People

Although early bedtime precludes the 1-year-old twins from nighttime events, the babies sometimes get an afternoon pass from dad Mark Thomas to watch their mama, Brenda Frese, coach the Lady Terps, Maryland’s women's basketball team.

Now in her eighth season, Frese is highly praised for revitalizing the women’s program. A master of remaining calm during crises, the Iowa native helped the Terps earn their highest Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament seed in 15 years last year, despite having given birth less than a month beforehand.

Since becoming head coach in 2002 (the same year she was voted the Associated Press’ Coach of the Year), the 5’11” Frese has led her team to six consecutive NCAA Tournaments (and snagged the crown in 2006), making her one of the youngest coaches to win an NCAA title. Her tenure has also included the first two women’s sell-out games at the university’s Comcast Center. In 2009, Maryland won the ACC Tournament for the first time in 20 years. And, despite a very young team, the 2009-2010 season looks just as promising.

One of only six coaches to win a national championship and be a parent, the wonderfully warm “Coach B.” loves her babies on and off the court.

“It’s a big deal when a kid comes into our family and becomes part of this experience,” Frese, 39, regularly reminds her players.

Her motherly mannerisms, evident long before she had kids, first blossomed when she was an assistant coach at Iowa State. There, she mentored her seven-years-younger sister while helping the Cyclones make a comeback—the team ended up ranked among the nation's Top 25 and nearly reached the Final Four.

“With my sister, I realized that I will always be coaching someone else’s daughter,” explains Frese, who played guard for the University of Arizona before being sidelined by injuries.

Former Terp Laura Harper clearly feels that connection. “Coach B. finds a way to relate to each individual recruit,”says the 6’5” forward-center, who now plays for the WNBA’s San Antonio Silver Stars. “She’s so outgoing and always joking, and uses that to motivate and challenge [her players] all the time. She’s such a good coach.”

Washington Mystics’ center and 2008 Maryland graduate Crystal Langhorne agrees. She says part of Frese’s success is the way in which she fosters leadership. “She had so much faith in me as a leader when we had so many freshmen [on the team],” recalls Langhorne, who was the first Terp in 17 years to be named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-American Team.

“She is truly a player’s coach,” adds current player Lori Bjork, a senior. “She really looks out for her players and is concerned not just about winning the game, but how we are feeling.”

Mark Thomas, Frese’s husband of five years, is unsurprised by the accolades. He saw nurturing traits in his future wife even before they began dating.

A videographer, Thomas met Frese while filming “Under the Shell,” a reality “coach’s show” that is broadcast nationally on Comcast SportsNet.

“Brenda is the most giving, unselfish, loving person I’ve ever met,” says Thomas, now a stay-at-home dad. “She genuinely cares about her players and has their greatest interest at heart.”

Frese, who lives in Laurel, insists that her players are “really good people who stay close.” She begins developing relationships with high-school students during the long recruiting process, and cements those bonds even before the final home visit.

“If we’re going to sign a kid into our family, I want to know where she comes from, and the support system she has,” says Frese, who tried four sports in high school before choosing basketball. “If I need to motivate a kid, it helps to know the parents well, because no one knows a kid better than their parents.”