As Mark Daigneault chases his first NBA Finals with the OKC Thunder, the spotlight falls squarely on his impressive record this season. With a 123-107 win over the Pacers in Game 2, Head Coach Daigneault has effectively shrugged off the flak he received for Game 1. Plus, being married to a “more accomplished, more impressive, better coach”, obviously has its benefits.
Oklahoma gymnastics team’s assistant coach, Ashley Kerr, is married to coach Mike Daigneault, who does not shy away from highlighting her successes. While the OKC Head Coach preps to hoist his own Finals trophy, Kerr, whose team clinched their third national title in four years, sets the bar high.
Ashley Kerr: From Florida Gymnast to a National Championship Coach
Born in 1988 in Plant City, Florida, Kerr has been a standout gymnast for the University of Florida. She earned her All-SEC academic honors four times and served as the president of the student-athlete advisory committee. She’s ended her collegiate career with multiple athletic accolades.
After earning her Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Sports Management and Telecommunication at Florida, Kerr transitioned into coaching. At first, she started as a volunteer student manager at UF before climbing the ladder to reach the position of a team manager and eventually assistant to the head coach.
Congrats to our wonderful volunteer assistant coach, Ashley Kerr, on her wedding this weekend to Mark Daigneault! We are so happy for you both 💕 pic.twitter.com/kKsxQZxRDh
— Oklahoma Women’s Gym (@OU_WGymnastics) August 6, 2019
Kerr continued as a volunteer coach for 6 years, until 2023, when NCAA rules changed, allowing volunteer coaches to take on full-time roles. She’s been a catalyst in guiding the Sooners’ balanced team to sustained success, 33-2 this season, with top-three national rankings seven years running, and bagging NCAA titles in 2018, 2019, and 2024.
How Did Mark Daigneault Meet His Wife, Ashley?
Surprisingly, Ashley first crossed paths with Mark at the University of Florida, where he was a graduate assistant under Billy Donovan. Kerr served on the women’s gymnastics staff at the time. Their relationship blossomed and reached a pivotal point, when Daigneault accepted the head coaching role with the OKC Thunder’s G-League team in 2014.
The decision set them on a long-distance relationship course, until Ashley left Florida to pursue her coaching career in Oklahoma. Kerr and Daigneault got married in 2019 and have welcomed two children, daughter Stella and son AJ. As they navigate through the pressures of coaching elite teams, Daigneault confesses that they’re not in charge at home, because the real coaches there are the pair’s kids.
“There’s certainly a lot more things that define our relationship together, starting with our kids now,” Daigneault said in an interview. “That’s occupying the majority of our bandwidth, but even beyond that, we’ve always tried to compartmentalize it in a way that’s pretty healthy because we both like to be home when we’re home and not just using the house as an extension of our jobs.”
Together, the two of them are a powerhouse coaching duo. They are a rare example of elite spouses who grow together and uplift each other. With Kerr’s seven national titles and Daigneault making his first championship run with the Thunder with a franchise-best 68-14 record, they are making their mark in the sporting world. Indeed, a power couple!
