In the past four months, Xavier coaches Barb Sullivan and husband Dave have been to the high school state tournament three times with three teams in three sports.

Meantime, they’ve become the first-time parents of one baby girl.

Taking a team to state, of course, is every coach’s goal. Snuggling a doe-eyed, dark-haired little doll like Genevieve Grace is a parent’s prize.

“Each is wonderful in a different way,” says Dave, the top assistant on the Xavier girls basketball team that won the Class 4A championship last Saturday. “Both are like miracles from God.”

One big and one small, depending on how you look at it.

“I’ve never won a state championship,” says Barb, who led the Saints' volleyball team to the Class 4A tournament three of the last four years. “But I know there is an overwhelming sense of joy and excitement in winning the big game.

“There are tears of joy. But nothing like the tears of joy I shed over this little girl.”

Born January 29 (weighing seven pounds and one ounce and 20 inches long, for those who keep track), Genevieve’s birth came in the midst of what has been a series of milestones for the coaching couple.

They were married on New Year’s Eve in 2011. Then, last fall, the Xavier football team won its first 13 games before falling to top-ranked Ankeny in the championship finals.

The coaching staff, with Dave handling the offensive and defensive lines since the school opened in 1998, was tabbed the best in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

Barb, who coached at Xavier for four years before resigning in January to have more time at home, was named MVC Coach of the year in volleyball after winning the school’s first-ever division title before dropping an opening-round tourney match to top-ranked Charles City.

Then came the basketball season, when the Saints girls claimed the title they also won with Dave on the bench in 2007. There were three other tournament appearances in between.

“It’s been a whirlwind year,” says Barb.

But that’s the life of high school coaches.

Barb, 33, and Dave, 42, first met in the weight room at Xavier when she was doing summer drills with her volleyball players and he was working with both football and basketball players.

“I wouldn’t say it was luck,” says Dave. “But we share the same values. Our faith plays a huge role in our lives.”

They courted from opposite ends of the high school building, she teaching theology and he teaching advanced science. Barb will return to the classroom April 1 after her maternity leave.

With their coaching schedules, the only lull from morning-to-night duties was in the brief period between the end of the basketball season and the start of summer camps. It was a hectic regimen, but both say their priorities are in order.

“I tell the girls on my team, it’s God, family and volleyball in that order,” Barb says.

That family includes her parents, Eileen and Tom Brunow, and his parents, John and JoAnne Sullivan, all of Cedar Rapids. “Very proud grandparents,” says Barb.

She and Dave say parenthood has given them an even greater appreciation for what matters most. “We feel very blessed,” he says.

Still, there’s always a part of coaching that they share.

“Barb asked me once what the best day of my life was,” says Dave. “I naturally told her the day we got married.

“And she said, ‘Yeah, but championships are pretty darned good, too.’"