Coach Margueritte Aozasa: Inside the Mind of an NCAA Champion & The Power of Good Parenting

Kit sits down with powerhouse Margueritte Aozasa — the youngest coach ever to win an NCAA soccer championship — for a wide-ranging, wisdom-packed convo that goes way beyond the field. They talk about the mindset that made her a champion, how her parents shaped her confidence, and what it really takes to lead with heart. From childhood dreams of playing Major League Baseball to balancing motherhood and coaching at the highest level — this is one of those episodes you’ll want to bookmark and share with your kids.

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It’s a coaching masterclass for the driven — and the ones who helped them rise.

On this episode of The Coop with Kit, host Kit Hoover is joined by UCLA Women’s Soccer head coach Margueritte Aozasa — who made history as the youngest coach to win an NCAA championship… in her very first season. 🔥

So, what’s behind the mindset of a young, wildly successful leader with zero ego and all the heart? Kit and Margueritte dive into the parenting, grit, and game strategy that built a championship-caliber woman — and how you can apply it at home, in your job, or anywhere you’re building a team.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• The no-nonsense mindset that took Margueritte from standout athlete to NCAA-winning coach

• The parenting playbook that shaped her quiet confidence — no drama, no pressure, just “we’ve got you”

• Why imposter syndrome never had a chance — and the underrated power of not overthinking

• What she’s learned about leading Gen Z women, managing big personalities, and building team culture from scratch

• The realities of coaching while pregnant, breastfeeding while recruiting, and the postpartum truths no one talks about (yes, mesh underwear included)

• How to lead with curiosity, lose with grace, and parent like a coach — and coach like a parent

• Her take on NIL, the pressure to win, and why she doesn’t believe in blueprints

If you’re a coach, a parent, a leader — or someone navigating your next chapter — this one’s for you.

Tune in. Be inspired. And redefine what success really looks like.

New episodes every week. 

Don’t forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to get your weekly dose of bold convos, badass women, and Coop-style fun.

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This episode was produced by Kit Hoover and Harper McDonald. Business Development by Casey Ladd. Editing by You & Me Media.

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Transcript

This transcript was generated using AI. Some inaccuracies may exist.

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Welcome to The Coop everybody. Big day today we have our youngest member ever in the coop.

Marguerite. Welcome everybody. Thank you. And the reason we wanted Marguerite in is you are the youngest coach to ever win at ncaa. Championship. You won it for soccer, and we need to learn your mindset, how you got there, what your parents did. Right. How you feeling today? Marguerite? I feel 

great. I I was so honored, that you asked me to come on this, so I'm very excited.

just to get into this conversation, 

we 

start every coup with one word to describe where you are in your life 

right now. What would you say? Grounding amazingly. the last three years of my life have been incredibly chaotic. Not in a bad way, but just so much change. And I finally feel like my feet are on stable ground for the first time in a long time.

I like that. Grounded. okay. So you were the youngest coach to win the championship, your rookie season. 

Yes. 

Which is unbelievable. Okay, so [00:01:00] let's go back. 

Growing up, was soccer always your thing? Like what were you like as a little girl?

Oh. I was a wild one. My mom will say I was a pill. That's what she, how she likes to describe me. soccer was not my thing. In fact, I started playing soccer at a relatively late time in my life compared to what kids do now. So I didn't join my first competitive team till I was in fourth grade or so. prior to that I was a very competitive baseball player.

Baseball on the boys team. On the boys team, yes. And what, how did that come about? So I have an older brother. He is about almost two years older than me, and my dad played baseball in college and stuff. So we were a total baseball family. there was a time in our lives that we lived in New Jersey, but my dad worked in New York.

So Big Yankees fans. Yes. Derek Jeter was like the person that I wanted to be, and I was. Totally convinced I was gonna be the first woman to play in the major leagues. First of all when I was like 10. 

I love this mindset. I grew up with a dad very similar to that. Mm-hmm. That encouraged that. Would your dad like go in the backyard and [00:02:00] throw a grounder to you and a grounded to your brother?

Just as hard like mom would do. Yeah. 

Yeah, completely. That was like our favorite thing to do on the weekends was go to the local elementary school and just hit grounders. Like that was my thing. I played shortstop, played, played. I was second base. Yep, yep. Played shortstop and then in the outfield and eventually second base was kind of where I landed.

But yeah, that was my like favorite thing to do. 

This 

is, I wanna get into this. So what would your dad say to you when that time? Because I feel like I had such a gift that my dad literally treated me exactly like my brother. We went on to both be D one athletes. So there is something really cool about that mindset for father and daughters.

Yeah, no, he just encouraged me. He, he wanted it to be right. And I think in baseball there is that, like there's a right way to do things, wrong way to do things in terms of technique. he was equally as supportive as he was critical. But my dad has always been a huge, cheerleader of sorts for me.

Like sports was really the way my dad and I connected, whether it wa it started as baseball grew into soccer. but I could also tell there was just such a sense of [00:03:00] pride that I was playing the sport that he loved. 

And what do you think that did for your confidence for where you sit now? 

Oh, it's funny because, I, I never find myself questioning what I do and, you know, I never have walked into a room that I didn't feel like I didn't deserve to be there for some reason. Not in a. kind of arrogant way, but I, I never have had to grapple with a lot of doubt, which has been, I think a hu like a superpower of sorts as I've kind of done this early in my career.

I want everybody to take that in. We just did this podcast Harper talking about imposter syndrome. I said, no, I've never felt it. And I think doesn't mean that I haven't, you know, I can be over my head with certain things or whatever, but I've never doubted myself either. And I wonder if it's that love of our dads early on that are empowering us in a way that is, could be out of the comfort zone as far as, of course you're gonna play men's baseball, right?

I mean, treating you with that sort of level of respect and raising the bar. Interesting to see. What about your mom? 

my mom, [00:04:00] she is the kindest, warmest, person that you can come across. I used to think she and I were very different. I've learned that that is also a big part of me. So for my dad who always had a great kind of realistic understanding of how sports work, my mom on the other hand, I could have played terribly and I get in the car and she's just like, I thought you were amazing honey. 

Like that's, but the dichotomy of those two is so great. That's what I had with my loving mom bug.

Right. You have both. We have very similar lives. Also, my older brother is a year older. I worship him. His name is Craig. I followed him around everywhere. What was your relationship growing up with your brother like? 

Oh, my brother and I have always got along. Yeah. we can get to my little sister in a moment, but I didn't know there was a third.

Okay. I didn't mean to leave you out. I'm in the middle. Okay. Okay. Um, so my brother I think we respect each other a lot.

