Where Are They Now?

The COVID19 pandemic has upended the lives of many. For Dublin graduate Tommy Zmeskal, pandemic layoffs meant that he lost his job as a machinist at FMC. But this misfortune led to an unexpected positive outcome: He finally found the motivation to follow his longtime dream of becoming a coach.

“I always wanted to do it,” he said. “I was just scared to leave the comfort of what I was doing and go out on a new adventure.”

Zmeskal graduated from Dublin High School in 2005, and joined the Navy. “I wanted to go do something different than the traditional college route,” he said.

He trained as an electrician, and over his four years in the Navy he was deployed three times to the Persian Gulf. He worked on a ship called a minesweeper. “It’s a small wooden ship that goes out in front of the fleet and looks for mines before the big ships come through,” he said.

Zmeskal and the crew never found a mine, but their sophisticated equipment meant that the other ships could feel safe traversing the water. “There was an acoustic instrument that we put on the water and it could make the sounds of the ships engines going through, and then we also had a magnetic cable that we would set out that would set off magnetic mines.”

When he was discharged, Zmeskal went to college at Tarleton State University to study kinesiology. “I knew I wanted to coach, so I just got certified for physical education,” he said. Later, he added a certification in history for more flexibility.

To make some money during college, Zmeskal took a job on the weekends at FMC in Stephenville as a machinist. He worked on different components of oilfield machinery.

When he graduated in 2014, FMC offered him a full-time position, and Zmeskal took the job. He stayed there for a little over six years, until he was laid off during the pandemic. He began looking for other jobs, and came across a position as a coach and teacher in Dublin.

Now, he works as the head softball coach, helps coach football, and teaches government and economics at Dublin High School. “If COVID hadn’t happened I couldn’t see myself changing my career like this,” he said.

Zmeskal hopes to continue teaching, and eventually go back to school for a masters degree in educational administration. “Ultimately I’d like to be an athletic director or principal at a school,” he said.

When he’s not working, Zmeskal spends most of his time with his wife Tedra (also a Dublin graduate) and their three children, Trenton, 13, Trip, 9, and Tegan, 6. In Zmeskal family tradition, Trenton and Trip and very involved in baseball. “We’re constantly going to tournaments,” Zmeskal said.

And Tegan is still figuring out what she wants to do, Zmeskal said. “She mostly followers her brothers around and tries to figure out life as a sister,” he said.

Throughout his life, Zmeskal’s primary source of inspiration is to be someone others can look up to, whether that’s his own kids or the students he coaches. His advice to Dublin graduates is to get out and see the world. “It can really open your eyes, and make you appreciate what you have back home,” he said.

Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen. com.