When No. 3 Ohio State women’s basketball and No. 6 Notre Dame play Monday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament, one team will move on to the Sweet Sixteen; for the other side, it is a one-stop trip to the offseason. However, the ties that bind these two programs go far deeper than just about any other you will see in the tournament. When it comes to Ohio State and Notre Dame women’s basketball, they are only competitors for two hours; the rest of the time, they are family.
If you look back at head coach
Kevin McGuff’s history in women’s college basketball, it is a major branch of the Muffet McGraw coaching tree. For six years, McGuff was an assistant coach on McGraw’s Notre Dame staff, and in 2001, the Irish won a National Championship with now-Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey at the point guard position.
“Niele was a great player, and it was a privilege and honor to be on that staff to coach her,” McGuff told reporters. “One of the things I think that really sticks out is the reason, one of the reasons she’s been such an effective head coach so far is when I look back at her as a player and when we won the National Championship, she was certainly one of the leaders of the team.”
It is easy to look at the past with rose colored glasses and inflate a moment to fit a narrative. It is easy to romanticize a former Notre Dame point guard now leading the team to the NCAA Tournament as head coach, but the proof of Ivey’s future leadership was clear early on. So much so that when the then-WNBA guard underwent her third knee surgery, she knew that playing professionally was not the long-term plan for her life. That is when Ivey reached out to McGuff, then in his first head coaching job at Xavier University.
As an intern, Ivey could not do all that she wanted as a coach. However, being in that environment and through mentorship under McGuff, she developed a love for leading a team from the sidelines. After two years with McGuff in Cincinnati, McGraw hired her national title-winning point guard as an assistant coach in 2007.
“I always credit Kevin and Coach McGraw for giving me the opportunity,” Ivey told reporters. “When you get into coaching, it’s getting a chance because I was green. I had no experience. So they both gave me my first opportunity, and Kevin definitely opened my eyes to the possibility of being a coach.”
On Monday, it will not be the first time the two head coaches sat on opposing sides of the scorer’s table. Ivey was named assistant coach for McGraw when the Fighting Irish defeated the Buckeyes in the 2015 ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and again in the 2017 Sweet Sixteen. However, this is the first time that they are meeting as head coaches.
For one, McGuff’s team has experienced ups and downs during his 13 years in charge. The other, in Ivey’s sixth season as head coach, is looking to continue the climb to the top of the sport.
Although McGuff and Ivey have not been on the same team for 19 seasons, their relationship has only gotten stronger through another Notre Dame standout, forward Letitia Bowen, or as she is better known today, Letitia McGuff.
Ivey met the now-married couple back in 1996, one year after Bowen left the program near the top of the record books in rebounds, blocks, and all things that make an effective interior player. Since then, the two have become best friends who speak to each other every day, according to Ivey.
“We are really, really close, and we don’t talk basketball. So that’s what’s the best about us. We don’t talk about basketball,” Ivey told reporters. “She’s somebody that I really lean on. She’s been one of my mentors.”
Instead, they talk about their families. When Ivey’s son was young, the then assistant spent summers with the McGuff family. They became so close that Ivey is the godmother to the McGuff’s second youngest child, Lily. Ivey and Letitia McGuff talk about kids, faith, and their lives without ever having the need to speak about the game of basketball.
None of this matters at 4 p.m. ET when the game starts between the two teams. Point guards Hannah Hidalgo and Jaloni Cambridge will battle, teams will steal the ball, and at the end of the game, one of the two sides will pack their bags for a trip to Fort Worth, Texas. Both Ivey and McGuff know that Monday afternoon is business, and both members of the Notre Dame family only care about the business within their own locker rooms.
“We love Niele, and we’re both competitive people, who take very seriously the job that we have, and we’re both going to show up tomorrow and put our best foot forward and try to win the game,” McGuff said. “After that, we’ll get back to the relationship that we have.”
Overall, it is a matchup that has many torn allegiances, at least on the teams’ sideline. While McGuff spends nearly all his basketball watching time looking at his own side, he does admit that Notre Dame is the other team the McGuffs will have on in the house, outside of their own basketball playing kids.
Monday’s game is another blossoming of the McGraw coaching tree, which looks more like a family tree the closer you look into its branches. Even McGraw herself is connected beyond basketball as a godparent to one of the McGuff kids. Despite the clear connection to South Bend, McGraw is staying out of choosing in this one.
“I connected with her last week before we left. She hates playing against family,” Ivey said. “So she’s just literally like ‘good luck; love you.’ I’m sure she’s saying the same thing to Kevin.”
