‘It’s always been a dream’
Terps’ Frese takes on former standout turned coach at Coppin State
Brenda Frese is living the dream. She is mother to twin sons Markus and Tyler. She is wife to Mark Thomas. She can lay claim to reaching the NCAA women’s basketball pinnacle when she guided Maryland to the national championship in 2006.
And she might barely contain her pride and joy when she faces Laura Harper, one of her former starters from that title-winning team, as opposing coaches in a Tuesday matinee at 11 a.m. between the No. 9 Terps (9-3) and Harper’s Coppin State squad (5-5) at the Physical Education Complex in Baltimore.
“That’s when you know you’re getting older,” the 51-year-old Frese quipped of seeing the 35-year-old Harper on the other end of the sideline. “But for me, it’s always been a dream. If I could have every player go into coaching, that would be a dream come true because I love mentoring other players and being a part of their lives. The game has been very good to me. So that is the dream. I want to help each and every player that wants to get into coaching and help them as far as I can in their career path.”
Harper, who was named NCAA tournament Final Four Most Outstanding Player and scored a team-high 16 points in the Terps’ championship victory over Duke in that title game more than 15 years ago, returned the favor to her mentor.
“Within the past year, I’ve really relied heavily on the mentorship of Brenda,” Harper said. “I just talk to her and ask questions, and she checks on me. I think going into Tuesday, there’s no expectations. We know that we’re playing a top team. I’m just honored to be able to share the court with her.”
Tuesday’s matchup could be one of the more heavily attended for the Eagles, who have not played host to a ranked opponent since Dec. 20, 2017, when then-No. 14 Maryland rolled to a 113-49 rout. The distance between Baltimore and College Park is a relatively short, and at least one of Harper’s teammates and Frese’s players on that 2006 championship team is planning to be there.
“I have never gotten the opportunity to see Laura coach in-person,” said Crystal Langhorne, a center who won two WNBA championships with the Seattle Storm and
is the organization’s director of community engagement for the Force4Change Initiative. “So that’s going to be exciting. I haven’t seen Harp coach, but I know that she’s a high-energy person. So I’m assuming that she’s going to be similar to Brenda with her energy on the sideline.”
Becoming a coach was not part of Harper’s original plan. The 6-foot-5 forward was intent on carving out a career professionally — the first two seasons with the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs and then seven years in Turkey, Italy, Turkey again, and then Russia.
Harper said she began to consider coaching when she returned to Maryland to rehab after one of her eight knee operations and was invited by Frese to counsel a 2012-13 squad that lost four players to season-ending knee injuries.
“Being able to kind of talk to [then-senior center] Essence [Townsend] specifically helped me have a foot in the door and gave me that little impact from the standpoint that I can’t give everything that I can because my body won’t allow it. But I’m able to inspire others,” she said. “It was then that I said, ‘OK, I’m ready to make this transition, and coaching is what I’m supposed to be doing.’ ”
After assistant coaching jobs at Loyola Maryland, High Point, Georgetown and Florida, Harper became head coach at Montverde Academy in Florida. But after the 201920 season, Coppin State did not retain head coach DeWayne Burroughs, and Harper sought Frese’s advice on applying for the vacancy.
“I thought it was a great job with nowhere to go but up,” Frese said. “But I also thought it was a really tough job. She was going to have to come in and really rebuild and flip it, but I think she was realistic with what she was walking into. I think she’s done a phenomenal job putting her stamp on the program and getting out there and recruiting.”
Frese and Harper are so close that the former will frequently text the latter about potential recruits she has seen, but can’t squeeze into the Terps’ budget. And now they tend to cross paths while recruiting in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Frese said she doesn’t concern herself that she might be losing a potential star to Harper.
“In the coaching tree and your extended family, you always look out for one another, and that’s something that I’ve always been big on with our former players,” she said. “They are a priority that is really important to me, and they come first. She always knew through the years when we stay connected that whenever she needs anything, I’m here to help her. So I’ve always been that sounding board for her. We had that type of relationship when I recruited her. During her four years, we always had a close bond, and that’s extended now professionally.”
Similarly, Harper isn’t shy about calling Frese ”my mentor, my role model, the person that really gave me hope and believed in me and trusted in me when I didn’t necessarily trust myself.”
Both Frese and Harper openly admitted that they are looking forward to Tuesday’s game. Harper said she will likely stray from her usual routine of staying in the locker room until it is almost game time to greet and hug Frese.
Langhorne said she anticipates that her former teammate and her former coach will try to put a lid on their emotions, especially Harper, whose program has not defeated Maryland in 15 meetings and has gotten no closer than 15 points.
Frese compared seeing Harper on Tuesday to watching one of her children leaving the nest and branching out on her own.
“She knows I’m always a 9-1-1 call away to help her if she needs anything,” she said. “It’s going to be a pretty special moment because it is something that she has worked really hard for, and to see this dream come true with them having a hell of a year and her already putting her stamp on the program, I’m not surprised. So it’ll be a really incredible moment.”
Harper downplayed the notion that since she played for Frese, she might have some insider’s knowledge on how to slow Maryland. She instead placed the onus on herself to have her players prepared for the game.
“Do they run some sets? Yes. Do they do some things defensively that are a little different from when we played? Yes,” Harper said. “But her principles have remained her principles, and for us, we’re just going to have to play extremely hard, control the pace, and pray that they miss shots, and hopefully, we make some.”