervich was looking for a new toolbox, Chadima found the answer.

After annual battles almost every year since 1991, age took its toll on the hardware. Now it dons black and white paint and is littered with the insignia of the two rivals. A Wisconsin W next to a given year indicates a Badger victory, while a Tigerhawk says otherwise.

The trophy found itself in Madison from 2009 to 2019, when Iowa reclaimed it with a double overtime triumph. Jake Manning was a volunteer manager that year and streamed the game back in Iowa City. When he became an official manager and member of the team in 2021, the culture from two years ago remained alive and well.

Manning said then-head managers Nolan Davis and Matt Condon appealed to the squad’s pride. The days of serious sports ended after high school, but the toolbox game offered a chance to not only turn back the clock but provide a welcome respite from their daily work as managers.

“It’s a good chance to take all the hard work of a season and channel it into something for a night,” Manning said. “We found a lot of enjoyment from it, but it’s a lot of hard work itself, too.”

Manning, who now works at Northern Illinois, said Iowa would bring in the top intramural flag football teams to scrimmage against. Videos of past toolbox games offer opportunities for film study. Nonetheless, all these duties come after their job as managers, which Celentino said ranges from 40-50 hours a week.

“Us student managers, we work our asses off,” he said. “We don’t expect any praise.”

There’s no general application to becoming a student manager. Rather, those interested need to reach out to the right people. For Celentino, a center and defensive lineman in high school, the toolbox team was an implicit part of the hiring process in 2021.

“When I was doing my tryout process, they were looking at how I could throw a ball, how I could catch a ball, what I was like holding up pads in practice because they wanted to slot me in for that team,” he said. “That’s something that we carry now — we hire strong managers first, good workers. Not necessarily looking at athletes, but there’s an athletic part of the job.”

While the role of student manager requires strength, a toolbox title involves physicality. Celentino places heavy air quotes on “flag.” The line of scrimmage features three offensive linemen against two pass rushers. No pads, of course, just mouth guards. Outside of cut blocks, everything is fair game.

For Kieran Monaghan, a lineman at West Delaware High School in Manchester, Iowa, his first toolbox game mirrored his tackle career and then some.

“We obviously have to work the next day, and I felt like I got hit by a truck,” Monaghan said. “I was more sore than I’ve ever been playing a real football game because your body is not used to doing that. It’s been years since you’ve actually hit. It’s a weird feeling.”

Celentino said offenses generally involve trick plays, especially since the game doesn’t involve field goals and extra points. Rather, teams can opt for one, two, or three added points to a touchdown depending on the distance from the goal line. With a three-person referee crew to enforce the rules, the teams do their best to be as civil as a rivalry could be.

“When you do it your first year, you’re not really set on why we are doing this,” Monaghan said. “It hasn’t really hit yet, but you get done with that first game, and you’re talking s— to the guy across from you, and you remember his face for the next 10 years.”

Since that victory in 2019, the toolbox has stayed in Iowa City, and the Hawkeyes want to keep it that way. The managers’ locker room contains a countdown to this year’s contest, which will take place on Oct. 10 in Madison. Celentino said after past road victories, Iowa football players will greet the team that night with cheers. Similar support comes from head coach Kirk Ferentz and the staff, who make sure to discuss the game during Wisconsin week.

“You only get noticed as a student manager if you don’t do your job, and we’re a pretty good crew,” Celentino said. “But the week before the toolbox and the week after, if we’ve won, every person in [the Iowa] building is coming up to you and asking about the game.”

For Celentino, who hails from San Diego, the toolbox game is a chance for his family to visit. Attendance is an open invite, and Celentino said former Iowa managers and even players like Dallas Clark and Brandon Scherff make appearances.

While the Iowa student managers appreciate the support, they also value how the toolbox game enhances their unity.

“We have a really good camaraderie built, and I think toolbox is the thing that puts it all together because we’re all fighting for one thing,” Monaghan said. “Yes, we have jobs and goals, but this thing is an actual competition that we’re working towards. So it’s just another thing that strengthens us.”