The people that influenced Kellie Harper as mother and how she balances it all as Lady Vols coach

Jackson and Kiley Harper were already on the court when the Lady Vols started trickling out of the locker room for warmups.

When Tennessee basketball coach Kellie Harper followed, Kiley abandoned what she was doing and ran to her. Harper sat down in the front row along the baseline at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center and Kiley, 5, jumped in her lap. Harper wrapped her daughter in a hug.

Kiley, wearing her mom’s No. 14 Lady Vols jersey, sat there for a minute before hopping off Harper’s lap, not wanting to sit still. She grabbed a ball and showed her mom how she could − sort of − dribble behind her back. Harper gave her tips between attempts, and Kiley returned periodically to her mom's lap for a hug and whisper a message.

It's usually only about five minutes or so, but Harper sits there before every home game with Kiley and Jackson –though 10-year-old Jackson is usually rebounding for players nowadays. Sometimes it's the first time Harper gets to see her children on game days, and they're five important minutes.

"I think it allows me to be a better coach," Harper told Knox News. "When I don't feel like I'm torn, when I don't feel like I'm not doing my job as a mom, I'm better as a basketball coach ... So I think the best thing I can do is try to find a way to blend and merge the two so that I can be the best mom and coach that I can be."

Balancing the two is a challenge not only because Harper, 46, leads a program like Tennessee, but also because her husband, Jon, is on staff. They know they couldn’t make it work without great people around them.

"People talk about a village raising kids," Harper said. "The Lady Vol village is helping raise our kids."

Why Kellie Harper brings her kids with her everywhere she can

When Harper was pregnant with Jackson, she got a piece of advice she never forgot.

Harper was the coach at Missouri State and Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk was at Drake at the time. Kellie and Jon were married for 14 years before having a child, coaching together for much of their marriage, and their players had fulfilled some of that longing for them. Baranczyk already had a young child, and she had a bit of wisdom to impart.

"My piece of advice to you is take your kids everywhere, because you'll be a better mom and a better coach if you do," Harper said Baranczyk told her.

So Harper did, with some help from her mother, Peggy Jolly. Jackson spent a lot of time with his grandmother, who stayed with the Harpers after he was born at the beginning of the 2013-14 season. She traveled with them and took him to all the games.

Jolly sees a lot of Harper’s father in her. Kenneth Jolly, who died in 2012, was an assistant principal and longtime high school coach who taught Harper the game growing up in Sparta. He was a good person who was very rational. He treated everybody fairly and respected everyone. And he was "a wonderful dad."

Both Kellie and Jon’s parents were at everything growing up, so knowing they can’t do that for their children is hard to accept.

Harper is a lot like her father in those ways. "She got all his good qualities," Jolly said.

"When I am available, I'm there," Harper said. "They're not at everything, but we try to get them involved as much as possible. It's a really special way for kids to grow up, to be around some pretty cool people, some great role models. I think it's great for Kiley and Jackson to see strong women."

Jackson and Kiley are on every road trip possible – their vacations included the Bahamas and Italy the last two years. Jackson even goes with Harper to recruit sometimes.

They have a sense of how big of a deal their mom's job is. Jackson knows she won three national championships as a star guard for the Lady Vols. He knows she played for legendary coach Pat Summitt.

"The biggest thing is, that is all fine and good, but they just love her as their mom," assistant coach Liza Fruendt said. "That’s where I feel like for her, it’s so good too, because she just gets that balance. Through the ups and downs and highs and lows of this business, she’s their mom and that’s the most important thing for her and for those kids."

How Pat Summitt modeled motherhood and coaching

Harper held Kiley on her hip as she walked up and down the sideline, watching the Lady Vols scrimmage. Kiley laid her head on Harper’s shoulder, her hair in a low ponytail just like mom.

There wasn't school that Friday morning on winter break, and Kiley grew tired of her breakfast and iPad. She had also been sick, so all she wanted was her mom. Harper held Kiley with one arm and used the other to give instructions to the team. She did so for a while as the team practiced, giving her daughter the comfort she needed.

As Fruendt watched Harper that morning, she remembers thinking, "This woman can do it all." Fruendt played at Missouri State from 2014-18 and has seen Harper navigate motherhood and coaching since Jackson was born.

"You know what's crazy, is it’s all just it's so natural to her," Fruendt said. "It never felt like she was juggling so much from a player perspective ... She just does it so seamlessly. It just seems so normal to us."

It’s the same way Harper talks about her former coach. Harper never thought players were neglected, but she never believed Summitt’s family was neglected, either.

"I remember watching her and thinking that she could do everything," Harper said. "She was a great mom. She was a great coach. She was a great cook. She could do everything, and I had no idea, while in that moment, observing her be superwoman, that she was giving me a blueprint of what I could be."

Harper coaches differently as a parent. She has a better understanding of what her players' parents go through. She knows how she wants her children's future coaches to support them and handle certain situations. She's always thinking big picture with both her children and players, taking into account what's best for them long-term.

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Harper believes it’s good for her players to see her as a mother, too. They can be parents and have a career, too.

"Obviously, not all of them probably want to be in coaching, but that doesn't mean that you can't be a CEO and have a kid or a huge family," Fruendt said. "Whatever you want to do, it doesn't mean that you can't do it just because you’re mom and you have kids ... I think all of us really look up to her in that way and just admire how she does it all."

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Kellie Harper balances being mother and Lady Vols basketball coach