- 2 weeks ago
As head coach of the Notre Dame women’s basketball team, Niele Ivey has created an ecosystem of winning, love and legacy. Watch as she breaks down her formula for success in the NCAA, the importance of sisterhood in collegiate basketball and her fashion do’s and don’ts.
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00:00what's going on essence fam it's your girl sheree nicole here with the epitome of success i know
00:27she's probably not gonna like me saying that because she's super humble but the one and only
00:31the head coach of the notre dame fighting irish coach neil ivy and uh did i do all right with your
00:37intro i tried to keep it light because i knew if i kept going down with all your accomplishments
00:40you might you might not like all that it was perfect okay perfect what's also perfect is
00:45you guys can't see it right now but there's a banner literally right above you which is so fun
00:49it's your banner in the stands when was the last time you looked at that banner and and really
00:54reflected on all you've accomplished as a player here at notre dame um last week when we played
01:00here um last um we played louisville in our last regular season game so before the game i always
01:05kind of look up to see it it gives me inspiration um and i'm always grateful when i step into this
01:10arena before we play home games um so it's our last home game it's like it's always just a reminder
01:15of how far i've come what's your home game ritual one thing you must do before every home game
01:20i love to meditate so i like taking time in the morning um just having a very very peaceful
01:26morning i listen to gospel music and i just sometimes i journal but most of the time i just
01:30have like 20 minutes of just quiet time to get my mind settled and ready for the day ahead
01:35gotcha so one thing that i know that you also are ready for is a fashion moment it seems to me
01:40every time i see you on the sidelines you just dress to the nine we did a lot of looks today
01:45for the shoot and i know that fashion is a passion point for you favorite look of the day and why
01:50there were so many amazing looks today i will say um i love the look it was a black crocodile
01:59type leather pant with like a black boot long boot and then it was a white collared top with like a
02:06maroon tie yeah and like a black bomber jacket that was my favorite look i just felt very um boss
02:14boss boss mode but with elegance in class it was very sharp yeah that was my favorite look also you
02:20told me before the camera started rolling guys there's a very cool aspect to the building that
02:24we shot in so you say you used to take classes in that building i did so that was one of our
02:29underclassmen uh and under undergraduate um academic buildings and it's arts and letters so
02:34i took a lot of my history classes sociology psychology theology um and so that was a space that i was in
02:41a lot um as a as a student athlete here so coach you you had a lot of ologies going on
02:46your undergrad experience i probably would have failed every single one of them or fell asleep in
02:50class but why what drew you to history like why did you want to be a history major i i love just
02:55read like writing and essays and yeah you know just curious about history and i thought this was a
03:02great avenue for me to step into i also was um really interested in education um so i thought that
03:07would be a nice major that kind of connected with education i was thinking about being a teacher
03:10um but it my life has uh taught me that mentoring was like the avenue which is very you know very
03:18similar to education i feel like i'm teaching these young women a lot you know with this coaching
03:22world coaches are teachers they are and i was talking to uh ceo carol owens associate head coach
03:28there you go head coach and uh she were i was interviewing her about you and she was saying that
03:33one of the things that people really need to understand about you is you are amazing with the
03:37x's and the o's and so as a strategist per se you know what's been your approach like what's your
03:42mindset when you go into a practice or into a game mindset wise um game wise i just want to make sure
03:48that i have scenarios prepared just in case you know in the game late game situations yeah um i love
03:54learning and studying and um i studied a lot i studied under coach mcgraw and then went to the nba
04:00studied um you know the myth is grizzlies and my son plays for the pistons so i've studied a couple
04:05of the coaches that they have and i try to take uh different pieces of um the x's and o's and try to
04:11incorporate that with our team but i'm always just trying to over prepare for any type of situation that
04:17might that might occur yeah okay so you so you have two stances i noticed when i was at practice and
04:23when i watch on tv is this and it's the usher like usher at church behind the back here do they mean
04:31anything different or do they mean the same thing what is going on in your mind when we're doing
04:35this let's start here when you got the arms crossed what's happening i'm curious like what's what's
04:39happening what's going on so i think i'm more stern when you know i feel like i'm i'm more like what's
