After Creighton pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the women’s NCAA Tournament by defeating player of the year candidate Caitlin Clark and No. 2 seed Iowa to advance to its first Sweet 16 in school history, the Bluejays were greeted by a FaceTime call as they walked off the Hawkeyes’ home court.
That’s when the tears began to fall.
On the other side of the call was Bluejays assistant coach Carli Berger, who watched the game from her home, less than one week after giving birth to son, Luke.
When Berger first learned she and her husband, Nate, would be expecting their first child and her due date was Selection Sunday, she knew she would have to step away when the baby was born — she just didn’t know when and where her team would be. Because of her due date, she wasn’t able to travel with the team for the final two regular-season games and the Big East tournament.
Berger gave birth March 15, but the trip to Iowa City for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament wasn’t possible, so Berger watched the games from home.
“Watching from home is a wild experience,” Berger told USA TODAY Sports. “When you’re on the bench in the game, you have to control your emotions a little more because you’re around the players, you’re around the staff, you’re in public. But watching from the couch, you can be absolutely crazy because no one’s watching you.
“My husband and I, we had to set the baby down a couple times just to make sure we didn’t do anything crazy,” she said.
As excruciating as it was to miss her team make school history over the weekend, Berger wasn’t left out of the game plan.
Ever since she couldn’t travel with the team in mid-February, she’s watched film, taken part in scouting, joined team meetings and talked with players virtually. Not long after she gave birth, she was back at it, talking with her assistants to prep for their first-round matchup against Colorado.
“She’s still such a competitor at heart, still sending us so many texts throughout the week, just checking in on us and telling us different scout stuff, which is kind of funny because it’s like, you just had a whole child,” said senior guard Tatum Rembao. “It just shows how much she cares about us.”
Berger was able to bring Luke so he could meet the team at their final practice in Omaha before heading to North Carolina.
“He was just as cute as we all thought he’d be,” said senior guard Rachael Saunders said.
“Carli is unselfish and she likes to be in the middle of it. She’s not a bystander,” head coach Jim Flanery said. “She’s definitely an extrovert and just enjoys being around people.”
The feelings with her players are mutual.
Berger was a standout for the Bluejays from 2011-2013 under Flanery, winning the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and 2012 conference tournament MVP, and leading her team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013. After retiring before the 2013-14 season, she was the team’s graduate assistant and video coordinator before becoming an assistant head coach in 2017.
One of the first players Berger recruited as a coach was Saunders. She said Berger’s experience and her commitment to building relationships with players is what makes her such a difference-maker.
“She’s meant a lot to me over the time, as well as the rest of us. She’s a constant figure at practices, team meals and is always gonna make you laugh,” Saunders said. “She’s really there for us anytime that we need her, whether that be on the court or off the court.”
Despite the missing piece, the Bluejays advanced to the Sweet 16 in the Greensboro region where they will play Iowa State on Friday night.
Even though they got to celebrate with their assistant coach over the phone, Saunders said the entire team couldn’t wait to see her when they got back to campus in Omaha. Berger was the first person they saw as soon as they stepped off the bus, and they all rushed to celebrate once again.
“I thought I was all calm and cool (and) collected, and I was just gonna kind of hang out on the side of this welcome home parade. They just ran right towards me and I was just overwhelmed with emotion for them because you’re so proud of them,” Berger said. “It all kind of came out.
“You know, they do say that new mothers are kind of emotional,” she added.
As excited as she was to see her team, Berger felt guilty about not being in Iowa this past weekend, and was honest that the transition into becoming a mom and coach hasn’t been a smooth ride.
When last year’s tournament was in a bubble, numerous coaches were open about the difficult decision they were forced to make: bring their children, which meant some team personnel were unable to travel with the team because of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic; or leave their children at home. It opened up a conversation of how stressful it can be for women’s coaches trying to balance motherhood while staying locked-in with the team, something Berger is experiencing now.
She said she understands she can’t do everything at max capacity, but having your partner, friends, family or other coaches there to lend a hand makes all the difference.
“I’ve watched these moms that are coaches do this. It’s a great story because we need to keep hearing it. Other moms need to keep hearing this stuff and that it’s OK if you’re not perfect,” Berger said. “These moms are all pretty special. They’re pretty badass, but it’s a support system around them that helps keep them going.”
‘I need to be there’
Berger wasn’t the only coach to become a new parent this past week.
Caleb Heim, assistant strength and conditioning coach for South Dakota, also welcomed his first son, Bennett, on March 15. It was a surprise since his wife wasn’t due until April, so Heim was unable to be with the team while it played the first two rounds in Waco, Texas. Similar to Creighton, the 10th-seeded Coyotes stunned a No. 2 seed in Baylor to advance to the school’s first Sweet 16. South Dakota plays Michigan on Saturday night.
Heim wasn’t with the team for the first two rounds, but made sure his players had a sense of normalcy. Each day, he sent a video of his usual pep talk to get players hyped up for practices and games, and coordinated team meals. This time around, he’ll be able to join the team as they play in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday.
“My wife was saying that she couldn’t tolerate me pacing around anymore,” Heim said. “I was probably still loud, but (Bennett) slept the entire time. He’s prepared for athletics.”
Heim said it was important for him to spend the first few days of his child’s life together.
“That was something I know my wife was concerned with early on, and that was something I wanted to prove to her,” Heim said. “Family is before work and yes, athletics is really important and yes, they’re an extended part of our family, but I need to be there and show support.”
If South Dakota is able to win its next two games and advance to its first Final Four, Heim may bring Bennett along to Minneapolis.
Berger is already thinking the same thing.
“Driving to Minneapolis is very doable,” she said. “My husband and I have already talked about going.”
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.
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