Adia Barnes has joined the no-sleep club.
That’s what it’s like when you’re the mother of a baby — one who has started teething. And when you’re the head coach of a basketball team with its sights set on the NCAA Tournament as the calendar turns to March.
Barnes never lets a sleepless night go to waste. She and her five-month-old daughter, Capri, watch film together, paying close attention to the Wildcats’ upcoming opponents.
Those nights have become more common lately.
“It’s just a lot of waking up at night,” Barnes said Saturday. Capri’s “a really good sleeper, yet about a week or 10 days ago, it started — she was up every 30 minutes. … She was like a dream baby sleeping 10 hours a night, then boom! This morning we were up from 4 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. She’s a really good baby, though. I am so lucky.”
On Sunday, No. 9 Arizona (15-3, 13-3 Pac-12) will take on rival Arizona State (10-9, 5-9 Pac-12) in the teams’ regular-season finale. Win, and the Wildcats will secure second place in the Pac-12 heading into the conference tournament. Their 14 conference wins would be their most in 17 years.
For Barnes, a victory would mark another high point in a season with few breaks. Barnes is coaching one of the top teams in the nation for the first time in her career, nursing a newborn and living through a pandemic.
Barnes gives Capri her first feeding before dawn before driving to McKale Center for her daily COVID-19 test. She then returns home so her husband Salvo Coppa, a UA assistant coach, can get his test and begin individual skill workouts with the Wildcats.
Barnes makes breakfast for her 5-year-old son, Matteo, and then feeds Capri again. She gets ready for practice and participates in a few Zoom calls while the baby naps. Then there’s another feeding, and a handoff to the nanny. After practice, Barnes races to her office to pump and get more work done.
Arizona Wildcats head coach Adia Barnes gives instructiosn to her team in the second half during a game at McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz., on February 14, 2021. Arizona won 75-53.
Barnes is the only female coach of a top-10 team who is raising two small children, and the only one in the top 25 with a baby.
There have been sacrifices, and not just when it comes to sleep. Travel restrictions mean that none of Capri’s grandparents have met her yet. Arizona’s players and others in the Wildcats’ program have seen Barnes’ baby girl, but only from a distance.
Barnes and Coppa bring their children on the road with the team. They were on the bus Saturday, when the team trekked to Tempe.
“I won’t travel without them,” Barnes said. “It’s not a choice I have to make. The young women I coach can see that you can do it all. You don’t have to quit your dream job to be a mom. Is it hard? Yes, but it’s my pleasure to go through the difficult part.”
There’s a lot of planes, trains and automobiles awaiting — especially if the Wildcats go as far as they think they can go. The UA will travel to the Pac-12 Tournament on Tuesday. Two weeks after that, the Wildcats will fly to Texas for the NCAA Tournament — a trip that, depending on how many games they win, could last either days or weeks.
Barnes said traveling this season “has not been that bad,” in part because she can bring things the children need on charter flights.
“It’s also helped us on the road to have a big conference room because Matteo can run around. We can’t have him go outside because of the pandemic,” she said.
“We also take the baby on a walk with the stroller in that big room. It’s really not that bad. The charters made my life so much easier. More room and safer because we are spaced out.”
Barnes has heard from assistant coaches throughout the country, many of whom wonder if their schools will allow them to bring their children to conference and NCAA Tournaments. Some have been traveling with their kids throughout the season, while others have had to pay out of pocket to bring their family members — or childcare — along.
Arizona head coach Adia Barnes gives forward Cate Reese’s (25) ponytail a couple of twists before the Wildcats celebrate their win over Washington State in their Pac12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 12, 2021.
Barnes says Arizona’s administration has been “one of the best institutions in supporting women,” noting that everybody on the Wildcats’ executive committee — athletic director Dave Heeke and lieutenants Derek van der Merwe, Erika Barnes and Suzy Mason — has children of their own.
“Imagine if I didn’t have an administration with kids. I’m blessed. It would be really hard for me to do my job well if I didn’t have support,” Barnes said.
And as teams inch closer to the NCAA Tournament, those decisions will get tougher.
The NCAA will allow each program to bring 34 people to this year’s tournament. Coaches and their kids will stay together for the length of their team’s stay.
Barnes said she hasn’t given any thought to leaving Matteo and Capri back in Tucson. The busiest season of her life will be that way until the end.
“If you are a breastfeeding mother, how do you leave your kid for that long? Why should you do that?” she said. … “Some women don’t have the choice. If you don’t have family to help you or are a single mom, you can’t do your job. We are women’s basketball, and we should support women.”
