In the Spears family, ‘no one is impressed’ by the other. But they wow everybody else – The Athletic
When she felt like her brother and dad were getting a little cocky, Cari Spears decided to take matters into her own hands.
Sure, her dad, Marcus Sr., played in the NFL for nine years and her brother, Marcus Jr., is one of the nation’s top high school basketball players. But as she kept trying to tell them, neither of these facts equated to talent in volleyball, her sport of choice.
“I’d serve and they couldn’t touch it,” Cari recalled with a laugh. “They were so convinced they could block me, or I couldn’t block them. We tried, and let me tell you, they were not great.”
“After some bent back fingers and wrist swelling and bruising, we know who the boss is,” acknowledged Marcus Sr., the larger-than-life NFL analyst and personality seen regularly on “NFL Live,” “Monday Night Football” and other ESPN shows.
“Volleyball,” Junior added, “is a lot harder than I thought.”
Meanwhile mom Aiysha, a former WNBA player, looked on smugly.
“I never said anything to Cari,” she said. “I’m just over here chilling.”
This type of good-natured ribbing is commonplace in the Spears household in Dallas, where “no one is impressed” by the other’s accomplishments, said Marcus Sr.
Such is life when dad was a first-round NFL pick (No. 20 in 2005 by the Dallas Cowboys) and mom was a first-round WNBA pick (No. 7 in 2003 by the Washington Mystics). Now eldest daughter Cari, the top-ranked volleyball player in the 2025 class, is the favorite for national freshman of the year amid a stellar first season at Texas, which hosts Indiana in Friday’s third round of the NCAA Tournament. And Junior is one of the best hoopers in the 2027 class.
That’s a lot of excellence in one family. With it comes hyper competitiveness and internal and external pressures. Marcus Sr. and Aiysha draw on their own experiences and dole out advice as the kids find their own way.
And the Spears don’t think you’ve seen the best of them yet — because all of them agree that 12-year-old Miko, the second daughter and youngest sibling, is the best pure athlete of the group.
“Yeah,” Miko said. “That’s true.”
Marcus and Aiysha, who met when both starred at LSU, figured when they had children, they’d be drawn to sports. But they had no idea just how competitively unhinged elementary school kids could be until they took Cari, then 6, bowling for the first time.
“We were going to have fun, but of course me and Marcus are winning,” Aiysha recalled. “It’s getting closer to the end and she’s getting a little more frustrated, a little more frustrated …”
Cari demanded bumpers be removed, convinced if she could bowl with the same conditions as her parents, she’d be more successful. When the game ended, and Cari officially declared the loser, she broke down sobbing, wailing about how they had to play again, right away.
Marcus Sr. turned to his wife, “Yo, this is a problem,” he said, astonished at Cari’s competitive drive.
They did play again. And mom and dad, never ones to show mercy, won again. Cari fumed.
“She was not very happy with us,” Aiysha said, “for a while.”
Junior, widely considered the best trash talker in the family, proved to be the same.
Asked what happens when he and his dad, himself a former hooper, play one-on-one, Junior snorted.
“My dad won’t actually suit up and play me,” Junior said. “He says it’s ’cause he has bad knees. So we’ll bump in the post a bit, but he won’t really play me.”
Junior, somewhat reluctantly, acknowledged that he’s never actually beat his mom in basketball. By the time Junior outgrew Aiysha — he’s currently 6 feet 9 — she opted to retire.
“Once again,” Marcus Sr. said, “she’s the smartest person in the room.”
Cari, Junior and Miko grew up making everything a competition — who finished dinner first, who got into the car fastest, who raced upstairs skipping the most steps. It wasn’t uncommon for backyard games to start friendly and end in tears. Junior said Cari “used to beat me up all the time,” exerting her older sister dominance when Junior took a slight lead in, well, anything.
No one in this family handles losing well.
Now that their children are (mostly) grown, that raw emotion has been transferred to mom and dad, who are not exactly known for keeping their cool as spectators. Whether he’s watching Cari smash kills over the net at the Gregory Gymnasium in Austin or sitting courtside while Junior throws down a dunk at Peach Jam in Augusta, Ga., Marcus Sr. can usually be heard yelling — at his kids, his kids’ teammates and probably the officials. He can get, in his own words, “very belligerent.”
“I don’t enjoy games much,” Marcus Sr. said. “Until it’s over and they’ve won, it’s such an emotional drain for me. I do enjoy watching our kids make plays, but otherwise, it’s stressful.”
Meanwhile, Aiysha might seem calm but the family insists it’s a facade.
“She’s the one using curse words!” Marcus cried.
Cari Spears had to give a shoutout to dad after getting the W ❤️@mspears96 | @TexasVolleyball pic.twitter.com/xFFden8exu
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) September 20, 2025
Factor in Grandma Irma, Marcus’ 71-year-old mother who lives with the family and helps keep everyone organized, and there’s basically no tolerance for anything less than greatness. When games are going poorly, Irma has been known to shut off the TV or close the computer, muttering to herself, “What are they thinking?!”