04:45going on on this you know on the court like i'm more stern with that when um more engaged that might
04:50me with the officials yeah what we're doing on on the offensive end or defensive end and a little
04:55bit more poised when my arms are back i'm trying to church usher you just relax yeah trying to get
05:00more um not getting too high or too low with what's going on in the game but i think i'm more stern when
05:05i when i have my arms crossed i'm starting to get very passionate depending on hopefully that's a high
05:11passion or you know trying to make sure that the team is where they need to be what takes you to a high
05:16point in a game who um yeah um just the ebbs and flows you know the game it's a game of runs
05:23yeah um so sometimes it's like if the excitement of we're going on a run yeah and and i feel the
05:29energy shifting in a positive way for us and then the other the other way is defense you know
05:34the game is slipping you know and i don't feel like we've we we're um trending in the right direction
05:40in whatever case may be so those are sometimes where my energy is elevated yeah i like to celebrate
05:47the girls a lot you do i love that i love when they yeah when they when they do something spectacular
05:52like i'm meeting them halfway almost like i'm on the team yeah you know like um dabbing them up and
05:57encouraging them i i get i get excited when they make great plays you know and they allow me to coach
06:02them so yeah it's it's fun your favorite part about coaching and i know we talked about this a
06:07little bit off camera but there's there's a special trait you have and you it's i'm glad
06:13you mentioned about how you you seemingly almost in the game when i was watching you even in practice
06:17earlier i'm like the way that you talk to your team it's a different energy behind it your energy
06:22is very reassuring it's it's composed it's also i'm serious i mean what i'm saying is intentional
06:27so how do you kind of manage that you know what does it mean for you to feel for your players to
06:32respect just your approach because sometimes that can be taken for granted as well
06:35absolutely i think um they know that i'm very passionate um and they know that i'm very intense
06:41and i feel like they feed off of that energy and every team is different but i i know this team and
06:45i know that if they need an extra push like they can do it for themselves but i know it is well
06:52received when i when i do it i mean that could be in the locker room and you know i'm coming out with
06:57that high energy is a pre-game talk um but i try to meet them where i think they need me to be
07:02but i'm very very intense um i feel the game and when you can't play and i can't facilitate
07:09like the way that i feel like i'm engaged with the team is like i'm you know going down the sidelines or
07:15i'm i'm again meeting my half court or in the timeouts you know i'm really expressing how i feel
07:21because i feel like that that um lifts them and sometimes it encourages them in the times where i think
07:26they need an extra extra push yeah so i want to know because you talked about feeling that making
07:32them feel the love and and your intention how did you feel today with having all of this attention
07:37on you when was the last time an entire group of people was totally focused on you this was my first
07:44time so and i appreciate it so i want to thank you and thank the team because you made me feel
07:50really comfortable um it was it was a lot of fun it was i got a chance to play with fashion yeah uh i
07:56had i have a great glam team so i have a a powerful group of women that are behind the scenes yeah making
08:03me look beautiful um and it just feels empowering i felt empowered today i felt confident um everybody
08:10that was on the set would really encourage me um made me feel at home yeah um and i'm hoping that
08:16it comes off the way that i felt i felt very confident very powerful and that's the way i love
08:21to feel in games yeah so it felt very special to have a special moment where um i get a chance to
08:27kind of showcase my personality yeah in in powerful clothing and on this type of stage yeah what does
08:34essence mean to you what is that what has it meant or at least the legacy of uh essence magazine yeah
08:40so much it's something i've always been inspired by um the strong either strong women that are that
08:46are on the magazine or um strong individual powerful individuals that are successful it means
08:51excellence uh the tradition of essence is something that's been a staple in my home you know we always
08:58had i always went to the you know the store to grab the new essence magazine and see who was on the
09:03cover and um again finding inspiration through either pictures imagery or stories um you know of people
09:11that i look up to it's like it's and so this is such an honor for me because um having such a staple
09:18such an incredible brand represent me represent um and i represent notre dame and i represent women's
09:25basketball it's really powerful and i know this is a secret for my mom and i can't wait for her
09:29to see it because my mom doesn't know oh my goodness it's gonna be something where i can show her
