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We hope you are ready for a season unlike any other: testing, distancing, and bubbles, oh my! Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, or whether anything actually will happen…but in the meantime we will try to restore some order with season previews featuring the best players/coaches/administrators in the country. We continue our coverage with Creighton women’s assistant coach Carli Berger. She made 2 NCAA tourneys as a player at Creighton, then made a couple more as an assistant at her alma mater, and now prepares to welcome UConn to the Big East. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Berger about the key to leadership and her expectations for this year.
You went to high school in Sioux City: what made you choose Creighton for college? The distance from home was the initial factor: I have a big family so the 90-minute drive was attractive. We talk about culture over and over but it is true: everyone was just really authentic and exactly who they said they were.
Take me through the 2012 postseason:
In the MVC tourney semifinals you scored a career-high 29 PTS in a win over Missouri State en route to being named tourney MVP: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most? I only had 2 PTS in the 1st half but my teammates dragged me out of that and lifted me up. When you know that you need to play well and you are not performing you either crumble or answer that pressure. It was a perfect storm of momentum leading into the NCAA tourney.
In the NCAA tourney against #3 seed St. John’s you scored 14 PTS but Nadirah McKenith drove the length of the court and made the game-winning layup with 0.1 seconds left to clinch a 2-PT win: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? I think about that 1 often and it hurt a lot. We were playing so well and deserved to make it to OT at the very least: there were some calls that did not go our way at the end against a St. John’s team that had just beaten UConn. It was probably the worst feeling ever during college.
You made the NCAA tourney again in 2013 before having to end your playing career due to chronic knee pain: how frustrating was it to “not go out on your own terms”, and how is your knee feeling these days? There is a lot of gray in that phrase because it was a gradual thing over time. I had an entire offseason to think about things but it was my choice at the end of the day and I felt some closure with it. I am not working out as much now as I did during my playing days so the pain is down: it nags here and there but it is manageable.
You became a graduate assistant at your alma mater in 2014, then were named video coordinator in 2016 before becoming an assistant coach in 2017: what has been the best part of the transition from job to job to job? I have been super-fortunate to have my coach Jim Flanery become my boss: I have to thank him 1000 times over. I love Creighton and this might be my dream job to be a coach at my alma mater. I love the staff and the kids we get to recruit so to end up here is kind of the goal. It makes going to work every day a lot easier because I chose this place, just like I am trying to convince our recruits to do.
In 2016 you earned a master’s degree in leadership: what is the key to being a good leader? That degree was very applicable to my daily life. There is not just 1 way to to do it right: I am a relationship-based leader and learn from the stories of others, including the kids I am coaching all of the time. There is a myth that you can learn about leadership by “reading this book” but every single leadership role is different. I just try to change and adapt without losing my core beliefs.
You got married last year: how is it going so far, and how do you balance your work life with your home life? Married life is good: it has been just over a year. It was a crazy year with everything going on but he is great. I do not get asked about it a lot but it is hard to be so intense in your livelihood and then turn it all off when going home…until you get calls at night! I try not to lose myself in my job and my husband really understands the world that I live in. He is so invested and comes to as many games as he can and understands what our goal is. He has been a huge rock in my life and is a little more low-pulse so he helps calm me down: it has been a really fun partnership.
Last March you lost to St. John’s in the Big East tourney, then learned that the rest of the postseason was canceled due to the coronavirus: what was your reaction when you 1st heard the news, and do you think that it was the right decision? I was in a gym full of 2000-3000 people so my 1st reaction was that there was no way this was happening. I found out about it on Twitter and there was an initial shock factor. Our players were back home and getting ready to come back to campus so letting them know the bad news via a group chat was terrible. We had a really special group and 1 of the best culture teams that I have ever been a part of. Life is not fair but it was a hard pill to swallow. If you follow the news/science it seems like they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think it was an extremely hard decision because you hear about it from both sides. Once the NBA canceled its own season there was a ton of pressure to cancel everything else.
You only have 2 seniors on the current roster in Tatum Rembao/Temi Carda: how much pressure is there on them to be leaders this year? There is always a natural pressure on upperclassmen to be leaders. We are lucky to have leaders in our locker room but I do not think they view it as “pressure” because it is such a natural progression during their 4 years here. We have 8 underclassmen this year so we will have a lot of tedious practices where we have to teach the “babies” some basic things. Temi/Tatum have gotten better as both players/people so I think they will help the young-uns out.
1 player who is not returning is 2020 conference POY Jaylyn Agnew, who was picked 24th overall by Washington in last year’s WNBA Draft: how on earth will you try to replace 1 of the best players in school history? We will have to replace her both on/off the court. We do not have to pick 1 player to score all of the points: it is a collective group effort. We will be a little taller this year across the board, which is new for us, so we will evaluate our kids and then see what is working so we can integrate our freshmen into our motion. Jaylyn was a really good team player who taught everyone how to battle back.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? With a young roster it is even blurrier to predict but I am very excited for our young players who have been picking up things quickly over the past few weeks. We also have a lot of good experience at the top of our roster so I think our goal is to legitimately get better every day/week while not overlooking the daily process. I hope that the upperclassmen buy into that and hopefully we can knock out the smaller goals that can lead to a top-3 finish in the Big East. I want us to compete every day but our league is so good, especially after adding UConn this year.