Did you compete with one another? We did, and we didn't. there were times we played even on the same baseball team and stuff. I was gonna ask you that. How did that go down? What's funny is this is where I have so much love and respect for my brother. Like, I think in terms of sport, I found my passion earlier and [00:05:00] I, I kind of reveled in the competitiveness and stuff of sport.

And my brother, maybe not as much till later in life, but he never. Tried to like dim what I was doing. Yep. When there was a year, like if I made the Allstar team and he didn't, even in the same age group, even though he older than me, he never got upset. He was so proud that I did that. 

 I give him a lot of credit. So you were really good at baseball. 

I was a good little player. Yeah. I would say I took, but also when it comes to Little League, like I took it very seriously. That's probably why I was better because it was, like I said, I was gonna be in the major, so 

we 

see a lot.

I was training. Yeah. Yeah. Training. 

We see a lot more now of, females on male sports. Right. When, when they're younger growing up how did your teammates treat you on the All-Boy team? 

again, I might have been naive, but I didn't feel, I didn't feel like I didn't belong.

I didn't feel like I wasn't welcome. Like, I felt just like one of the team just totally embraced, hey, the way she 

turned those doubles and, uh, they weren't complaining about anything. 

Yeah. and it [00:06:00] honestly, it wasn't until I found soccer that baseball kind of took the backseat simply because I just loved soccer that much more.

 I just found something that I was even more passionate about. 

okay. 

So you get on the soccer team, it starts taking off. You're doing great. Senior year you get injured. 

Yeah. Sophomore year and senior year.

Sophomore 

year and senior year. Yeah. Which was the one that you had to take off the giant gap. Both. 

I tore my ACL twice. Wow. Yeah, so I tore my ACL initially my sophomore year. I came back from that injury, I was playing probably four to six months and I then tore it again. 

We were just talking to Lindsay Vaughn about overcoming her injury.

So for anybody listening today, this can be for any age group or parents dealing with a child who's been injured. How did you get through it mentally? Because your whole life, you're doing one thing and sports gives you such discipline. What did you do when that was outta your life? 

So it never really was outta my life, and this is where I give a ton of credit to the person I consider my biggest mentor.

His name's Albertine Montoya. He's the head coach now of the women's professional team. Yes. In the Bay Area. and it was almost as [00:07:00] if my injury didn't cause any disruption in my routine. Like I wasn't. Able to train. I wasn't able to practice, I wasn't able to play, but I attended every single practice I felt involved.

And I think that's where I really found my passion for coaching. 'cause I started to appreciate the game from the sideline and started to understand the game in a different way. And I think I realized that playing is one thing. It gives you one, a different joy, a different feeling. But I was finding a lot of similarities in watching Albertine coach kind of understanding that piece.

Interesting. So I didn't really feel a huge disruption. I got great advice too, and this kind of comes from my family. This is a big thing. It's like. Like you can find joy in other people's successes.

So being around the team made me happy. Yeah. Like when I watched my team be successful, I wasn't feeling like I was missing out on that. I still felt very involved. I felt like, oh, we won that game. I felt great. and I think because of that I was able to make that kind of easy transition to coaching.

Eventually when my playing career stopped, 

What else did your parents say to [00:08:00] you during that time in high school when this was happening?

 it was never a conversation the like, why me?

Why did this happen? That just wasn't what we talked about. It was, okay, what are you learning from this? How can you be a better teammate? What did you do at practice today? How did you help your teammates understand this? Or what were you seeing? And my mom especially, I think, left space for me to be frustrated at times.

She left space for me to cry like when I needed to, but. It just wasn't the theme that we were going with. The theme was more, what can you learn from this? How is this gonna make you a better athlete in the future? How is this gonna make you a better teammate as opposed to kind of the negative side of of injury?

I love that. No victim mentality. Yeah. Okay. So now we're looking at colleges. Mm-hmm. 

How did you pick Santa Clara? 

it's where my mentor went.

Yeah. So that was, I think, a big part of it. the program itself does very well, so that was a big part of why I wanted to go there. my mom being an educator, I think she understood the value of education and the parts of school [00:09:00] that I really appreciated. And I think she gave some advice that I personally might enjoy a smaller school because the things that I enjoyed about school were like the personal relationships I was having with teachers.

The conversations. Before and after class that my brother would say that's called being a teacher's pet. Um, but 

we always, the teacher's pet. I'm thinking you were, you're already my favorite and we just started the interview. 

Yeah. So I think I, I liked that and my mom saw that, so she realized like, Santa Clara really values its undergraduate education.

but I also wanted to go somewhere where I felt like I was gonna learn and develop. And Santa Clara, their staff, what's wild is the same staff that coached me is the same staff that's there now. and they do a really good job of like teaching the game in a way that's gonna push players to broaden their understanding.

And that was a huge piece. 

Any advice for any parent listening right now who might have a child that could play in college? Best advice you've gotten or you could share with them? 

I would say let let it be their decision. And that means a lot of things. One, whether or not they wanna play at the next level.

Because it's different. It's different because I [00:10:00] did both. 

It is night and day. It's different. And as much as we don't wanna say it, playing in college is a job. It's a full-time job. It's a job. And I think it gets glamorized. It gets romanticized like what it is, but it's a job. And parents and players need to understand that.

It doesn't mean it's negative, a bad experience, but it's just a very different experience than the youth experience. So yeah, I think parents allow need to allow their children to be the drivers in that decision. You know, what's important to their parents may not be as important to the kid. And that's okay.

Yeah. Like that is okay. I had teammates that their parents were choosing their majors. Wow. And I could not believe that. Yeah. I'm like, wait, do you like accounting? Yeah. Are you even good at it? Do we know where we're going with this? Like, whereas my mom was like, do art, do whatever you want, honey. Honey moves you, you know, do, yeah.

Something you're passionate about, something you enjoy. and I see, you know, sometimes with parents going through that process, like a lot of their wants and desires become big drivers in their kids' decision. And I think ultimately [00:11:00] that leads to misalignment. 

I love the dichotomy of your mom as far as like, the discipline and the drive, but also do what you love.

Like if it's art, what it is, it's sort of like push yourself hard with this, but also have something on the other side that moves your needle. For me, once I got to college, I was doing cross country, indoor and outdoor tracks. It was year round and I just didn't love it as much. Like when I was in high school, there was a lot of joy playing a thousand sports and running was just a part of it.

It becomes so singular and like a job. So I like that advice to parents to just listen to what your kid wants. And they could change once they're in school as well. 

