Mark DeGreen of Oklahoma City boasts the top record among NBA coaches this season and holds the second-best home record for any coach.
Daigneault, a coach himself, is married to Ashley Kerr, an assistant gymnastics coach for women at Oklahoma. Her team, the Sooners, has achieved a remarkable 33-2 this season, securing their third national championship in the last four years.
As Daigneault pursues his first NBA title, he and the top-seeded Thunder are set to host the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night. His wife, Kerr, has now contributed to seven national championships over her career with teams in Florida and Oklahoma.
Daigneault isn’t shy about highlighting the impressive qualifications of his wife.
“Between my wife and me, she is by far more skilled, more impressive, and a better coach,” Daigneault stated. “She’s the real deal.”
Their relationship developed from their connection at Florida. Massachusetts native Daigneault served as the student manager under Jim Calhoun at Connecticut, where the team captured the NCAA Championship in 2004. He later joined the coaching staff in Florida after a three-year assistant coaching stint at Holy Cross.
Kerr, a Florida native, was a gymnast who spent four years as a student-athlete for the Gators. She excelled academically, earning All-SEC honors four times, and Florida managed to sustain its gymnastics program even after her eligibility expired. Kerr began as a volunteer student manager in the 2011 season, later moving up to team manager and finally becoming an assistant to the head coach.
During her time there, she and Daigneault started dating, but complications arose. Daigneault received an offer to coach the Blue, the G-League affiliate of Oklahoma City, which would require him to relocate. Kerr was still working in Gainesville and wasn’t ready to move.
“The job in Oklahoma City was an easy choice for him,” Kerr told the Oklahoman in 2021.
The couple faced a long-distance relationship for several years until Kerr decided to leave Florida to pursue a coaching career in Oklahoma. Initially, she and the Sooners faced some challenges, but a volunteer position opened just as they were about to relocate. Kerr continued her volunteer role and helped Oklahoma secure three NCAA titles, benefiting from NCAA rule changes that allowed for the conversion of volunteer positions into full-time roles.
Meanwhile, Daigneault was promoted from the Blue to the Thunder, got married, and started a family.
“She’s an exceptional leader with a unique ability to connect with student-athletes individually,” commented Oklahoma coach KJ Kindler upon Kerr’s eventual promotion.
Daigneault jokes that the true authority in their home is the couple’s two young children, aged three and two.
“We’re not in charge,” Daigneault said. “We’re just surviving.”
The younger of their two children was born on April 15, 2023, just after the team was eliminated from that season’s play-in tournament. The Sooners competed in the NCAA Gymnastics Final in Fort Worth, Texas, shortly afterward.
Kerr went to work in Fort Worth, while Daigneault returned to Oklahoma City at around 5 am from a late-night flight. He quickly drove back to Fort Worth in time for the birth that morning, and later that evening, the Sooners clinched the national title. “Our team really rallied around her,” said Kindler.
As Daigneault and Kerr discovered, having two coaches in a relationship presents unique advantages: they understand the demands of long hours, travel, and unpredictability. Yet at home, they strive to disconnect from work.
“Our relationship has evolved significantly, especially with kids now,” Daigneault shared. “It takes up a large part of our lives, but we aim to compartmentalize our work and personal lives healthily, using home time as a relief from our jobs.”
Daigneault earned his master’s degree from Florida, initially planning to complete it shortly after his graduation from Connecticut. Had he adhered to that timeline, he probably wouldn’t have coached at Holy Cross, may not have had the opportunity in Florida, might never have met Kerr, and could have missed the NBA Finals.
Timing and placement are crucial.
“If you played my life out a million times, I’d wager that one million times I’d be where I am now in the NBA Finals,” he reflected. “So, there’s certainly a lot for which I’m grateful.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Source: apnews.com