A Las Vegas native who led the UNLV women's basketball team to a program record 31 wins last season, Lindy La Rocque is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

Under her leadership, the UNLV women's basketball team received its first Associated Press Top 25 ranking in almost 30 years and repeated as Mountain West Conference regular season and tournament champions.

She's the 2023 Mountain West Conference coach of the year.

Lindy La Rocue, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

(Lindy La Rocque) Thank you for having me.

-So in addition to all the accolades that I just mentioned, you also led the Lady Rebels to their first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances since they went through three straight from 1989 to 1991.

Back-to-back "Big Dance" appearances in just three years now.

I think for our viewers who are familiar with UNLV athletics, they're probably thinking, Oh, boy, she's gonna get a bigger job somewhere.

She's gonna leave.

What would your response to that be?

-Oh, I'm a Las Vegas native.

You started out with that, and I love being home.

I just had my first child here.

My my parents live here.

I've got extended family and friends that I've known my whole life.

So I am where my feet are, and it's at UNLV.

They support me and value me to the highest degree, and I couldn't ask for more, to be honest.

So I'm here, and I'm a proud Lady Rebel.

-Have you gotten any interest from other schools?

-Sure.

You know, I think if you don't, then you're not doing something right.

And so again, I'm really proud of what our program has been able to do, and it's attracted attention from people all over the country.

And I think if anything, that's just a testament to what we're building here.

So, you know, we love that recognition.

And for me, personally, I think it's great, but I'm a proud, proud to be a part of a process.

And I think we have a lot more to go.

-Wow!

I'm surprised to hear you say that because of all the accolades that we mentioned.

Where do you believe you are in this process?

-I still think we're scratching the surface.

I think UNLV as a whole is a sleeping giant.

We've got great resources, administration, academics.

And so for our program, we still have more heights to climb.

And we're attracting great young talent.

We have a great coaching staff.

And so, you know for me, like the sky's the limit.

And why put any limit on anything?

-We were talking off camera about your recruiting efforts.

And I asked you about recruiting locally.

How much more local are you recruiting these days?

I mean, the level of talent in Las Vegas, where is it at?

-It's really good.

You know, we have great young talent, starting even at the elementary and middle school level.

We're having our Little Girls Camp here in a couple of weeks, so that's where we get to really see some of the little young girls.

But even at the high school level, we have great coaches here in town that are developing, you know, young women to be great players.

And so keeping our top talent at home is a priority for us.

And some of our best players so far have been Las Vegas natives, and we're proud of that.

So we want to keep that going.

-I think three of your top five scorers last season were from Las Vegas.

You had mentioned, though, in order to recruit locally, you have to go on the road.

Why is that?

-Well, just with how the club scene, the circuit, and just how summer ball goes, you know, you travel around the country to kind of see some, sometimes players that are in your own backyard, which seems silly, but that's, you know, that's just how it goes.

And while we're able to see our local kids, we're also able to see kids from all over the country.

So it's a win-win.

I don't mind the travel.

And it's just part of, part of the job.

-Back to you being a new mother, you gave birth to your daughter, Ellie, in November.

Your water reportedly broke during an exhibition game.

And then according to the San Francisco Chronicle , you returned to work just five days after being released from the hospital.

Why did you return so soon?

-Well, you know, I think every fiber of my being is just doing the best that I can at everything.

And you know, being a mother is a top priority for me and, obviously, like my main job.

But then for me to-- part of my recovery was being with our team and letting them support me and fill up my bucket, so to say.

So I was thankful to just be physically able to come back and be around them.

I had a great, you know, care team at the hospital and had a, had a smooth birth.

So I was sitting at home, and baby was happy and healthy and so was I.

And so I wanted to get back and be around people other than just, you know, my family that I'm with every day that bring me joy, and our team does that for me.

-Oh, that's so interesting to hear your team helped in your recovery process.

-Oh, absolutely.

-What did they provide you?

-Just the positivity and excitement and compassion.

I mean, I was able to share the whole pregnancy with them.

And so it was kind of like this was our baby, you know?

They were a part of it with me.

And so I, especially after I had her, I wanted to bring her to the team right away.

And of course, you got to kind of like stay safe and keep her at home for a little bit.

But they were just excited for me as anyone, as any family members or anyone close to me.

So to share every part of it with them was really important.

-How has it impacted them to have your baby around?

-Oh, man, she's got like, the best big sisters ever.

They love her to death.

They want to babysit.

And the best thing for me is when, you know, they're around, I don't have to worry about her because she's got, you know, a million little eyes making sure she's being safe and taken care of.

So, you know, it's just, it's great.

It's been really fun to share that with them, to see her grow.

And for me, I'm really excited as she continues to grow to have just, you know, incredible young women to look after and to try to emulate.

-Has motherhood changed your coaching?

-I think so.