Yes, and I think that that is so important. Like truly listen to what your kid is saying or what they're not saying. Like if they're not lighting up, when you're talking about accounting.

That might not be the, that might not be the major for them. What did you major in? Um, so I majored in psych, and then I minored in public health and Spanish. 

 How has being a psych major helped you in coaching now? 

Coaching At the level I coach most of my job is managing people.

or as my mom likes to say it, [00:12:00] I am also an educator. I just happen to teach soccer. Yes, very true. Um, yeah, so I think understanding why people are acting the way they act, like how behaviors are linked to how people are feeling, kind of viewing coaching in that way. Where it's like, I don't have to stand in the room and say, this is my way just because I'm the head coach.

Like that's really not my approach at all. It's more about synergy and trying to get the best out of everybody. I wish there was a class I had taken on something like that. That would've been really great. Maybe you teach this 

class. I'm serious. 'cause I feel like we wanted to have you on too. 'cause yes, you're coaching this team, but I feel like people can use what you've learned in life, even though it's just managing their own family or their company or this kind of mindset that you're looking at.

But wait a minute. Okay, so you graduate college, you go coach, uh, assistant coach at Stanford for I think seven years. Yes. And then tell us about that, that week of your life where you got the call to be the head coach for UCLA Women's soccer. And Oh, by the way, and you're about to have a baby or no. About to get married.

Get married. 

Yep. But see, [00:13:00] remember by what I was saying? Now I feel grounded. This is why, because the last three years have been all these crazy things happening to me. Uh, by the way, I just gave you the baby early backtrack. You tell the story. Yeah. So I was an assistant coach at Stanford. And I was incredibly happy there.

 I love the staff there. How old are you at this point? 31. Perfect. Yeah. and I had started at Stanford when I was 24, so barely out of school, so naive, just all those things.

 but there were a lot of great opportunities that were around, like in the soccer world at that time. So UCLA was open, USC was open. This is also a theme in my life where I'm never actively looking for these things and then. They kind of fall into my lap in the perfect moment. Isn't that called 

flow? Literally? Is that loosening the grip on the bat? Like you're going in your life for these things and you seem to land, but it's 'cause preparation meets opportunity.

Yeah. And you're right where you should be. Um, 

understanding kind of the difference between ambitious and driven. People often really label me as ambitious, and I always kind of hesitate because I'm like, I'm not always actively searching for the next [00:14:00] best thing.

And I think sometimes ambition gets lumped in that, but I'm driven in the sense of like, whatever I'm doing currently, I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. And I think because of that, then things, opportunities open. Yeah. So we had this long conversation about that. I like that. The difference of those too.

That's that's accurate. Yeah. so I was, I was feeling great. Stanford, we had done very well and then I was in a yoga class actually, and I, I had applied to UCLA. and I got a text message from our sport administrator and she just wrote on, hi, this is Erin from UCLA, wondering if you had any interest in talking about our open head coaching position and talk about like disrupt your yoga flow.

I was like, the breath starts taking over. Yeah, I was looking, I was like, how much longer do I have in this class? Like, can I leave? I and I was just thinking like, what is going on in my life? 'cause the fact that I'm being considered for this is wild.

also being very eager. I text her back as soon as I got in the car. I didn't drive home or anything. Why would I do that? I love that. No game plan, like yes. Yep. No, zero planning, zero anything. I text her back. And I was like, [00:15:00] yeah, I would love to talk more. She goes, okay. Are you free right now? Uh, 

you're sweaty in the car?

Yes. From yoga, half the class. You make the 

call? Yeah, make the call. We end up talking 45 minutes to an hour. She's asking me just about my experience at Stanford, my evaluation of UCLA and kind of where they are currently, what the program will need going forward to be successful and, and in some ways continue the success that they've been having.

asked about coaching philosophy, just kind of all of those things. It was an amazing conversation and to this day, Erin, like, shout out to Erin. Obviously I wouldn't be here without her, she text me back and was like, Hey, I thought that went, went really well.

are you free to talk to our ad? It was moving quickly. Yeah. I hadn't even made it in the house yet. so I was like,Okay. I walk into the house, my sister is there. I'm like, Morgan, you wouldn't believe what just happened. Like UCLA reached out about their head coaching job, and this is why I love my sister.

She goes, you're gonna get it. See, 

I love that. I love that. 

She goes, I love la. You're gonna get it. Wait, are you living with your 

younger, your little sister at the time? At that time, yeah. So it was 

like right after Covid had happened and everything. So we time, first of all [00:16:00] level at the level of support too, 

from a sibling as a parent.

Oh, it's like that's, that's gold to a parent to know that y'all have that relationship. My siblings, 

we're all S, so Michael and Morgan, oh, they are. They're the best. They've been like my biggest fans. I just love them. And so yeah, she, with pure confidence, like, you're gonna get that. You're gonna get it. I love that for you, you're gonna get it.

It's like, okay. So then I take the call with ad. I thought it went well, but I also. I was very fortunate to feel like I didn't have anything to lose. Yeah. So I was able to be very authentic. sure enough, get another call back from Aaron. She's like, that went great.

We'd love to bring you on campus. And then she kind of asks, um, would you be free to come in later this week, like towards the end of the week, Thursday or Friday?

And I was like, uh, no, actually I will not be available at the end of the week. What's going on? And she's like, okay, like, can you come the next Monday? Then I was like, Nope, not available then either. And she kind of joke like, what the heck do you have going on that you can't come? I was like, yeah. So I get married on Saturday and we leave for Hawaii for my honeymoon on Sunday.

 so I was like, so this week's a little busy for me, actually. 

Like [00:17:00] I'm surprised just a little bit. I know you Marguerite, that you were like, I'll be there. 

Oh yeah. And so she goes, okay. Can you make tomorrow work? Wait, 

what? 

And I was like, yes. I 

will make tomorrow work for all young people listening or parents.

Can we talk about my renegade friend? The, the weekly leading up to your wedding is usually extremely hectic. You took the time and the mindset to say, I will be there. Like this is a huge opportunity that I'm sure through everything else, sort of into somewhat of a spiral for the personal stuff in your life.

Yes. In fact, my husband was away. He was at his bachelor party. and so I hadn't even had the time to even update him. It was honey, nobody panicked. Okay, we're, we're moving here. I'm taking this job. I was like, so crazy story. Um, UCLA reached out today and we have to go there tomorrow. And in fact, if I remember correctly, I believe he flew in the same day we flew out. So initial call was on Sunday, flew out Monday night, interviewed all day Tuesday. And my husband also named Michael.

amazing because he was in the hotel at UCLA, [00:18:00] paying our caterer and doing all the things that you have to do the, the week leading up to your wedding, doing the seating chart, all those things. 