09:34she's just gonna you know she's gonna cry just because again it's just um it's a it's a it's a
09:40tradition of excellence um and it's very powerful and so to be a part uh a small part of of this
09:48tradition and um this this company this organization is is very powerful and i'm i'm really i'm really
09:55grateful yeah well it's our honor and one of the traditions that i'm i'm grateful people like
10:00yourself are actually breaking us out of is we're seeing a lot more black female head coaches
10:05and assistant coaches and for you just with all the success that you've attained what is the
10:12importance of creating community and sisterhood amongst you all like the the black coaches whether
10:17it's assistant coaches or head coaches in in the ncaa it's really it's really major and i would
10:22credit dawn staley um for kind of setting that example and i know she credits carolyn peck and
10:28you know there's so many lines of strong black women in this business that um have done a great
10:34job of paying it forward um like you mentioned earlier um trying to grow the game but also growing
10:41um successful coaches yeah you know i'm fortunate your old coach carol owens was my she recruited me
10:48here at notre dame and she's been a part of my journey since 96 we've been a part of all nine final
10:53fours together and then she was the first person i called when i got this job because i wanted her to
10:58be here to help me um she has a lot of wisdom and a lot of guidance and she's helped me um mentor me
11:05and coquise washington another uh black head coach yeah at ruckers and that's what i want to do now
11:11you know because those mentors helped me pave the way um and have inspired me um people that i can pick
11:17up the phone yeah on days where i just need um to talk and i need help or the days that are challenging
11:24you know i can pick up the phone and and call multiple successful women i dawn is somebody that
11:30she texts me after sometimes hard losses or she texts me after big wins and both of us are in this
11:37business we're both competitive so the fact that she puts that aside um to empower me i think it
11:43speaks volumes and so for me i'm i'm hoping that i can continue that tradition of um passing down uh
11:49you know knowledge yeah and helping somebody bring somebody along the way you know there's i know
11:54there's a lot of young young coaches that um played like i did and have aspirations to to be a head
12:01coach and assistant coach successful assistant coaches and i like um my job is to help pay it forward
12:06for them because i have so many people um that helped me get to this seat yeah and i always recognize
12:12that because you can't do this alone you know you have to have strong you have to have a strong network
12:16and i have had a incredible incredibly strong network behind me to help me get here what's the
12:21best piece of advice you've ever received well i would say for being a head coach is to be myself
12:27um to be genuine and you know not to allow all the factors that go along with coaching because there's
12:33a lot it's they always talk about it's 90 uh everything else and 10 basketball and i learned that um
12:39when i when i took this role but to be myself because i think being myself my authentic self is
12:45one of the best versions of myself so coming in with that saint louis energy coming in with that
12:51tomboy energy um you know i'm super super competitive i love hard um you know i'm a family
12:58person um i have a strong faith um and i'm a mother i try to bring all those aspects of myself
13:05into this profession and being relatable i that so that that spoke volumes to me because i didn't want
13:12to get into this role and feel like i need to be someone else and want to change and i can't be
13:17coach mcgraw who was here before me i can only be myself and so that's why i've tried to be authentic
13:21and transparent who i am i think it's i think it's been shining through i just gotta say and it's
13:27interesting how you know you are totally connected you know to who you are and who you want to want to
13:32be um perceived as and set the great example you do and it's interesting to me because we live in this
13:37world of nil now the transfer portal like jobs being on the line looks a little different with
13:42all of these different things going on so when you think about not only the success you've had but the
13:46challenge and just making sure stability wise you can stay put how how are you managing this new era
13:52of collegiate basketball it's you've had to i've had to adjust my first year was covid so we started
13:59in late november after thanksgiving no fans and you know my my press conference when i when i got the job
14:05was in via zoom you know so it was totally different that year for me the uncertainty and
14:11the unknown was really hard yeah and then my second year is nil and transfer portal and i honestly i just
14:17created a great staff around me um i'm fortunate that i've been a part of an incredible family here
14:22at notre dame and so the resources uh that i have here are very strong i have an incredible alumni base
14:28i have a lot of support here yeah and that's that's what's getting me through um i think you have to
