ASU women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne didn't take a maternity leave when she gave birth to her third son earlier this month. For a coach whose players say nothing fazes her, labor and delivery were no different.
On the night of Monday, Dec. 29, Turner Thorne was her usual animated self - squatting on the sideline, screaming at the officials and bouncing like a pinball in the ASU huddle - when the Sun Devils faced No. 25 Washington.
It didn't matter that she was nine months pregnant and ready to deliver her third child, because the task at hand was to coach her team to its second Pac-10 victory, which they ended up winning 84-81 - in overtime nonetheless.
It wasn't until after the game that she could focus on the next task at hand - introducing her latest baby to the world. But with an ever-growing family and the constant responsibility she has had for more than seven years - building ASU's women's program nearly from scratch - Turner Thorne has had to take things one step at a time.
So, the morning after defeating the Huskies, Turner Thorne checked herself into the hospital, was in labor for just over an hour and gave birth to Quinn Joseph Thorne at 9:20 a.m.
"I was trying to keep him in until that game was over," she said. "I was pretty much ready (to have him). I just had to work out or something. But he was cooperative."
While most women typically exercise their right for a multi-month maternity leave, or at least a few weeks of rest, Turner Thorne had a different plan. While the Sun Devils happened to have Tuesday off, Quinn's birthday, Turner Thorne, 37, ended up missing just one day of practice as she returned to the court that Thursday, teaching her team new strategies to use in their game against UA in Tucson the next day.
"I was ready to come back on Wednesday, but we couldn't get released in time from the hospital," she said. "I thought that was the best window to have him because Tucson was an easy trip."
While Turner Thorne now spends the majority of her nights staying up with her new son, she remains one of the first people into the coaches' offices at the athletics building each day before heading over to Wells Fargo Arena to bring the same intensity she has to the Sun Devils since arriving in Tempe.
"When you're in the situation I'm in, which is not ideal because of my job, you don't really think about how hard it is. You just do it," she said. "I'm not going to (tell the players) 'oh well, had the baby so I hope you do okay.' I care too much about the program and the players to just say, 'I'm a little tired guys. I'll see you in a month.'
"I'd love to be in a situation where I can take a maternity leave, but I'm not. Maybe I'll be ready to take a week off when the season is over. But I'm not a lounger. If I had to go on any bed-rest for this pregnancy I'd probably have to shoot myself."
Balance is key
Having a baby in midseason is nothing new to Turner Thorne. In fact, it has become a tradition of sorts as both of her other sons, Connor, 4, and Liam, 2, were born in the same fashion.
Much like Quinn, Connor was born following an overtime game and a few days prior to a contest against UA. Following Connor's birth, Turner Thorne missed twice as much time as she did for Quinn's birth - two practices.
"Every day Charli just amazes me," said junior guard Kylan Loney during Turner Thorne's pregnancy. "You look at normal women that are pregnant, they take time off from their normal day-to-day activities and I just see Charli getting more and more intense and more and more devoted to this team."
"Sometimes we say that we forget she is pregnant, until she turns to the side, because she hasn't missed a beat," Loney added. "She works so hard as a coach and being pregnant hasn't taken away from anything."
Even though Turner Thorne has gone through the experience of having a baby in season before, she said the third time likely would be the hardest because it is the earliest into a season she has given birth as Connor came in February 1999 and Liam in May 2000.
As a result, Turner Thorne's husband, Will Thorne, began a six-month leave-of-absence from his job at an audio-visual production company to tend to the kids for the remainder of the basketball season and for an important recruiting period.
"If we had the choice, we wouldn't have done number three this way. But God laughs at your plans and you just keep plowing ahead," he said from his usual spot behind the bench at Sun Devil games. "The only way this is going to work for our family is if I be the full-time dad for a while."
Turner Thorne felt the switch of traditional roles for mother and father was nothing out of the ordinary.
"It's a lot more common," she said. "In this day and age, its hard not to be a two-income family first of all. As you have kids, you just have to look at who has more flexibility to possibly stay home. With my husband and I, it's much like basketball, it's teamwork.