But they don’t tolerate noise from outsiders. Marcus Sr. and Aiysha got plenty of practice at ignoring haters throughout his NFL career. Though social media and online criticism are inescapable now — a dramatic difference from when mom and dad played – Marcus Sr. constantly reminds his kids, “Username907645 ain’t never played volleyball a day in their life, ain’t never shot a basketball. Why are you giving them any of your energy?”
On the flip side, they’re also cautious about anyone fawning over them.
“We’ve kinda been in the spotlight for a minute because of what my dad does, and that’s cool, and we know we’re accomplished in the public eye, but we’ve got a lot more to do,” Junior said. “We’re good but we’re not that good, you know?”
Case in point: At the Spears house, Aiysha, Cari and Miko would rather binge “Selling Sunset” than watch Marcus Sr. drone on about the NFL.
Plus, Cari and Junior have understood from a young age that while their parents will always push them, they’ll never define them by their athletic accomplishments.
Still, mom and dad have enough perspective to know what their kids are doing is rare — and special. Aiysha played two years of pro basketball before retiring to start their family, while Marcus was a seven-year starter at defensive end for the Cowboys. He retired in 2013, when Cari was 6, totaling 236 career tackles. They know how hard it is to get to this level.
“I always had the vision of my kids doing certain things,” Aiysha said. “We knew what they could do if they put in the work, and they have.
“But I am still kind of in awe. Like, those are my babies! Look at them!”
Cari fell for volleyball because it’s “the ultimate team sport,” she said. Three different players touch the ball on each possession, making it hard for any one individual to take over a game. Aiysha never pushed hoops either.
But Junior picking basketball after trying football and baseball felt destined. Though Marcus Sr. starred on the gridiron, he was also the No. 95 basketball recruit in the 2001 class, attending USA Basketball camps and rooming with the likes of Dwyane Wade, Zach Randolph and T.J. Ford. His original plan upon arriving in Baton Rouge was to play both sports.
So what happened?
“I played for a lunatic named Nick Saban,” he deadpanned.
He’s kidding … mostly.
Saban, Marcus Sr. said, was actually on board with him playing two sports, but Spears decided to devote his energy to football, partially because he felt it provided a clearer path to the pros.
And when he had a son, he was fine with Junior picking something else.
“I tried to deter him, but not necessarily ’cause of injury,” Marcus Sr. said. “I didn’t want him to have to deal with the pressure of being ‘the football son of an NFL player.’”
Aiysha, who prepped ice packs after every Cowboys practice and played nurse after each of Marcus Sr.’s surgeries, had a different perspective: “I always used to tell him, don’t play a sport where you have to wear a helmet and cover up your face — that’s your moneymaker.’”
Enter hoops. Aiysha would often work with him on technical skill while Marcus knocked him around in the paint. (“My dad,” Junior said, “was not gonna let me be soft.”)
Marcus Spears Jr. (No. 1 SC NEXT 60) making a statement this season 🔥 @Mspearsjr @DynamicPrepSch @madehoops pic.twitter.com/Vbma3wKEU9
— SportsCenter NEXT (@SCNext) November 23, 2025
The junior forward at Dynamic Prep in Carrollton, Texas, already has offers from Houston, Indiana, Tennessee and LSU, among others. Junior said he’s in no rush to make his college decision, and Cari, who he talks to every day, has told him to enjoy the process. When he needs an escape, he’ll play video games. If Cari is home, they’ll head out for a few ruthless rounds of pickleball, their newest obsession.
The logistics of raising three superstar athletes are dizzying. Consider: When Cari was playing in the SEC tournament in Savannah, Junior was in Miami with Dynamic Prep. Marcus Sr., Aiysha and Miko started in Miami, before Aiysha and Miko flew to Savannah. After Junior’s games wrapped Sunday, Marcus Sr. headed to New York City for a variety of ESPN shows for three days (he travels weekly to either ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., or NYC for work).
They all reconvened in Dallas for Thanksgiving, then headed their separate ways again. They’re game planning for how everyone could go to Kansas City should Cari and Texas make the national volleyball semifinals Dec. 18.
The family knows that for as exhausting as all the travel and training can be, few are given these types of opportunities. They also know this could be just the beginning.
Given their talent, it’s not unrealistic to think that Cari and Junior could star for Team USA at an Olympic Games. But Aiysha has a plan to make sure all her kids are included.
“I want Miko to switch to being a setter,” she said. “Then she can set up a kill for her sister.”
As a seventh grader, Miko hasn’t settled on a sport. But it’s no secret within the family that “Little Bit” — her dad’s nickname for her — wants to be just like Cari.
Said Cari: “Hey, if she picks volleyball, that’s two of three kids. Then we’re officially a volleyball family.”
Even Junior agrees with that.
“Man, it might not matter what I do in basketball, even if I do make it to the NBA,” he said. “Miko is gonna be a killer. She has the blueprint. And with the path Cari is on, they might just take over.”