14:33adjust you you have to you know you have to be a great recruiter but you have to understand that
14:37you have to adjust with the times yeah you know we have to make sure that we are competitive in
14:41nil space and make sure that we are um along with all the you know the five power you know the top 10
14:48organizations and the top 10 institutions you have to be you have to be competitive and so we're
14:54trying to make sure that here at notre dame and they do a great job of making sure that we have the
14:59right resources and we're competitive in that space but you got to adjust this is different you know this is not
15:03like in 96 when i came out of college when you have when you talk about social media yeah we have
15:09a house settlement that's coming up next season next year ncaa house settlement so everything
15:13changes and you have to be um on edge and you have to make sure that you are prepared to adjust with
15:19the times one of the things that's also changed and i'm grateful for it the fandom for women's
15:24basketball in general just has exploded in recent years you're also part of what ushered in that what
15:29that explosion i know you're probably not gonna agree with me because you're just so humble but
15:33it's the truth so so what do you make of that in light of what you just said but also there's just
15:38so much excitement around around this beautiful game you know what is your take on that and how
15:42proud are you of just even your your team and the teams you've coached kind of helping also to usher
15:47in this new wave of excitement yeah i mean i i'm so fortunate to be a part of this new wave
15:51and it started you know a couple years ago um i think angel reese caitlin clark they were kind of the
15:56the staples in that time where everybody tuned in basketball the product is just was amazing and it
16:03still is and it's growing so to see the respect that women's basketball is receiving especially
16:08you know being a former athlete it's it's amazing because we all knew how strong and how powerful and
16:13how successful and how talented women in athletics and in sports and especially basketball have been
16:19for the decades yes and so now we're on this stage and we're growing and we're continuing to grow
16:24the fan base is is is larger that we've had the most sold out games here in notre dame in the
16:30history of this program um and i just love being a part of it and i was fortunate to be a student
16:36athlete you know to kind of be a pioneer initially and now it's kind of like i love the rise i love the
16:43respect uh i love the support i'm grateful we're on we are our women are on commercials yeah you know
16:49we're on the cover of slam magazine you know we have um you know game out usc there's michael b jordan
16:55and snoop dog at the games yeah you know juju watkins hannah hidalgo now um from my teams like
17:00it's just it's just amazing to see the rise of the support wmba it's explosion wmba um unrivaled now
17:08in offseason like there's so many eyes on our game and i just wanted to increase and i'm i'm excited for
17:15where women's basketball is right now and where it's going to go yeah i'm really excited for uh
17:20for you guys i think this tournament's going to be very special for you all and you know i was in
17:26my feelings a little bit y'all because you all lost three out of the last five games of the season i was
17:30i was at home with anxiety but i know i know you're bringing me good energy oh yeah we're turning this
17:36thing around and you know and thinking about just the season you all have had again a historic run you
17:41had a great run and despite that you guys bounced back um and i know you will continue to do that
17:45but in light of just the regular season and as we move now into the most special part of any
17:50in in any ncaa season and that's uh march madness time and what what just the tournament's here kind
17:56of where are you sitting as a coach where do you think the the uh your players are sitting and how
18:01excited are you to be able to embark on this uh this journey this year yeah i'm just gratitude i'm
18:06sending a lot of gratitude because we're in our you know this is our fourth season now and we have
18:12a great opportunity it's zero zero again and just taking advantage of every moment not looking too
18:18far it's 40 minutes um it's again like i said it's a brand new season but you have to go in with that
18:23mindset um that you have to be great for 40 minutes and so that's that's where we are um i gave
18:28them a lot of time off um i heard like four days four days off just to reset hold on you all let me tell
18:34you something that is a basketball player's dream in college to get four straight days off and it's
18:40not a holiday or spring break or spring break coach of the year i don't know if they think that
18:46no i i feel like it's everyone needs that reset yeah you know you need that time away rest your
18:51bodies your mind um it's a long season and now we're headed to one of the most important seasons so
18:56gave them that time off we've had you know a couple days of amazing practice just recentering
19:01ourselves into working on those habits fundamentals and you know try to take care of business one game