That's 

a teammate. That's a teammate right there. Yes. Yes. 

Okay, so that's a Tuesday now. Yeah. At the end of the interview, do they make you the offer? No. 

So Erin, we joke now that she like sent off the young couple in the Uber. It was like, now go get married you two. Woo. Yeah, 

and they said, we'll reach out to you regardless of the decision.

We'll reach out to you after you get married. So I was like, okay. So we go. And my husband again, I'm just. Surrounded by people that are very confident in me, that I can be very thankful for.

Yep. You, you, you created that. That's not just by accident for anybody listening. Something I love, I 

want for my kids. So people were asking him like, well, how'd it go? And he's like, oh, you should have seen them. I think she got it. Yes. I was like, ah, we'll 

see. 

It's manifestation though. You put it out there and there's a feeling.

And of course he said 

that. Yeah. 

 So, but when you flew, to UCLA for that full day and Michael came along, what did your parents say about that? 

Oh, again, very supportive.

but very safe. but there's never the pressure associated with [00:19:00] like, and if you fail this, it was like, yeah. And if you get it, great and if not, well.

Then just be yourself. Yeah. And then it wasn't a great fit. And so it's exactly like 

my parent. Yeah. Didn't you use that word that I love for anybody listening that word safe. So home is a safer bound that we've got you no matter what, but we love when you fly, like we're with you. Mm-hmm. For any jump you're gonna do, for any leap you're gonna take in life.

Yeah. Like they offer a lot of safety, a lot of security, a lot of confidence. 

you know what that is, but not a lot of pressure. Not a lot of pressure. And that means there's no such thing as failure. Mm-hmm. That's what I'm saying.

There's no such thing as failing. Yeah. Okay, so you get the call, you go back from your honeymoon, where'd you go on your honeymoon? No, we were not home. 

We actually 

got 

the call on the honeymoon, so. Oh, you did? Okay. Yeah. So we were in Hawaii and the funny story I tell is like, I was very overwhelmed at this point because I wasn't ever expecting that.

An opportunity like this was going to come about. So we go, we get married on Saturday. We fly out on Sunday, we're in trying to enjoy our honeymoon, but there's a part of me that's like, oh yeah, our whole life could get upended as soon as we get back to the [00:20:00] mainland. 

 I got a text from Aaron that said, Hey, like, do you have time to talk tomorrow?

Now what was going on at the time is USC had actually reached out on our honeymoon because they had an open position, the same open position, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. USC now. Yeah. Reaches out. 

Yeah. For to be the head coach there as well. 

Yeah. so I set that phone call up. Aaron asks me if I have time to speak the next day, and I was very transparent and I said, I do have time to speak, but I do have a phone call scheduled with USC at nine. She said, great, let's talk at at eight me. 

How, how BADASS is that? Like yes, I have time to talk to you, but let me just incoming, 

you know?

I was like, just, yeah. I was like, thank you. This is NAMA 

day. Yeah. 

I was like, USC reached out, we have a call scheduled at nine. She said, great. I'll call you at 8:00 AM I said, okay. You couldn't have put any more fire under that gas. 

They offered me the job. And I told him like at the, it's 8 45 right now. Like, it doesn't feel right to cancel on USC at this point. So I'll still take the call, but I'll give you an answer by the end of the day.

And so, took the call with USC, kind of got a feel for that, realized that UCLA was gonna be the best [00:21:00] fit. and so I accepted the job that day and my gosh, on your honeymoon, here we go. Yeah. On your 

honeymoon. Yep. It was wild. This is, I love this whole trajectory for you. So then first season at UCLA, you're how old as a coach now?

32. So rookie season, you're 32 years old, you beat my tar heels in the national championship in overtime. Incredible game. 

first thing you do, we're gonna get to that first thing you do as a coach when you get there. Like what is your mindset as a coach? What is your philosophy? 

So my first day at UCLA was the first week of January and I was very fortunate because our first game is not till August. So I basically took over at the very beginning of the off season. So I had essentially an entire cycle to coach this team before we had to compete, which if I ever don't plan on it, but if I ever have to do it again, like that's when I would wanna do it, wanna do it right.

Like much harder to take over a team, closer to competition. The first thing I did was attempt to get to know the players as best I could. So how there was 35 to 38 players on the roster and I scheduled an individual meeting with every single one. [00:22:00] And I tried to make it as player driven as possible. basically ask them like, what's your experience been so far?

What do you want it to be like? What should I know? What should I know about you to help me coach you? What should I know about the program? Like I have, I have my inklings, I have my instincts about what we need and where we are, but I kind of told them like, you know better than I do.

So what do you think? looking back, I didn't realize maybe how daunting a task that was, but I do think it set the tone for how we were gonna coach. And I think the players really appreciated a space to get to know, get to know me. they really appreciated my want to get to know them, the value I was putting on, getting to know them.

And so that's really how we started. And then from there, kind of, I. Diagnosed and tried to, you know, put the soccer piece together, but, so 

what could anybody listening take away from your approach, from stepping into a new situation where you need to be the coach, the parent, the leader in that moment? 

the biggest thing for me was to think that I was gonna have a blueprint [00:23:00] that fit a team.

I didn't know, like I knew that that wasn't gonna be right. So my approach was more, let me get in, observe, let me get in and understand what this team really needs before I insert myself in that. And before I decide kind of what, what path to take. I think a lot of, in all situations you walk into something new and you know, you were brought there to, to lead and you know, you were brought there to put your stamp on it and everything.

And I think so many times people feel like they have to know what that stamp looks like. Exactly. But to me, that stamp, there's two parts of that equation. There's like what you want it to be and there's also a huge part of what it is currently. Those things have to fit together. 

Did your mentor help you with this or was there any other coach 

it was just a feeling I had. I think it was an instinct that I was like, okay, this is how to best do this. the one advice I did get though from my mentor that I hold so dear to what we do at UCLA, which was, 

he just said like, don't forget, like you can be one of the best programs in the country and you can have a blast. Like [00:24:00] those things are not mutually exclusive. So like, go, and of course you're gonna push your team to be one of the best teams in the country, but don't lose sight of like, why As coaches we enjoy what we do and why as players they enjoy what they do.

So that was also a a huge theme that I wanted to bring to. 

It's sort of with parenting, you do that as well, right? You wanna set up the boundaries and set up the leadership, but you also wanna have fun, enjoy the ride of it all. Sometimes those things are hard to marry. Did you find any tools that worked for you on that?

