This feature originally appeared in the 2022 Spring edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.




Physically and emotionally empty with three newborns at home and feeling the overwhelming stress of a global pandemic, Meagan Owusu made one of the hardest decisions of her life.
 
"I was drowning," Owusu said. "I felt like I was failing as a coach and a mom."
 
Owusu stepped down as Cal's head beach volleyball coach in October of 2020, seven months after giving birth to triplets just two weeks after the world shut down due to COVID-19. A former Golden Bear indoor volleyball student-athlete herself who also has several relatives that attended Cal, Owusu was the only full-time beach volleyball head coach the program had ever known. She never saw herself being disassociated with the university.
 
"It was really challenging because ever since Meagan was a little girl, she is, and was, a coach," said Owusu's mom, Laura Schmitt. "And Cal is 100 percent her family. It was definitely not an easy situation."
 
While Owusu's family, friends and colleagues understood her decision, they found it hard to accept. Immediately after leaving her position at Cal, Owusu kept hearing the same message from those closest to her.
 
"Meagan, you have to be at Cal."
 
"I knew it," Owusu said.
 
As more time passed and COVID-19 restrictions relaxed, Owusu and her husband, Ernie, were able to explore more options for child care for their triplets – Henry, Louie and Ruthie. With Ernie also working from home, Owusu began to consider a return to coaching.
 
"I remember getting off the phone with a friend and I went to Ernie and said, 'I need to be at Cal,'" Owusu said. "He said, 'If that's what you want, let's do it.' There wasn't even a hesitation. It was more, OK, how are we going to do it?"
 
Former associate head coach Derek Olson had taken over Cal's beach volleyball program on an interim basis and a plan had already been in place to conduct a national search for a permanent replacement. So Owusu applied for the job like anyone else.
 
She was announced as Cal's head coach again last July.
 
"It was really hard for me to see her give it up the first time because I knew how much she cared and how invested she was in the program," said Ernie Owusu, who played football at Cal from 2007-11. "Obviously, I support her to the best of my ability and so does everyone else. I didn't want her to leave. This is her home."
 
Owusu's decision to return to Cal was a result of several forces – heart-to-heart talks with her mom while running, the easing of COVID-19 guidelines, support from family and friends – but more than anything, Owusu began to think about the example she was setting for her daughter, Ruthie, as well as the student-athletes she coaches.
 
Laura Schmitt was the head track and cross country coach at Redwood High School in nearby Larkspur for 33 years before retiring in 2019. Owusu grew up admiring her mom as a coach and leader, and wanted to serve as a similar role model for the young women around her – including Ruthie.
 
"When I quit, I kept telling myself that I'm doing this for my children," Owusu said. "But what I quickly realized is in order for me to be the best mom I can be, they need to see me pursuing what I love. I think I learned that what I was trying to achieve by quitting actually wasn't the case."
 
Count fifth-year senior Mima Mirkovic as inspired. The All-American said she was sad but understood when Owusu initially quit. Now that Owusu is back at the helm, Mirkovic uses her head coach as an example of where she is trying to get to someday.
 
"She shows to all of us that you can have the best of both worlds," said Mirkovic, a graduate of the Haas School of Business who is now enrolled in Cal's Master's of Information and Data Science program. "You can be a leader and a great coach and a great motivator for other girls that are 18-21 years old. I want to be in a leadership position like Meagan someday, but I also want a family. Seeing her perfectly emulate that, it motivates me that I can do that, too. I think every girl on the team sees that and acknowledges that, and we have a whole profound level of respect for her."
 
Owusu admits that if it were a job at any other institution, she may have not been so quick to return. She dreamed of playing and coaching at Cal at a young age, and is one of only two players in Cal indoor volleyball history to reach two Final Fours.
 
The Bears' beach volleyball program was birthed in 2014, and Owusu left her job as an indoor and beach assistant coach at Loyola Marymount in 2015 to become Cal's associate head coach. She was elevated to head coach the next year, and has consistently had the Bears ranked in the top 15 in the national polls ever since.
 
 "I want her to succeed because I know how hard she's worked and some of the struggles she's been through," said Jennifer Dorr, associate head coach of Cal's indoor volleyball program who was the Bears' director of operations when Owusu was a student-athlete and is a mom to twin girls herself. "She's showing our female student-athletes that you can be a CEO or a head coach, or manage a group of people, and you can also have a family at home if you so desire."
 
When Owusu initially decided to step down, one of her first phone calls was to Cal field hockey head coach Shellie Onstead. Owusu has been a longtime admirer of Onstead, another former Cal student-athlete who became a head coach. Onstead has led the Bears' field hockey program for 27 years and has been an advocate for female coaches.
 
"It touched a real nerve with me because when she called me to say she was going to step down, she led with, 'I wanted to be you,'" Onstead said. "I actually got choked up in the moment. My attitude at the time wasn't to talk her out of it because you could hear how emotional she was and how much she was struggling that she wasn't doing right by her new babies. I think she finally realized it was done in the wrong emotional headspace because of the circumstances. I'm thrilled she's back. It was really courageous for her to decide to start a family and then it was courageous for her to come back. I'm hoping she's a lifer."
 
With the help of family and a nanny, the Owusus have found their groove, and the triplets are thriving. They have made a few appearances at the Clark Kerr Sand Courts, giving Ruthie and Cal's players a real-time example of Owusu's successful balancing act between coaching and motherhood.
 
"She's in a significantly better place," Ernie Owusu said. "When she left, honestly, a part of her wasn't there anymore. She wanted it back really badly. She has a sense of responsibility for the program and our kids. I've personally seen how she's made an impact on the girls. That's been huge."