Write For California

Share this post
Lindsay Gottlieb hired to coach USC WBB
writeforcalifornia.com

Lindsay Gottlieb hired to coach USC WBB

Welcome to a very unexpected glass case of emotion

Nick Kranz
May 11, 2021
Comment15
Share
Twitter avatar for @USCWBBUSC Women's Basketball @USCWBB
šŸ’„We got GOTT! šŸ’„ The Trojan Family is extremely excited to announce the hiring of new women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb! Welcome to Troy, coach! #FightOn āœŒļø
Image

May 10th 2021

113 Retweets766 Likes

I have been starring at a blank white screen for a long time on Monday night, struggling with what I want to write about Lindsay Gottlieb leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers after two seasons to become the head coach of USC women’s basketball.

Lindsay Gottlieb is an unfailingly kind, generous person who has gone out of her way to do things she didn’t have to do for the Cal community. She was a part of basketball memories I’ll cherish the rest of my life.

She’s coaching at USC now.

Logically, I can understand in my brain that her departure from Cal was probably the best for all parties. Logically, I can understand that coaching at USC is a reasonably attractive job.

But she’s coaching at USC now.

It’s not long until you’re going to see footage of her saying fight on while holding up a V hand sign. I don’t say that to torture you, but instead to prepare you for the inevitable.


In spite of it all, I am morbidly curious to see whether or not Coach G can lift USC out of nearly three decades of remarkably consistent mediocrity.

In 1994, Cheryl Miller led USC to a 26-4 record, a Pac-10 title, and made the Elite 8. In the 27 years since, USC is 241-243 in conference play, with 20 seasons that ended with somewhere between 7 and 11 conference wins. In that time USC has made four NCAA tournaments and hasn’t gotten further than the second round.

27 years of being decent but unremarkable. 27 years of being good enough to pull the occasional upset but not good enough to matter nationally. 27 years of just kinda existing without ever really getting noticed by anybody.

USC WBB seems like a program that should be good but isn’t. Five different coaches since Cheryl Miller have tried, and all of them have failed.

Lindsay Gottlieb has something to prove as well. She collected a Pac-12 record of 56-16 over her first four seasons in Berkeley, then regressed to a record of 30-42 over her final four seasons in Berkeley. Frustratingly for Cal fans, the Bears have struggled badly in the two years after her departure, thanks in part to a shallow, inexperienced, and imbalanced roster left behind by transfers and recruiting misses.

The Pac-12 has become the best conference in WBB because over the last 8 years the Pac-12 kept adding great head coaches on top of the programs that were already strong. UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State, and Arizona all have improved markedly thanks to inspired head coaching choices. It’s not a coincidence that the rise of those programs coincided with Cal’s relative struggles in the second half of Lindsay Gottlieb’s eight years at Cal. Those coaches are all still in the conference. Winning at USC will be far from easy.

I don’t quite hold the same intense dislike for USC WBB as I do towards other USC sports, or USC as an institution. It’s hard to hate a program that has been so relentlessly bland and uninteresting for the bulk of my lifetime. If Coach Gottlieb starts beating ASU or Oregon or Stanford or UCLA, I’ll probably cackle and enjoy it, and I’ll be happy for a good person on a human level.

But I’m still a fan, and when they meet on the court I hope my Bears show no mercy.

Comment15
ShareShare

Create your profile

0 subscriptions will be displayed on your profile (edit)

Skip for now

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.

deehart
May 12, 2021

I think of Tedford at Cal - great years and then things went downhill (and then he had health problems and wandered in the woods for a while). And then he surprised everyone by how successful he was at Fresno.

Expand full comment
ReplyGive gift
Bob R.
May 12, 2021

Might be good training for two or more years and certainly distinguishes yourself from others, but a career NBA assistant coach is not where you get noticed and get publicity, though maybe the money is decent and maybe, in most cases, better than as a head coach at most colleges (would love to see stats on that).

I predict no woman will be a permanent NBA coach for many years, even though they could easily be qualified to do so. Guess I'm saying the real prestigious job for a woman's basketball coach is as a head college coach. No doubt you will disagree. You are part of a pack that likes to disagree with me. That's fine. Disagree all you want. Makes things more interesting for me.

Expand full comment
Reply
13 more comments…
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

Ā© 2022 Write For California LLC
Privacy āˆ™ Terms āˆ™ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
SubstackĀ is the home for great writing