Maryland’s Oluchi Okananwa Defends Head Coach After Fiery Exchange Goes Viral: “I Love to be Coached Hard”

Maryland's Oluchi Okanawa and head coach Brenda Frese's tense moment during March Madness' second-round battle went viral.

Maryland’s Oluchi Okananwa Defends Head Coach After Fiery Exchange Goes Viral: “I Love to be Coached Hard”

Brenda Frese and Oluchi Okananwa (Image via FirstSportz)

In Short
  • Oluchi Okananwa expressed her appreciation for hard coaching from Maryland head coach Brenda Frese.
  • Frese emphasized the importance of tough conversations and building relationships with players.
  • Despite Okananwa's strong performance, Maryland lost the game against North Carolina.

When Oluchi Okananwa left Duke to join the Maryland Terrapins’ women’s basketball program in last year’s transfer portal, she knew she was getting to learn and play under passionate longtime head coach Brenda Frese.

The 55-year-old has held the job for 24 years, primarily because she has a history of galvanizing the program, with her last major accomplishment being the 2006 NCAA National Championship.

Frese also has the distinction of developing WNBA stars such as Kristi Tolliver, Crystal Langhorne, Diamond Miller, Alyssa Thomas, Shakira Austin, and, notably, Angel Reese.

Reese did not have a problem playing for the fiery Kim Mulkey, as she was already experienced with Brenda Frese’s coaching style. That style has now become a matter of public interest when the Iowa native was captured having a heated moment with Oluchi Okananwa.

The head coach was essentially telling her star player to stop being complacent and seize the moment. However, clips of that sequence went viral and left fans divided.

Coach understands I’m a competitor at heart, and I’ve told her this before, and I’ll keep on telling her this until forever. I love to be coached hard. That’s what she does with me every single day. That was a regroup moment for myself, and her telling me, she believed in me.

Oluchi Okananwa told reporters

This was the Nigerian-American’s response when reporters asked about that viral exchange. Oluchi Okananwa reiterated what her coach told her, and she basically loved being coached like that.

Brenda Frese clarifies her viral moment coaching Oluchi Okananwa

Even though Oluchi Okananwa effectively stopped all the rhetoric that was forming, reporters still wanted to know what head coach Brenda Frese had to say about that instance.

We do have to have those tough conversations. You can’t have them without a relationship… The best of the best, the elite of the elite, want to be coached hard… I kind of wanted to implore just how much belief I had in her, and just kind of challenge her.

Frese replied

The longtime head coach’s response falls in line with what Michigan State’s Tom Izzo has been doing for a long time. The great Spartans head coach was receiving criticism for being ‘old school’ and hard on his players.

Charles Barkley defended it, suggesting it is the responsibility of parents and friends not to allow players to get complacent, reiterating that hard coaching has brought results.

Many have taken issue with how basketball has gone soft in the NBA, and many believe the NIL situation in college is responsible for that. But in women’s basketball, hard coaching has continued, which is why women respond favorably, just as Oluchi Okananwa did in this situation.

Oluchi Okananwa’s motivation not enough to help Terrapins win

After Brena Frese drilled hard-hitting motivational words into her star player, Oluchi Okananwa, the guard went on to score a basket and steal the ball away from their opponents.

Kyndal Walker and Oluchi Okananwa could not rally Maryland to a win
Kyndal Walker and Oluchi Okananwa could not rally Maryland to a win (Image via Maryland WBB/X)

The junior finished with a game-high 21 points, but some of her high-profile teammates could not join in with their contributions. Starting seniors Saylor Poffenbarger and WNBA-bound Yarden Garzon had woeful shooting nights.

That was not enough as North Carolina led at halftime and was looking to pull away. In the third quarter, the Terrapins responded with a stunning rally led by Okananwa.

It seems Brenda Frese’s words worked wonders, and they managed to tie the game before the fourth quarter started. Had the head coach’s fiery motivational words led the Terrapins to a win, the entire discourse surrounding her exchange with Oluchi Okananwa would have been different.

Instead, Maryland went on to lose the game after the Tar Heels managed to stem their rally and produced some clinical basketball to secure a third-round berth.

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