Family Ties Provide Rewarding Experience for NCEA Athletes and Coaches

Competing at the NCAA Division I level is high stress, but doing it with a family member by your side can add an extra layer of complexity. But these familial pairings handle it in stride.

There are several family pairs throughout the NCEA, including coach/student-athlete and within the coaching staff. | Graphic by Alex Riley, photos provided by South Carolina, Oklahoma State and SMU

The question loomed in the back of TR Potts’ mind. But every time he pondered the idea, it never seemed like the right moment. 

Potts, a veteran western horse trainer and riding instructor, had plenty of familiarity with the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) and what it took to be a Division I level competitor. His daughter, Alexis, had gone through the recruiting process, helping the family get a clear picture of what college equestrian entailed. 

The Potts family relocated from Connecticut to South Carolina in 2013 and TR often thought about what it might be like to coach in the NCEA. The only two programs he felt he would ever consider were South Carolina or wherever Alexis was going to school. 

After spending her freshman year at Auburn, Alexis opted to transfer back to her home state and join the Gamecocks for the 2024-25 school year. Almost simultaneously, South Carolina was undergoing a coaching change as program founder Boo Major retired and Carol Gwin took over. 

Gwin called TR to gauge his interest in being an assistant coach. TR immediately reached out to Brad Kearns, the man taking over for Gwin at SMU. Kearns, a former assistant for the Mustangs, coaches his daughter, Nya, at the school. 

“When Carol came on board, I called Brad Kearns and said, ‘Hey, you did this. What are your thoughts?,'” TR asked. “He said, 'I wouldn’t trade it for the world.’”

Adding a professional relationship to the family dynamic is something that could make life challenging, but for several NCEA familial pairings it has proven to be worth the experience. 

The Potts and Kearns families are the only student-athlete and coach duos in the league, while three bloodline coaching pairs exist in the sport. 

At Georgia, McKenzie Lantz Breuker leads the western side of the Bulldog program with her dad, Matt, serving as an assistant. In Fort Worth, the Dukes have a longstanding familial tie within the TCU program as Melissa has served as the western coach for a decade. After coaching her daughter, Mattie, during her college riding days with the Horned Frogs, the duo are now coach and graduate assistant. And at Oklahoma State, western coach Laura Brainard reached out to her uncle, Jody, about joining the program as a reining coach back in 2023. 

“It was like who better to have be a part of the program on the reining side than an NHRA professional and arguably one of the best non-pro coaches in the industry – and I know I’m biased when I say that,” Laura said with a laugh. “It’s great to be able to collaborate. We joke sometimes that I’m his boss, but there’s times when it works the other way around.”

Jody Brainard, left, rides an Oklahoma State horse during practice with his niece, Laura. Laura brought Jody on as an assistant coach to work with reiners in the program two years ago. | Photo courtesy of Oklahoma State athletics

For Jody, the transition from the industry to college coaching was divided into two parts. On one hand, he had a lot to learn about the differences in competition formats.

On the other hand, the change was a callback to his younger days, when the horse’s pedigree was second to how a rider worked to get the job done. 

“These girls, their show horses are so nice and then they come to the intercollegiate level and these are nice horses too, but they’re not the kind of horses that are going to go win an NHRA major event. I just kind of laughed and was like, ‘Oh, here we go. I grew up on these kind of horses,’” Jody said. “You’re teaching the girls how to ride them and they have to ride a variety. And these things, they’re not professional level horses anymore. You have to be a little more clever about teaching your kids how to get the most out of these things when you go to a meet.”

The experience of essentially working with someone you can share the dinner table with has the potential to make things complex. But according to these families, it’s actually made their respective journeys even more enjoyable. 

Much like the Potts family, Brad Kearns watched from the stands for the first year of Nya’s riding at SMU. That’s when Lantz Breuker took the job back at her alma mater in Athens, leaving an opening as a western coach on the staff in Dallas. 

Brad, a veteran rider, trainer and instructor in Illinois, had reached out to Gwin, then the head coach at SMU, to offer names of potential candidates who could fill the opening. Gwin countered by asking if he would be interested in the position. 

The biggest selling point – his daughter's enthusiastic response. 

“Nya really swayed the vote for me. She was like, ‘Dad, I’m not moving back to Chicago where it’s cold and we would get to see each other every day.’ And she sounded excited about getting to see me every day. Now, she might be rethinking that decision, but at the time she was excited about it,” Brad joked. “When you’re a parent of a 19 or 20-year old and they’re saying, ‘Oh, we’d get to see you everyday,’ I was like, 'I’m going to do it. I’m going to try it.'”

Last year, Brad earned NCEA Western Coach of the Year honors. Over her career, Nya has reset the NCEA record with 31 Most Outstanding Performer honors. Together, they’ve captured back-to-back NCEA championships. 

“I think that definitely at the beginning when my dad transitioned into coaching, it was a big transition for our family. But I really don’t think I would have had all of the success that I’ve had over the last four years had he not been here to help coach me,” Nya said. “I think having him has been so important to me and I think the whole team, especially the western side, really appreciates that he’s very present at practice and you can tell just how much he wants it for you.”

SMU's Nya Kearns high-fives Brad Kearns, the team's head coach and her dad, following a rider during a competition. Together, the Kearns family has been a part of SMU's last two NCEA titles. | Photo courtesy of SMU athletics

Back in South Carolina, the Potts family is hoping to write a similar story in the coming years as TR’s college coaching journey gets rolling and Alexis, who is currently redshirting, starts riding for the Gamecocks next fall. 

If anything, the experience has strengthened their bond. While TR and Alexis are in competition mode, Christine, the matriarch of the family, helps the girls with outfits and makeup, even customizing riding gear. And Riley, the youngest member of the Potts family, has served as a warm-up rider at home meets. More importantly, he’s also transitioned from being a Clemson supporter. 

“He’s basically our mascot. Everyone is like, ‘Is Riley Potts going to be here today? Is Riley Potts coming?’,” Alexis said. “I don’t think that kid owns anything orange anymore.”

And yes, there are still moments when TR is the parent and Alexis is the child at home. But once workouts begins, family squabbles quickly disappear. After all, there’s a championship goal for everyone to focus on. 

“I’m kind of laughing because I can think of this one funny story where we were in an argument at the house and got to the barn and I completely forgot about the argument and he was just my coach,” Alexis said. 

Added TR: “Afterwards, I was like, ‘Hey, you not mad at me anymore?’ The argument was solved at practice.”