You know, I think maybe outside of the gym more than anything.

I guess maybe my team might say different, but when I get home, the first thing is the baby and what's she doing and what does she need.

And it allows me to totally just kind of turn off my coaching switch.

And sometimes with like rigorous careers, you can take it home with you.

And while that's a good thing, it can also be a negative thing.

So I think that's been a pleasant surprise for me to go home, and I'm a mother first.

And if there's any work that needs to be done, I'll take care of it once she goes down for bed.

And you know, of course, I treat our young women to the highest degree like they were my own.

Now that feels even more important, but I'd like to think I did that from the very beginning.

And so it-- you know, I do think motherhood has changed me a little bit.

-What do you think your team would say about how it has or has not changed you?

-I've heard them say maybe I've gotten softer.

I'm not sure.

[laughter] -I can be intense at times.

And so maybe they, you know, I have some hard edges smoothed a little bit.

But I think that that's all for the positive too.

-Now, when UNLV hired you three seasons ago, you were 30 years old and the second youngest head coach to be hired in Division 1 women's basketball.

Some might think that's a risky hire.

What did you hear when you learned of that statistic?

What did you think also?

-You know, as a young coach that was kind of going through the whole journey, I had a personal goal that I wanted to be a head coach at a young age and really work hard to try to achieve that.

I wasn't gonna, like, beat myself up if it didn't happen.

But I wasn't surprised, because I put in a lot of work.

I have great mentors that have like, helped me every single step of the way.

I've been very fortunate and blessed kind of along my journey.

And I don't know everyone else's age, so maybe I was just surprised at that statistic, but I wasn't surprised to, to get the job.

-And neither was your mentor, Tara VanDerveer, your former boss, because you coached under her at Stanford as an assistant coach.

You also played under her going to four Final Fours in your four seasons as a player.

I know she's so important to you.

How can you express that to our viewers how, how significant she's been?

-You know, I'm not sure I can put it into words.

Everything that I know and kind of who I am in a basketball sense is routed back to her, from preparation to just demeanor and Xs and Os, a little bit of everything.

And I'm so fortunate.

She's obviously still a huge, huge part of my life to this day.

I'm eternally grateful, and that's just kind of how I've gotten to where I am is a lot, you know, because of her and how she's helped shape and mold me.

-She's a Hall of Famer.

And I wonder, is there something specific, a quality of your own, that you know is something you got from her?

-Maybe there's too many to count.

But I think the preparation piece is something that, you know, I definitely know that I learned from her as a, as a huge priority.

And a key characteristic to being successful is just preparing for not just the games, but every practice every day.

Every conversation even, you know?

When you're the head coach, there's, there's-- it's heavy, and things kind of fly at you at a million miles an hour at times.

But if you're prepared, then you can handle all those things pretty well.

-You do have to be so careful with your words, I would imagine.

-Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

What I say really matters to not just the players, but our fans, our administration.

And so I like to try to have a pretty good self-awareness and be thoughtful and selective of just, you know, thoughts and words and actions.

I think that's really important, even in life.

-So you had a tremendous coach in Tara VanDerveer, also coaching under her, to learn from her, but you had a great playing career as well in college, as I mentioned.

And then at Durango High School here in Las Vegas, you became the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,678 points.

That's for both men and women's basketball.

Do you know if that record still stands?

-I'd have to check, but I think so.

At the school, for sure.

And somewhere in the state record, I'm sure it's still there.

-Having been a good player, do you think that impacts your coaching ability?

-I think it-- yes and no.

You know, I was a pretty good player back in the day.

I think what really impacts it most was I was a good teammate.

And, you know, I had to even learn that when you weren't the best player on the team at the college level, I was fortunate to play with really good players to where I knew I wasn't the best player.

And so I think that acknowledgement in maybe a realistic sense is really what helps me be a better coach.

-So are you talking about humility?

-Humility or just, you know, roles and being able to be accepting and, and still driven to get better every day.

-One of my favorite facts about you was that when you were competing at the high school level, there was no AAU team, no girls team for you to compete on, so you were playing with the boys.

And you even started as guard ahead of Pierre Jackson, who had an 8-game stint with the Dallas Mavericks in the 2016-17 NBA season.

That's according to the AP.

Speaking of competing against boys, do you still-- feel still like you're doing that, as far as the attention that women's basketball gets versus men's basketball?

-Well, I think our sport in terms of women's basketball is just growing exponentially, especially in the last few years.

And I think it's amazing.

You know, obviously, we still get tied with men's basketball, which has had a huge platform and spotlight for, you know, decades-- -Right.

- --you know, a really long time.

And for us women, we're leveling up to that level.

You see the Aces and how well they're doing.

On the college level, it's really impressive.

-Lindy La Rocque, UNLV Women's Basketball Coach, thank you for your time.

-Thank you.

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