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It is tempting to ask Diljeet Taylor how she gets it all done. It’s Monday, November 8, 2021, and the head women’s cross-country coach at Utah’s Brigham Young University has been going nonstop since about 5:30 this morning—squeezing in a predawn run with a friend, teaching a community fitness class, driving her two boys to school, supervising her runners at practice, holding one-on-one meetings, shopping for groceries. But if any version of “how do you find time” escapes your lips, be prepared for Taylor to cut you off: “I don’t have time.”
Now it’s 5 p.m. and Taylor is methodically prepping dinner for her athletes—washing and slicing broccoli, brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes—on the massive marble-topped island of her gleaming white kitchen in the home she shares with her husband, Ira; their sons, 11-year-old Taj and 7-year-old Avi; and their two dogs.
The house, in a neighborhood at the foot of Provo’s Little Rock Canyon, should be a mess. The kitchen floor was just replaced a day ago, there’s a pool half installed out in the backyard, and a portable toilet for the construction crew sits in the driveway. But no. Every countertop is sparkling, the floors look clean enough to eat off of, and no coffee-table book is out of place. Even Taylor’s bedroom, which she proudly opens to show off her two Pelotons—a treadmill and a bike—has a crisply made bed with perfectly fluffed pillows.
Taylor admits that of her primary roles (mom, wife, coach), she does best focusing on just two at a time. “I can be a mom and a coach. I can be a coach and a wife,” she says. “If I try to add any more to my plate, I’m not going to be successful. I coach, and that’s pretty much what I do. Like, friends?” Taylor shrugs and purses her lips. “It’s my team. In the last 10 days, we went to conference, we had a Halloween party, we had a Diwali dinner, and now we’re having this.”
Ira is used to it. There are many nights like this, when his wife devotes all her energy to the team she coaches. It’s what she’s good at. People sometimes ask him why he’s content to always be in the background, and he says, smiling, “because I am happy to be…fully supporting her career and watching her live out her dream.” He’ll proudly tell you that Diljeet’s first name means “winner of hearts.”
Indeed, since arriving at BYU in 2016, Taylor has been winning hearts there, transforming the women’s distance running program into a national powerhouse, coaching the cross-country team to top 10 finishes at Nationals every year since 2018, and getting on the podium every year since 2019.  It is tempting to ask Diljeet Taylor how she gets it all done. It’s Monday, November 8, 2021, and the head women’s cross-country coach at Utah’s Brigham Young University has been going nonstop since about 5:30 this morning—squeezing in a predawn run with a friend, teaching a community fitness class, driving her two boys to school, supervising her runners at practice, holding one-on-one meetings, shopping for groceries. But if any version of “how do you find time” escapes your lips, be prepared for Taylor to cut you off: “I don’t have time.”
Now it’s 5 p.m. and Taylor is methodically prepping dinner for her athletes—washing and slicing broccoli, brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes—on the massive marble-topped island of her gleaming white kitchen in the home she shares with her husband, Ira; their sons, 11-year-old Taj and 7-year-old Avi; and their two dogs.
The house, in a neighborhood at the foot of Provo’s Little Rock Canyon, should be a mess. The kitchen floor was just replaced a day ago, there’s a pool half installed out in the backyard, and a portable toilet for the construction crew sits in the driveway. But no. Every countertop is sparkling, the floors look clean enough to eat off of, and no coffee-table book is out of place. Even Taylor’s bedroom, which she proudly opens to show off her two Pelotons—a treadmill and a bike—has a crisply made bed with perfectly fluffed pillows.
Taylor admits that of her primary roles (mom, wife, coach), she does best focusing on just two at a time. “I can be a mom and a coach. I can be a coach and a wife,” she says. “If I try to add any more to my plate, I’m not going to be successful. I coach, and that’s pretty much what I do. Like, friends?” Taylor shrugs and purses her lips. “It’s my team. In the last 10 days, we went to conference, we had a Halloween party, we had a Diwali dinner, and now we’re having this.”
Ira is used to it. There are many nights like this, when his wife devotes all her energy to the team she coaches. It’s what she’s good at. People sometimes ask him why he’s content to always be in the background, and he says, smiling, “because I am happy to be…fully supporting her career and watching her live out her dream.” He’ll proudly tell you that Diljeet’s first name means “winner of hearts.”
Indeed, since arriving at BYU in 2016, Taylor has been winning hearts there, transforming the women’s distance running program into a national powerhouse, coaching the cross-country team to top 10 finishes at Nationals every year since 2018, and getting on the podium every year since 2019. |
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