Nikki Izzo-Brown is as competitive as the next coach, but success by her definition is incomplete if it doesn’t include a sense of family.

Izzo-Brown is the only head coach the West Virginia women’s program has ever had, and the wins have been plentiful, as nine consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances plus three successive Big East divisional titles will attest to. But the veteran coach is big on the family concept, and she definitely walks the talk, both for the extended team family and in her own household.

Izzo-Brown and her husband Joe welcomed their new daughter, Gabrielle, into the world on Jan. 6. Gabrielle follows Samantha, 6, and Gracie, 2. Just 20 days after the delivery, Izzo-Brown was back out on the training ground beginning “spring” practice with her team. There’s just no separating the team and family themes with this coach.

“Being a DI coach you’re definitely a competitive person. The girls see your intensity and how much you put into it,” Izzo-Brown said. “But when you have a family they also see you’re a real person, not just a competitor. They see a nurturing person who has a balance with their family. The girls can say ‘Wow, she’s human. She sings to her kids. She plays. It’s not just this person who wants us to win.’ I want them to see that if they put family first, everything else falls into place.”

Izzo-Brown welcomes her team family into her personal family very openly. One benefit of that, going both ways, is a group of surrogate childcare providers.

“My older two know the girls on the team well. A lot of the girls have handshakes with them and really embrace them,” she said. “They babysit them, play with them and help coach them. I think that’s where I benefit, because my players are special girls and to have them as part of my daughters’ lives, for them to be such great models for my daughters is a great thing. I always tell recruits if they want to babysit, come on to West Virginia. If they don’t, they come anyway, but they understand that option is there. The main thing is they know family is important to us too.”

The family-friendly approach reflects a holistic approach to development that Izzo-Brown holds.

“I really want to get to know my players, and not just as players,” she said. “As a coach I know what they can do on the field, but we want to learn all about who they are as people and who they want to be off the field as well. That’s very important to all of this.”

While the integration of the family is evident, as are the benefits, there is some need for separation and Izzo-Brown said she benefits from great understanding by the principals.  She also works to try and carve out some special time for her husband and children.

“You have to have great support and great support at home. My husband coached college soccer as well so he’s good at knowing what the demands are, and of course great making sure the kids are always taken care of,” she said. "West Virginia very much supports my family so it all works together."

“It’s hard in this day and age but I try to keep my cell phone off during dinner time, so they know they have my attention,” she continued. “Sometimes you do have to answer the phone but I try to block out my time so I can be focused. Maybe I can’t be at home with the kids for six hours at a time, but if I can have my two hours and be totally focused on the kids, and can get down and dirty with them and have no interruptions, maybe it’s as good as the six hours for somebody else. I try to make it as quality as I can.”

Not that overlap is always a bad thing, as the two sisters are already finding out.

“My oldest knows how to break down tape. She likes to watch tape with me,” Izzo-Brown said. “My 2-year old is learning to break down tape a little bit now too. They know hotel rooms. They know what it’s like when recruits come to town, that they’re breaking them in. It’s kind of funny but my kids help keep it positive and fun and I think it’s a good experience for them.”

Of course having kids means at some point you must HAVE kids, and despite our best intentions, planning is an imperfect science at best. Izzo-Brown was great with child as the 2008 fall season rolled on, but she tried to keep things as normal as possible.

“It was kind of funny during the season,” she said. “I always try to be part of the warmup and be out there kicking the ball. I think I was even able to kick pretty well even at the NCAAs (mid-November), but when I was recruiting in Raleigh at the CASL Shootout (early December) I was running a lot from field to field and I had to stick my thumb out and get a lift sometimes.

There was one other adaptation she needed to make during the season.

"Obviously you want to make sure you are a little more relaxed and are not getting yourself worked up in that respect,” she said. "That was something always on my mind, so of course with refereeing I tried to keep my cool. My daughter didn’t come out screaming at referees so I guess I did OK with that.”