I think having an open mind. Mm-hmm. That was huge because there were parts of the UCLA program and team's personality that I wasn't really aware of until I really stepped into it. And at times there were crossroads where I had to decide am I going to embrace that or am I going to try to change that to fit more what I want?

the team was a lot, not, I guess you could say looser. It was a lot like louder goofier maybe than I anticipated. And at first, I will admit maybe more than I was comfortable with. But I [00:25:00] quickly learned like that's this team's personality. Yeah. And if I don't foster that, we're, we're not gonna be as good as we can be.

So I had to have that flexibility, to recognize that maybe exactly what I wanted wasn't going to be the best fit for what we were trying to do. and so having that open mind was, I think the, like a critical decision I made. And as far 

as playing times as a coach, you've gotta decide who you're playing when.

Yeah. But now to just jump back to like my world, just A YSO and like being a parent, I feel like all parents think their kids are the greatest and need to be in any advice to a parent listening. Like, just zip it and sit there and let me do my thing as a coach. Or what's the best advice you can give on that?

I think as a parent. The biggest thing, and this of course depends on the age. 

 There's very, very, very few coaches in the world that wake up every day thinking about how to make your child cry.

And sometimes I would feel, and I coached youth for a long time, sometimes I would feel like a parent would approach me as if I woke up that morning thinking about how to ruin their kids' day. 

Wait, I [00:26:00] forgot this. 'cause you coach younger ones when you were at Stanford. Okay. Yeah. Quickly, let's go back to that.

'cause this is fascinating ' cause I think a lot of people can relate to this. Okay. Continue your story. So yeah. 

So I was a youth coach for the longest time. 

Two teams. 

Yes. And from of all ages. So I coached six year olds, I've coached 18 year olds. And in the club that I worked for, you would keep the same team from the time they were six to 18.

So through all the ages and stages you can imagine. and I think the hardest part as a coach was when a parent would approach you as if hurting their kids' feelings. Was your intention. And that oftentimes coaches are not doing that, right? They're trying to balance development, they're trying to balance 18 other players playing time.

They're trying to do all of these things. And that was when I would feel the most like frustrated one, but also just upset as a coach because I'm like, clearly my intention was not to make your kid cry, like clearly, my intention is to do what's best for this team and do what's best for these players.

Yeah. And I was always, you know, encouraged by the conversations I could have with parents when they understood that and they came from a place of [00:27:00] understanding that we both want what's best for their kid, and now we can find a way to do that as opposed to the opposite, which is, I think parents really just feeling bad because their kid feels bad.

Is there anything parents can do better as opposed to saying, Hey, you should have played more, you see this on the sidelines a lot of times. 

Yeah. Which is like, maybe help me understand why my players not getting as much time. Are there things that they're doing in training that I don't see that's affecting this decision?

One of the best stories I have, and I love this family to death, I had a young player who often would elaborate her injuries, especially when she would make a mistake. You know, like she'd make a bad pass. Oh no, my ankle, oh, the ankle, you know, whatever it was. Oh, hammy. And it was becoming a bit of a habit.

And again, I was a young coach. I maybe wouldn't do this today because she was probably like 12, but I called her bluff. So in warmup she made a bad pass. She told me, oh, I think I just pulled my hamstring. I said, oh my gosh. Oh, that is very serious. I cannot let you play today because that's so serious.

I'm concerned for your safety. Mm-hmm. Lemme see again. She's 12. Yeah. So she [00:28:00] didn't play a minute in this game. And to her parents' credit, they called me right away after the game and they said, Hey, I just wanna talk to you about my daughter. Obviously, she didn't play. Can you just, they said we heard her side of the story.

Can you explain your side? That's well said. Okay. Oh, it was amazing. I told 'em what happened. Hey, this has been a theme in training. This has been a theme in games. I was like, and I said, maybe not the best decision because again, I called the bluff of a 12-year-old. But I said, I told her, if you pulled your hamstring, then you definitely can't play.

Yeah. And they said, you know what? That makes sense. We wanted to make sure it wasn't a behavior problem. 

I like that. Take an ownership. Mm-hmm. No victims out there. I said, because 

like this, we can talk to her about. Mm-hmm. But that'll be a very different conversation. If she was disrespectful, it would be a very different conversation if she had talked back to you or something like that.

So we wanted to make sure that she wasn't, the reason she didn't play was a behavior thing. And those conversations so much more effective. Then they could have easily called me, blah, blah, blah, blah. I can't believe you didn't play her whatever it was. 

Also, I think the psychology, when a parent does [00:29:00] that, or a parent says to their own child, like, you should get more play in time, why isn't that coach putting you in?

You're not doing your child any favors either Setting them up for that sort of behavior to then react to not being respectful to the coach. 

Yeah. Or the 

team. 

Yeah. Which brings me to my own father, who again, I love to death. there was a year when I played at Santa Clara that I didn't play as much, and my parents, again, did a great job of hearing out my frustrations if I needed to vent.

They were great for that. but he told me, my head coach's name was Jerry. He told me, you know, mark, like if basically he said like, it's not something personal against you. If Jerry thought you should be playing, then he'd play you. I was like, well, yes. Can't argue with that. Yeah. Like, can't argue with that, 

but what he'd say, work harder or find a way way.

Yeah. He was like, go find 

out why. Go figure it out. 

big theme in my house. Sounds great. Yeah. Was find a way to your point of, okay, well that's the reality. That's what's happening now. Find a way to fix it. Okay, so cut to now. So you're UCLA. So you get this new group of girls, by the way, I didn't realize the team was that big.

That is a lot of young women under you. Yes. 

Yes. That's a lot. [00:30:00] Soccer is, it's about management. Yes. Because it's a large roster. 

How do you navigate all the different personalities and temperaments going on with the team? 

I think management, again, huge part of what I do. And understanding strengths and weaknesses, understanding dynamics, understanding sometimes too, that as coaches.

We only see a small portion of who they are. And we have to be conscious of that in the way that we manage the group. So the face that I see in training for two hours out of the day can be a totally different persona than the one that they present to the team after hours. Right? Like and we have to take that into consideration when we're, when we're amplifying certain voices or not others and stuff like that.

U-C-L-A-I think attracts big personalities. That's part of who we are. And so we have to be okay with that as coaches. And part of that is the flexibility I talked about before. Like I don't think it would serve me to step into the room and just say, this is my way or the highway. ' cause that's not the kid that we get at UCLA.

