Moms run the show. They make sure their kids get signed up, spend countless hours in the car driving to practices and games, brave the elements, and instill a love of sports in the next generation.

You might not think that motherhood is a big part of the NCAA, butas Mother’s Day approaches (buy your mom a gift already!), 5wins highlights the subtle yet significant ways that moms and motherhood stand out and make an impact in women’s college sports.

Moms make some of the greatest fans

Anyone who’s ever played a sport knows how cringeworthy it can be to hear your parents loudly cheering from the sidelines or in the stands. But no one is ever too old to appreciate a public display of love from their mom. Take Kaitlyn Chen, for example. The UConn guard went viral during the 2025 March Madness tournament, not only for her savvy skills but also for her parents’ enthusiasm. Chen’s parents, who traveled around the country from California to watch their daughter,t, were often featured by the TV cameras cheering — and in some cases, even tearing up — when their daughter made a difference on the court. If that’s not true motherly love, we don’t know what is.

Moms know how to bounce back

On Jan. 27, Tennessee basketball Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell coached her team in a game against SEC rivals South Carolina. Gamecocks. She had given birth, just five days earlier, to her son, Conor. And she was ready to be back on the court. She had actually found her brief time away from the team, doing the miraculous and powerful act of childbirth, as somewhat agonizing, actually; during that time, the Lady Vols lost 80-76 to the Texas Longhorns, and Caldwell had been unhappy to watch that game from home (postpartum condition aside). She returned to practice just days later and ultimately led her team all the way to the Sweet 16, capping off a successful season for the Lady Vols. Caldwell, who, at 36 years old, is considered to be one of the best young talents in NCAA coaching, is absolutely owning the role of Coach Mom.

Moms are athletes, too!

When Nalani Kaysia, a forward for the George Mason women’s basketball team, became pregnant in 2023, she had to redshirt the rest of her season after only playing in five games. She was uncertain of what the future held — was she ready to be a mother? And could she ever play basketball again?. But by 2025, Kaysia was back on the court and helped George Mason achieve unprecedented success, all while her daughter cheered her on courtside.

And if you asked Kaysia, she would say that her daughter, Xela, became her prime motivation for performing on the court. “I can’t wait for her to get a little older and… look in the rafters and in the books and say ‘that was my mommy. My mommy did that,” Kaysia said to DC News Now. “Just leave some kind of legacy that makes her happy and proud to be my daughter.”

Kaysia had an army of support behind her as she learned how to balance motherhood with her basketball duties. Her mom, who also gave birth to her while playing basketball in college, was a huge source of support for her, as well as her teammates. George Mason won its first conference title in 2025 — they couldn’t have done it without Kaysia, and Kaysia couldn’t have done it without Xela.

Mother & son rivalries fuel NCAA competition

JT Gasso (left) and his mom, Patty Gasso (right) when JT coached for Oklahoma.

If you follow NCAA softball, you know about the Gasso family. Patty Gasso, the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners softball team, is one of the most prolific head coaches in college softball history. She has led the Sooners to eight national championships and has compiled a career record of 1,558–359–2. She also has a familiar face alongside her; her son, JT, is her associate head coach at Oklahoma.

But, her competition also took on a familiar face for her when her other son, DJ Gasso, became the hitting coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Though not members of the same conference, the schools face off regularly enough for a family feud to brew (the teams have played each other 30 times, with Oklahoma winning the vast majority of those competitions). But instead of beefing, the family is grateful that softball brings them together, even though it sometimes takes a competitive form.

“It’s just cool that our whole family is here and we’re celebrating that we’re all having successful lives in this sport of softball,” Gasso said recently to The Oklahoman, after her Sooners beat her son’s Razorbacks. But she also admits it can be stressful to play against her son — she’s always glad when it’s over.

Moms walked the same paths before us

When Penn State won the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament, sisters and key players Izzy and Anjelina Starck thought they had seen everything. They had not yet, however, witnessed video footage of their own mother making NCAA volleyball history decades earlier with the Texas Longhorns. The Starck sisters come from a line of successful volleyball players — in addition to their mother, Ericca, their father, Doug Starck played volleyball for Ball State University. For the Starck sisters, the knowledge of their mom’s legacy was a big reason why they both chose to pursue volleyball. But it’s one thing to know the history — to witness it (as in, to witness your mom doing something cool) is almost unimaginable.