He’s a head coach. She’s a head coach. See how UK’s opponent makes two-sport household work.

Jon Coffman, who will lead Fort Wayne against Kentucky on Wednesday night, isn’t the only head coach at his house. His wife, Tracy, coaches the softball team at the University of Northwestern Ohio.

The Coffmans are believed to be one of only two husband-and-wife tandems in which both are college head coaches. Fran and Sue Troyan coach softball and basketball, respectively, for Lehigh.

Because they coach different sports, Jon said he and his wife do not second-guess each other about strategy.

“Which is good,” he said. “We know enough about each other’s sport to be dangerous.”

Instead, Jon and Tracy said they share ideas about such topics as building a team culture, developing leadership and dealing with players’ off-court or off-field issues.

“What we learned early in our marriage is that you coach each other up after wins,” Jon said. “And after losses, you don’t say a word. We both save our lists until the wins happen.”

Tracy stressed the importance of not being coaches at home.

“We do have to be a married couple,” she said. “We do have two little children. It can’t consume everything in your life.

“I think that’s been great. People will talk about, ‘What’s Jon like after a loss?’ It’s, like, he’s Jon. He’s normal. With both coaching, you can’t have the highs and lows affect your life every single day. So we try to keep things pretty normal.”

The Coffmans have two children: a son, Tommy, 9, and a daughter, Lucy, 6.

With the typically busy schedule of coaches, child care might be an issue.

“Fortunately, we’re an hour from my parents,” Tracy said. “That helps a lot. You’d be surprised, but last year our kids were with one of us every night but four nights.”

And on those four nights? “They were with grandma,” she said. “That’s even better.”

Of course, Jon’s and Tracy’s seasons do not conflict. The way Tracy said the children adjust sounded like they know how to game the system.

“When Jon takes over in the spring, they really work him for a lot of free stuff and things they’re not allowed to do when I’m in charge,” Tracy said. “They know exactly what they can get away with when daddy’s in charge.”

Tommy, Lucy and Tracy plan to attend Fort Wayne’s game at Kentucky. Tommy will be sitting on the Mastodons’ bench. He was also on the bench in earlier seasons when Fort Wayne played at Indiana and Duke.

“It really helps our players recognize you can be successful career-wise and you can be a good family man, too,” Jon said of his son’s involvement.

Tommy might be the luckiest kid in America. He will attend the Michigan-Ohio State football game this weekend. Tracy’s father is a college football referee, and one of his colleagues working the game got him tickets.

Fort Wayne’s game at Kentucky will be something of a family reunion. Jon’s father, Glenn, grew up in Louisville and lives there now.

“I’ll have about 50 people at the game,” Jon said. “We’re pretty excited. About 50 people. Right around Thanksgiving.”

Fort Wayne Bombinos?

Former UK coach Rick Pitino is something of an inspiration for Fort Wayne’s liberal use of the three-point shot. The Mastodons (3-1) averaged 29.3 three-point shots and 11.3 three-point baskets in their four previous games. Fort Wayne averaged the fourth-most three-point baskets in the nation last season (10.7 per game).

His high school senior season in Atlanta coincided with Pitino’s first season as UK coach (1989-90), Coffman said.

“We put in that whole system: the pressing system and the three,” Coffman said. “I take some of what we do going back to that.”

Fort Wayne will not press and deny the entry pass relentlessly as did Pitino’s Bombinos. But Fort Wayne will let the three-pointers fly.

“It’s amazing what you can do if you can stretch defenses out by shooting the basketball,” Coffman said. “So we’ll always have four guys on the floor who can shoot it.”

Deny defense

Kentucky’s emphasis on rebounding led to a 53-30 advantage on the boards against Troy on Monday night. But did it also lead to three over-the-back fouls as UK players tried to grab offensive rebounds?

The refs twice called Nick Richards for going over the back of a Troy player. When asked if the emphasis on rebounding led to the fouls, Richards said simply, “That wasn’t a foul.”

Thanksgiving treat

Wenyen Gabriel, who was born in South Sudan, said his favorite Thanksgiving treat is sambusa.

It’s a fried or baked pocket filled with ground beef and vegetables, he said.

With UK’s busy schedule, Gabriel will not be eating sambusa this Thanksgiving. “I’ll get it at Christmas, though,” he said.

More Brad?

Sophomore walk-on Brad Calipari played two minutes in the first half against Troy. To the disappointment of his father and the Rupp Arena crowd, he did not take a shot.

“Brad’s been playing so well in practice, you know,” UK Coach John Calipari, said. “I thought he had a couple plays he could have taken a shot, and I’m like, ‘Look, we need your shooting.’

“So, can we put him in games? Can he defend?”

While in the game, the younger Calipari guarded Wesley Person, who was Troy’s second-leading scorer.

“Person didn’t score on him,” John Calipari said, “so I may start shoving him in in the first half and give him an opportunity and see what he does, especially if . . . we’re struggling to make baskets.”

Etc.

▪ One of Fort Wayne’s players is Jax Levitch. His brother, David Levitch, played for Louisville. Jax has made six of 13 three-point shots.

▪ Richard Cross, Dane Bradshaw and sideline reporter Stormy Buonantony will call the game for the SEC Network.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 5:04 PM with the headline "He’s a head coach. She’s a head coach. See how UK’s opponent makes two-sport household work.."