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Close friends Kevin McGuff of Ohio State and Niele Ivey of Notre Dame in NCAA matchup
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- Close friends Kevin McGuff of Ohio State and Niele Ivey of Notre Dame in NCAA matchup
In 2001, Kevin McGuff was at Notre Dame , helping mentor starting point guard Niele Ivey during the Fighting Irish 's NCAA title-winning run. Now, McGuff is prepared to stand opposite Ivey as Ohio State takes on Notre Dame for a spot in the 2026 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
"It was a privilege and honor to be on that staff to coach her," McGuff said. "She was certainly one of the leaders of the team. The thing that made her such an effective leader was her ability to connect with everybody on the team. And I see that in her as a head coach."
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McGuff spent six seasons in South Bend working under Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw before securing his first head coaching job with Xavier.
While McGuff first went from Xavier to Washington, he eventually landed at Ohio State in 2013, taking over the program after Jim Foster was fired. McGuff has led the Buckeyes to nine NCAA Tournament appearances , including this year's, in which Ohio State is a No. 3 seed.
Ivey, after playing an instrumental role in the Fighting Irish's championship, went on to play five seasons in the WNBA before fully switching into coaching and joining McGraw's staff at Notre Dame in 2007. Five years later, Ivey was selected to become McGraw's successor.
According to Ivey, taking those steps on the coaching side would have never been possible without McGuff, who brought her on at Xavier as an intern before she became an administrative assistant.
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"I was an intern and still playing in the WNBA, and I unfortunately had a third knee surgery," Ivey said. "I was like, I think I need to transition and maybe do something differently besides playing. Kevin gave me that opportunity, brought me on staff. I learned a lot, and that's where that love started to come from.
"Being a part of his program, being around the players, that's where I kind of developed that itch to be able to coach."
The two formed a friendship that extends beyond the court, especially because Ivey is even closer to McGuff's wife, Letitia McGuff (formerly Letitia Bowen). Letitia was an assistant coach and then the director of basketball operations at Notre Dame while Ivey was playing.
"She's one of my best friends," Ivey said. "We talk almost every day. I'm godmother to her second youngest, Lily. They're just an incredible family."
Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Kevin McGuff watches during the first round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament game against the Howard Bison at the Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus on March 21, 2026.
However, there has been no basketball talk between Ivey and Letitia, as all the history between the McGuffs and Ivey will go out the window once Ohio State tips off against Notre Dame.
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The second-round matchup marks the first time the two are facing each other as head coaches, though Ivey was an assistant the two times McGraw coached against McGuff's Ohio State teams. McGuff was 0-2 against McGraw and is hoping to pick up his first win over his former program on March 23.
"We're both competitive people who take very seriously the job that we have," McGuff said. "We're both going to show up and put our best foot forward and try to win the game. After that, we'll get back to the relationship that we have.
"But I know that she will have her team really prepared. They're going to play extremely hard, and we're going to do the same thing. It's going to be unfortunate, because one of us isn't going to win."
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Niele Ivey yells during the first round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament against the Fairfield Stags at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center in Columbus on March 21, 2026.
Muffet McGraw's influence on Kevin McGuff, Niele Ivey
Ohio State and Notre Dame have been similar this season, with both relying heavily on defense. The teams are led by fast All-American point guards in the Buckeyes ' Jaloni Cambridge and the Fighting Irish's Hanna Hidalgo.
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More: Ohio State's Jaloni Cambridge readies to face Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo
With McGraw laying the foundation for McGuff's and Ivey's coaching careers, it is no surprise that the similarities in their systems go down to the details.
"I absolutely credit coach McGraw," Ivey said. "The way we coach, the way we mentor is very similar. ... Even with the five-out (offense), I feel like college basketball has morphed a little bit more into the five-out, a little bit more WNBA, NBA action. You could tell our tendencies. We both run it."
Apr 5, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw reacts on the sidelines against the UConn Huskies during the first half in the semifinals of the women's Final Four of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
For McGuff, the influence that McGraw has had on both himself and Ivey is also evident in the value they both put into running their respective programs.
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"The most successful coaches are people that run great programs," McGuff said. "I think that's what I learned most from Muffet. The organization, the attention to detail, the way she treated people. I just feel like she ran as good a program as anybody in the country when she was the head coach at Notre Dame. And then through that process of running a great program, led to amazing results."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's Kevin McGuff faces friend, former player Niele Ivey in NCAA Tournament
