Mom, dad, and a dozen aunts: Coaching is a family affair for Portland State pair

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    PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — March Madness nears in college hoops, and it has been a wild year for a pair of coaches on the Portland State women’s basketball staff.

The coaches, who are now first time parents, have seen the team win the 2019 Big Sky Conference tournament to reach reach its second NCAA tournament bid in school history.

Portland Assistant Coach Keithan Gregg and his wife, Associate Head Coach Chelsey Gregg, are in love with each other and the game of basketball.

“Basketball brought us together and then, now, basketball has got us little man here,” Keithan said.

The Portland State University Vikings have a new unofficial mascot.

‘I was at the Final Four not feeling well, so I figured when I came home I better see what was going on with that,” Chelsey said. “He said he knew right away. I was like no, no way.”

“I called it,” Keithan said.

Keithan called the shot, then it was time for Chelsey to deliver baby Oliver in November, four games into the Vikings’ season.

‘I had him and then three days later, I was sitting up top,” Chelsey said, referencing the stands in the arena. “We had Nevada at home and got the W. I insisted I don’t stay home and watch it, so he slept through his first full game.”

The first-time parents are still figuring out the hoops and family harmony.

“It’s funny, we say basketball is our life,” Chelsey said. “When I was induced, we were watching film in the hospital room. I said, get my mind off of it! Get out, scout up!”

‘Air Oliver’ is loved and suited up.

“They have these little crocheted Jordan’s, so that has been kind of fun,” Chelsey said. “He’s a long little guy.”

The saying, “the days are long, but the years are short” rings true for Chelsey and Keithan.

“It’s a little more draining,” Keithan said. “The battery stays closer to red than it does to green, but we find a way.”

Married in August of 2018, Chelsey and Keithan met at the University of Great Falls. He followed her from Montana to Ashland, where she played and coached at Southern Oregon alongside current PSU Head Coach Lynn Kennedy. Keithan also coached Lynn’s oldest son at Ashland High School.

“It’s his first team,” Keithan said. “No matter what, his whole life, this is his first team, so they have taken pride in it, which is awesome.”

The team is full of more than a dozen aunties for Oliver.

“We take him into film and he starts crying, they will laugh,” Keithan said. “We step out. He stays up late and watches film with dad.”

Portland State is a family-first operation.

“It’s one of those things,” Keithan said. “No matter how much attention he gets. It’s about our girls and it’s about their experience, having fun, competing hard, winning games and hopefully getting to that next level.”

“You can have a family, you can coach, and you can be a role model for our girls,” Chelsey said. “I think that you don’t have to pick career or family. For me, that has been the neat thing to set that example.”

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