And so ours is a lot more [00:31:00] collaborative. it's a lot more. We pose questions and have them coach each other. we encourage them to be vulnerable, like stuff like that.

but we can't lose sight of those big personalities and why that makes us special. 

I like that. Leaning in to what you have. 

Okay, so you win the national championship, your rookie season, beating my tar heels, the most unbelievable game, dramatic fashion. What happened to your life after that? Like what did that mean to you?

That had to be quite the surreal moment. 

Yes. Surreal is the best word to describe it. I just couldn't even believe what had happened the whole year. Yeah. One that I was even had you got married and you're in a wild in the honeymoon. I had just accepted that I got the job and then all of a sudden we were in the final and I couldn't believe what had happened.

I will say this, I was very fortunate at Stanford. We won two national championships, so obviously I wasn't the head coach. And it feels different yes. As a head coach, but I was fortunate that I had been there before and I had felt that joy of like winning it all at the end of the season. One of the [00:32:00] things that I found so special that like my, the memory I have of that game is watching everybody else Yeah.

Experience it for the first time. My staff, my players, my admin, like Aaron, our administrator, like everyone just kind of experie. Erin was like, 

see everybody. Yeah. I had her pegged. Right. 

I'm a winner picker. Yeah. but seeing like that joy, it's part joy, it's part relief to be honest. Like when you're in that, because you're, in our case, we were 15 seconds away from losing that game.

Yeah. Oh, I remember. So yeah, there's like just that sense of accomplishment, that sense of pride, that sense of joy, like. Feeling it yourself is one thing, but like watching everybody you care about feel it at the same time is something completely different. And so that's what I always will take away. But then after that, it was just a whirlwind.

They say that pressure is a privilege, right? That's what people under big jobs, they say, how do you handle pressure? 

my husband and I actually have like continued to work on this.

'cause my tendency is to go internal. Same. Yeah. Like, that's very much my tendency. When things get hard, I get quiet often. Mm-hmm. [00:33:00] sometimes I laugh because so many people give me so much praise and are so complimentary of like how calm I am on the sideline. And part of me is like, yeah.

Because for me, when things get hard, that's my tendency is to go internal. And sometimes it maybe looks like I'm more calm than I'm feeling, 

 I tend to intellectualize. Mm-hmm. Like when things get hard, I try to analyze and observe and intellectualize.

so my husband and I are working on my ability to be more open, because that's not my instinct. the other piece is like compartmentalize, and now being a mom is much easier in way Okay, wait to talk about this. Yes. Yeah. Because like, you just can't think of some other things when you're chasing around a baby that doesn't want their diaper changed.

Like that's what you have to focus on, the cutest baby on the planet, which we're gonna 

get to her. Okay. But hang on. The other thing that I think is really important that I wanna share with our listeners and viewers is the following year, not a great season. and I think what's important about that is how did you rebound and what did you learn from that?

Because that's where the greats come in. 

Yeah. Soccer is such a weird sport. Yeah. That's why my dad hates [00:34:00] it. He loves what I do, but he hates soccer because the, sometimes the better team loses. Mm-hmm. And like you play 90 minutes and you can play poorly for two minutes and lose, and that happens actually quite often.

Yeah. 

the next season was wild because we had a great season. We won the PAC 12 championship, but the last PAC 12 championship to exist in women's soccer. We won it. 

Yeah. 

We didn't lose a game in conference. We, I think finished the year on 1718 wins, like by most standards, great season. And then we got upset in the first round.

Gosh. it's like the final four you see all the time in basketball. And it's, and it's, it's so hard because what it made me do is really reflect on what I categorize as success. 

Good call. 

And yes, the winning and losing is a huge part of what we do. I often say though, it's a byproduct of development and everything else we're doing.

but it was so hard to balance like that feeling of failure and disappointment. With also understanding all the great things that we did do and the thing that we're building. the message I gave to the team was like, yeah, we lost this game. But I feel [00:35:00] confident that in a week's time, every single one of you is gonna wanna kick the ball again.

Like every single one of you is gonna wanna continue with soccer in your life. And for me, that's the success of this season, is like even our graduating seniors, that, that was their last game with us. I was like, what helps me sleep at night is even for our seniors whose career ended here tonight, I know that, that it ended still with them loving what we do.

Mm-hmm. 

And like, that's what kept me going. Yeah. Yeah. When mostly I just wanted to 

cry. So anybody listening that's had a failure in their life, best advice you could give to them? A failure or a setback? 

One, it's like, it's okay to sit in it for a day. We call it the day of darkness. 

See, I like that one day though.

Yeah. Get, I don't like a wallower. You get Nope. You get a, then you're stuck. You 

say, we get, you get one day of darkness. Yeah. And then you find a way to get out of it. Mm-hmm. Um, so acknowledging that like, failure hurts so much often because you care so much and it's like a disappointment. And that's when we lose, that's what I feel like, I feel like a disappointment.

but then being proactive in finding ways to change it. So one thing that I [00:36:00] do when I cope with failure is like, yeah, I have my day of darkness sometimes, like not even a day. And then right away I'm, I'm brainstorming, okay, what could I have done? What can I do? Not even, what would I have done differently?

Because sometimes I don't think that's that relevant anymore. Yeah. It's what can I do today that's going to prevent this in the future? 

I always talk about the windshield more than the rear view mirror. That's tiny. You can't really look back. You gotta look forward and, and hit the gas. Mm-hmm. That's where you need to go.

Mm-hmm. 

Okay. Now, So how many years 

after that did you have the baby? 2024. So she was just, she's going on a year.

She's going on a year. She's going, is her name, her name's Ari. It's a Japanese name. It means light or brightness. 

it means brightness in the dark, which I love. It's so hopeful. Yes. So we learned 

that from, we had a Japanese player come on campus and her mom told us that the connotation is, you know, when all else is dark, there's light.

And so, it's a name that I discovered 10, 15 years ago that was just always in our mind. And so my husband and I knew that if we had kids and then if it was a girl that was gonna be her name. 

Did you always wanna [00:37:00] be a mom? 

yes and no. I always imagined myself with kids, but I also am not a person that when I was 10 years old, like this was my dream.

Like. I just kind of knew that it was going to happen. and I, I've really enjoyed it so far, but it is a wild ride. It is wild. It is a wild ride. It's like, there are things I think in parenthood that people do not talk about enough. Like what? Like What your life looks like five days postpartum. 

Yeah.