19:06at a time what's one thing you all must do to go all the way this year yeah i think defensively
19:14having that defensive mindset yeah because as they always say defense wins championships but
19:18march madness is crazy it's called madness for a reason um so you can have um it does not matter
19:24you're seating you have to come out and you have to have that aggressive defensive mindset
19:29to take on that challenge because at any given moment any team could be successful so you want
19:34to be on the other end defensively having that mindset who's on your mount rushmore of uh which
19:40is four people i believe four people mount rushmore uh top women basketball players ever who's your
19:46goats top four oh um cheryl swoops okay cynthia cooper lisa leslie and i'm gonna say dawn staley okay
19:56because i'm a point guard so she was somebody that i um that i definitely admired and um and looked up
20:01to okay let's switch gears and play a game it's called blow the whistle okay okay if you're not
20:06feeling it just you're just blowing the whistle if you're good we can keep playing we don't have to
20:10blow the whistle so the first one is uh let's see let me think here cold calls if someone cold
20:18calls you blow the whistle or we gonna keep playing i'm blowing the whistle cold me too i can't stand a
20:24cold especially it's like a scam likely i don't know who this is i'm blowing the whistle what if you
20:32know who it is but you're not expecting a call from them who i guess it depends on where where i'm at
20:38okay you know time of day i'm like okay maybe i could call that person back but i sometimes i'm like
20:42i need to have i need to have that on the schedule i'm with you on that we agree there okay next one
20:49white after labor day blow the whistle or we're gonna keep playing i'm keeping playing okay playing
20:54okay i never kind of go by those rules okay you know i don't i'm not as daring i don't mind it
21:05i don't mind i don't i don't like rules like that i don't think they're fair we should be able to wear
21:09our clothes as long as we would like right but i do feel self-conscious if i leave out the door and
21:14it's like fall and i have on white i feel like i might get judged yeah and i don't normally do it but
21:19i guess if i if i wanted to i would yeah you know that's why i'll keep playing on that but if i'm on
21:24vacation is you know i'm i'm gonna wear my all white or something like that okay speaking of vacation
21:29blow the whistle or not and we talked a little bit about this earlier vacationing in a cold climate
21:36blowing the whistle i live in the midwest i've lived midwest all my life so i would not choose to
21:46go to colorado or really no ski trail no i'm skiing here so no i'm going to a beach i'm going somewhere
21:56warm so i'm blowing the whistle on that okay uh fast food are we blowing the whistle are we going
22:00to keep playing blowing the whistle okay in my later years i've been more self-conscious about
22:05my nutrition so i try to stay away from fast food no chick-fil-a i love chick-fil-a fries though i'm not
22:10gonna lie i'm keep playing on the chick-fil-a everything else we're blowing the whistle yeah because
22:16i'm not eating meat right now so i don't eat chicken or red meat so okay i will eat the fries
22:20though okay i love fries i love fries too monochromatic outfit everything is pretty much
22:26the same color blow the whistle or we're gonna keep playing keep playing i love monochromatic if
22:30you see a lot of my looks yeah it just i don't know why i just i feel strong in it i just love i
22:36just love like even like this i love it and that's not all the way monochromatic but i yeah it
22:40is kind of matchy matchy but just a little bit of a pop-up romantic i've been i'm i've been a big
22:44big fan the last couple years okay okay uh last one giving yourself a compliment blow on the whistle
22:54or we're gonna keep playing blow on the whistle come on although i knew you were gonna say that
23:02blow on the whistle i mean i have my self-affirmations again um i need to i can i can be better when was
23:09the last time you complimented yourself not related to anybody else just you yourself
23:17probably a long time ago would you like to give yourself a compliment today
23:23so we could catch up on time catch up on time sure um i was i will say maybe like um when i go
23:31through things i'm like you got this i'll tell myself you got this like nope that doesn't count
23:35that's encouragement that's not a compliment oh okay compliment i'm gonna compliment myself
23:40so it's probably been a long time yes this is a great exercise this is a great exercise
23:43you are fabulous and you are strong and powerful that you are
23:50well guys thank you all so much for hanging out with me again for another edition of essence black
24:04women in sports make sure you check out all the cool things coach ivy is doing now i don't know
24:08how much she sits on social media but you need to check her out anyway you also need to check out
24:12the fighting irish in this year's ncaa tournament it's going to be incredible and of course i'm on
24:18their side we're taking it all the way we're going to the ship until next time see you guys around
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