"It's not that I don't want to stay home with my kids more," she added. "But at the same time, I do appreciate the balance in my life - having the professional fulfillment in the career, but also having a wonderful family."
Will Thorne agreed that his wife has done an excellent job juggling a number of high-profile responsibilities.
"She is a very focused person," he said. "To deliver kids in the middle of the season and come back to work two or three days later, heck, I'm impressed and I'm married to her."
A franchise coach
While Turner Thorne is forever preaching tenacity and an all-out style of play to her team, it appears her own toughness and dedication to her craft has rubbed off on the Sun Devils.
"She is a role model on and off the court," Loney said. "Nothing ever fazes her. She's just so mentally and physically tough. If she had to come to practice in a wheelchair she would do it.
"Recently the doctor told her she couldn't lift (weights) or work out for a few days, and it killed her. Then she was back in the weight room with us, lifting just as much as I was practically."
It took every ounce of effort Turner Thorne could muster to turn around an ASU program that was in shambles when she took over prior to the 1996-97 season.
In previous coach Jacqueline Hullah's final year, the Sun Devils posted a meager 8-19 record. Hullah finished with a career mark of 20-60 with just eight conference victories in three seasons at ASU.
Hullah's coaching staff ran no summer camps, which is critical for recruiting and establishing a presence in the community. And season tickets were not even sold.
The ASU athletic director at the time, Kevin White, was in place just a short time until he realized a change in the women's program was a must.
Prior to coming to Tempe, Turner Thorne was the head coach at NAU for three seasons. In her last two years in Flagstaff, her Lumberjacks played a home-home-home series with the Sun Devils and won by 19 points each time.
"When we played here, we brought one bus of fans down to Tempe and we had more fans than [ASU] did in the stands," Turner Thorne said. "That was the state of the program. It was just completely a mess. The administration (prior to White) just didn't have any commitment to women's basketball."
White had the opportunity to hire a number of candidates with Division IA experience, but decided to go with the young and fiery Turner Thorne, who was barely 30 years old at the time. The decision paid dividends and has continued to do so ever since.
In her first season, with the majority of her players recruited by the previous coaching staff, Turner Thorne squeezed a 9-19 record out of the squad, posting one more victory than Hullah had in any of her three seasons.
Turner Thorne then began a streak of five consecutive years in which she bettered her team's record from the previous season.
In her second through fourth seasons, the Sun Devils pulled out 10-, 12- and 14-win seasons. Then in 2000-01, Turner Thorne coached ASU to 20 wins, its first-ever Pac-10 championship and a bid in the NCAA tournament.
The team then bettered that feat in 2002 with an upset win over Stanford in the first-ever women's Pac-10 tournament and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a 25-9 record.
"We've established a winning tradition," she said. "Now our challenge it to consistently win Pac-10 championships."
Along the way, the Sun Devils have developed a reputation of being a team that is constantly playing "all out" - a characteristic that mirrors their coach.
"Charli is a very fiery personality," said ASU Athletic Director Gene Smith. "She creates an environment where the kids enjoy themselves, but at the same time, she drives them hard and drives them emotionally to make sure they realize their potential."
Turner Thorne said she has heard comments from the community since she arrived in Tempe of how hard her team plays, a feat she prides herself on.
"We notice a difference when they play other teams and even sometimes form the men's game to the women's game," she said. "You kind of get that feeling, 'wow, the women just play so hard.' If you watch the Suns or the NBA, you know they don't play hard. They pick and choose."
The tradition continues
In her first half decade in Tempe, Turner Thorne filled gaping holes on her roster by finding a number of transfers from smaller schools to come to the program. As a result, both last year's and this year's ASU team featured only one senior apiece.
But after grooming five freshman last season, three of which were regular starters, and another three freshman this year who ranked among the top recruiting classes in the country, Turner Thorne believes the pieces are in place to make a run at a Final Four.
And to accomplish that, Turner Thorne will undoubtedly use the formula she has up to now - expect a big effort and commitment from her players from leading by example.
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