People 

do not talk 

about that enough. No. Talk about darkness and you have to sit there. It's like, I just remember being, I don't think I've ever been as exhausted and I have a lot of energy. Oh, emotionally. Oh, the mes underwear. Oh, underwear. Oh. The way I'm gonna bring that mesh underwear back. I like that.

Mesh underwear. Yeah. But yeah, you're right. No one tells you that time and we're athletes. Mm-hmm. Like we're used to pushing our body and doing these things. Oh yeah. I was not prepared. 

Yeah. They just don't talk about it enough. Like what that really looks like and feels like and what to expect. and I can't even really complain 'cause my, my pregnancy was very easy.

My. Labor was very easy. Even after y my [00:38:00] friend 

went into labor. Were you at a soccer game? 

No, not at a soccer game, but we were watching soccer on the, on the TV while I was giving birth. 

Literally giving birth like effortless. Like, oh, is that 

like the most perfect, but of Well, 'cause my husband, he coaches in the pros and his team was playing, and so of course we had to watch.

So there you go. Now he claims it. And I think it was pretty close. She was born almost the exact moment that they scored a goal. So that was like a great good karma. Coincidence. Good karma. Um, but yeah, like just what that feels like in your body, just, breastfeeding too. Such a weird experience. What about 

the pumps?

I remember the pumpings on set and doing the whole thing. You just, everything you give your body up to this beautiful creature. Yeah. 

Yes. 

And I think as athletes, you're so used to having control of how your body feels and you're very intentional with it. Yes. And then all of a sudden is not up to you anymore at all.

And that just a weird thing. 

 are you dying to 

hear her little voice? I couldn't wait With my kids, I'm like, what are they gonna sound like? 

Yes. Yes. And I think she'll be chatty [00:39:00] because she didn't never quiet. 

my middle daughter talked like a duck and we just went with it. Yeah. Oh 

yeah. And then she's almost walking.

She stands, she's young to be doing that. She hasn't taken Yeah. Hasn't quite taken any steps 

How has motherhood changed your coaching? Has it affected it in any way? 

Yeah. in some way. I think I understand the parents better. Yeah. Which is huge.

and then for the players, all of a sudden they seem so much younger to me, 

right? 

So I think I've been more patient with watching them grow and develop less so with the soccer, but in how they conduct themselves. 

And as you see as a coach, that's almost as important as what's going on on the field.

Important if not more important. 

And one of the really special things about the age group that I coach, they're not quite, they're not quite adults. They're not kids. Yeah. They're kind of that in between. And, Being really patient and accepting of kind of where they are in their development as people, I think has really, helped me as a coach.

What are you manifesting next in your life? 

Well, soccer wise, we, I think next year can be a great year 

 and it's just because it is a [00:40:00] brand new group. we graduated an incredible class, we graduated 10 last year.

Eight have already signed pro contracts, so it was like a very successful older group and this year just feels like it's all about opportunity. So I'm very excited for that. And for me personally as a coach, it feels almost like when we started in 2022 because we're having to teach so much more maybe than we did in the last two years.

Yeah. So that part's really, really fun. 

What are you manifesting personally for yourself? 

Just like growth in this new phase of life that isn't less chaotic. Than what my last couple years have been. I feel like I'm going to be able to dedicate a little more time to myself in the last year. so I'm hoping for that.

yeah, that's top of mind right now. 

alright, let's get random here. Are you ready? Yeah. Uh, what's your go-to pre-game or pre-coaching hype song? Maybe you don't have one. Maybe you're like zen and out over there. Yeah. 

I'm not a huge like one, I'm not a huge routine person. Really? Yeah.

Wait, I find this fascinating, which [00:41:00] is like the anti athlete. Wait, I would think 

that you're very structured and routine. Mm-hmm. So what do you mean by you're just willy-nilly? Like, I mean, not willy-nilly, but like sort of going with the flow of what happens for that day. 

Yeah. If I listen to the song, great.

If I don't, whatever, if they forgot my pre-game order, it's fine. It doesn't bother me. 

See, that's the stealth bomber right here. Mm-hmm. Right. That, that's the even, that's the clutch. That's why you're the clutch player. If you could coach any player in the world, past or present, who would it be? Doesn't have to be for soccer.

Is there one, is one like athlete that you're like, oh, oh, I 

would love to pick Steph Curry's brain. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's just incredible and humble just seems to do everything right. 

Is there something people would be surprised to learn about you? Yeah, 

probably that I'm not as organized and 

structured than I give off. Yes. I picture you like up at a certain time and doing this. If you could go back and give your younger self any advice, either as a player or just as a person, what would it be?

Learn how to take risks earlier in life. 

I think you are a risk taker 

now, but you 

weren't when you were younger. 

No, I used to, um. I would never try something I didn't think I was gonna be good at. [00:42:00] Really? 

Mm-hmm. Okay. That's where we differ. I'll, I'll try anything. I'm like, woo, here we go. My mom 

would tease me.

I would go practice first and then I would do it. 

I like that safety. Mm-hmm. So now we're a little more risk. Well, the big risk, I mean, look what happened with u UCLA LA. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Major risk right there. 

 Uh, did you have a nickname growing up? 

I almost never go by my full name, especially in the soccer world. So obviously my full name's Marguerite.

Almost everyone in soccer world calls me Marg. 

Marg. 

Yep. I love, I think it's just easier. I love on the field. That's so great. Um, but yeah, aside from that. Really, but I do laugh that my alter ego is Maggie B. 'cause my, my last name technically is Bates. That's my husband's last name. so yeah. Maggie B.

Maggie B. Maggie B. Maggie B. Right 

there. 

we get to our last question, what are your thoughts on NILI was just thinking back to your team mindset because I think for coaches now, it's impossible to keep your team intact.

It's really hard. 

Yeah. 

I am now GM slash Yeah, head coach, which is not ultimately what I signed up for at the beginning. but. It is what it is. Yeah. And I think we just have to continue to adapt. I think while still trying [00:43:00] as best we can to maintain the integrity of what we do. 

 We're seeing a lot, a trend now. I feel like a lot of young coaches, especially in the female space. What do you attribute that to? I love it. 

I think in the female space, especially for soccer, we're approaching a generation of athletes that viewed from day one coaching as a profession.

Yeah. Well you said you thought about it in high school. Yeah. And you're same with your coach. Yeah. That's really neat. So I 

think that that's part of what we're seeing is now younger athletes, meaning athletes out of college or athletes that just finished their career, like they have coaching as the goal, which I think is really special.

Thank you so much for coming on the coop. Uh, I was telling our listeners, Harper and I are wearing our UCLA colors. We did not plan this right here. Literally you have on the perfect UCLA blue. I know. And is this not the perfect yellow right there?

They're close. We will see you on the sidelines. Thank you for sharing this insight. You're just lovely and I, we couldn't wait to meet you. Sever. Thank you Coach of the year, baby. Thank you. Keep kicking ass Maggie. B Okay. 

Oh, I thoroughly [00:44:00] enjoyed that interview.

Hartford, what'd 

you think? Marg. Wow. Maggie B. Maggie B baby. Uh, she is as cool as a cucumber and the clarity that she has when she speaks about I. Just her perspective and how she approaches coaching, how she approaches her players, her daughter. I mean she's, she just feels so centered and that's where we started.

Right. There was nothing 

swirly about her and it seems like there was nothing swirly ever going on in her life. And we talked about sort of leaning in and going with the flow. Mm-hmm. But I love her relationship with 

her parents, especially her dad. 

 it, I was look, kept looking over you Harper when 

she was speaking, thinking like, we just spoke about this in our last podcast.

Mm-hmm. When you asked if I've ever had imposter syndrome mm-hmm. And I said, no, and that's not a cocky way, but it's a feeling of centeredness that I feel good wherever I am in my life. Mm-hmm. So for her to have that same mindset and she said, there's that sense of safety. Right. So they, there's no such thing as failure when you have that ball club to fall [00:45:00] back on. 

A hundred percent. She always knew that she had her people Yeah. And her people had her. Yeah. And, 

She also shared a funny story afterward with you and with us about her dad. Do you remember what she just Yeah, yeah. Tell, tell the story. Well, she was just saying how after a certain match, if she wasn't playing, her dad would actually say, well, yeah, I mean maybe you didn't play, but how did Julie do?

Yeah. He and he actually had a favorite player on the team. That wasn't her. Yeah. And he focused on it and said, and why he loved her 'cause she hustled and she was all about it. And it's not that Mark didn't, but it's just, it was this balance of you're not everything, but we've got you no matter what and whatever you're going through, we've got you.

 and he 

didn't do that to stir up something in her. It was just sort of a statement. And she was like, I know I love that player too. I love that player too. And this again was off the interview we were talking about, and we have talked about this so much, Harper. Mm-hmm. The love of celebrating other people's success Yeah.

Is such a winning quality. And when you truly breathe that in and feel it, and I feel like you and I are both wired for that. Yeah. And 

you want your kids to be like that. It's just wonderful. A [00:46:00] hundred percent. So the other thing she talked about that I thought was really interesting was the difference between, being ambitious and being driven.

Fascinating. the perception about her is that she's ambitious, but she actually sees herself as being driven and she's not really necessarily planning, she just finds opportunities because she's always driving forward. She's always trying to figure out how to improve and how to just be a 

better everything.

Isn't that a metaphor in life? It's, it's equivalent of like sort of if you're chasing a guy or something, let's just say, or a job. Mm-hmm. Or whatever. It doesn't, but if you're a little more, again, back to the word flow and go with it. Mm-hmm. And you're focusing on yourself and making yourself the best version.

Mm-hmm. It usually 

will come to you. Well, and I think that that was the case for her when she was the assistant coach at Stanford for seven years. She wasn't necessarily looking for a head coach job. Yeah. That wasn't actually what she was doing. She was winning national championships as an assistant coach.

She was learning a tremendous amount and kind of threw her hat in the ring for UCLA, ultimately USC as well, and. In it. She was prepped actually for that job [00:47:00] because she was studying all of these teams along the way. She was studying her craft. she was prepared for an interview while she was in a yoga class that she didn't even know that she was gonna have, because she loves her craft and also she loves what she 

does and also, and also just being authentic.

Yes. So who she is. Yes. I 

when she was talking about, uh, she got injured twice in high school, tore her ACL. Mm-hmm. But there was no pity party. Right. She said she gives herself one day and her players a day of darkness. Right. Day of darkness to mourn what it is.

Yeah. And then you start pulling yourself out of it and sort of pivoting to what could be next. And that's when she fell in love with coaching. Yeah. And learning that mindset on the sidelines. And I just, for anybody out there that's going through something, we all go through something and I just sort of like thinking about it that way.

Give yourself time to grieve and sit in it. We're allowed to do that, but then start pulling 

yourself up. And in that same frame she was talking about. Recategorize success. Success does not necessarily mean the W Everyone wants the W. Yeah. Whatever that is in life, 

 you know, if you're working really hard towards something, you want to feel like you've achieved the thing. But as a [00:48:00] coach, she's been able to figure out how to recategorize success, which is smaller wins. What did we learn? What did we get out of this season? Which was extraordinary. They still won the Pac 12.

Yeah. Right. but didn't necessarily hit the same national championship that they had the year before and. In That is a really beautiful way to approach something when maybe you didn't necessarily get to the place that you thought you'd gonna get to. She was fascinated. We've had so many 

interesting people in the coop and Harper, her baby.

Oh my gosh, I gotta share with y'all. I geeked out her baby. Might be my screensaver, so don't come after me. But she's 

so cute. I love her so much. And they've got her, she's on the field. She's, she's strapped in that baby horn thing. Yes. And I, and she's just coaching and doing thing. Well, and I think it's also so cool, and you guys talked about this as well, is that there are all these young women who are now becoming coaches across the board, across, yeah.

Carolina had a 23-year-old field hockey coach. The one, the national championship. That's incredible. Right. Who just came out of being an athlete. But you know, some people are born to be coaches. Truly. And when you know the sport as well as you [00:49:00] do, you can, and you have that in you. It is magic.

And especially I imagine for players to have someone so close in age to them that really has a fresh perspective. They're not coming in with. Whatever the baggage is. Yeah. Or whatever the old school thinking is. It is coming in as she had said, without the blueprint. You come in, you listen, you hear somewhere inside of her.

She's sort of crafting what her team needs to look like and really awesome. 

I have to laugh with y'all that are just listening to this Harper and I didn't know we did this, but we showed up in both sweaters. I'm literally in the UCLA yellow and Harper's in the ucla. A blue U blue. We talked about it.

It could be 

Carolina Blue a little bit. It's a little bit Carolina. Could it? But, but I think together we look pretty. UCLA. It came as, and for me is not easy 'cause we went to USC because Harvard went to USC and I'm a tar heel. Yeah. 

Uh, I loved that. But we did that for, but we did that. That's what we do.

 mark. Maggie B. Thanks again for spending your time with us. Everybody with the coop. I hope y'all love that and took away some nuggets 'cause we certainly had a ball. Thanks again. See you next time. I