The Pac-12 has stood out as one of the best womenβs basketball leagues in the nation over the last two decades. This being the leagueβs final season, each month the Star is sharing Pac-12-centered stories of former Arizona players, as well as former and current league coaches. Up this week: USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb.
Gottlieb, who is in her 13th season as a coach in this league, has fronted women's basketball programs at two schools: Cal from 2011-2019 and currently at USC, beginning in 2021. After starting as an assistant at Cal before taking over the program in 2011, she guided the Golden Bears to a share of the Pac-12 regular season title in 2012-13 β the same year Cal reached the Final Four. Gottlieb was the first NCAA womenβs head coach hired to serve as an assistant coach by an NBA team (Cavaliers). She returned to the Pac-12 in 2021 to lead the Trojans.Β
Quick intro to the west:Β βI could go on for hours (on why Pac-12 womenβs basketball is special). Iβll start with me coming in as an assistant at Cal in gosh, I think it was 2005. I really was an outsider. I had spent my life on the East Coast and my college career, my coaching career on the East Coast. My boss, Joanne Boyle takes the Cal job and at the time, Cal had 13 losing seasons in a row. We were picked eighth in what was then the Pac-10 and three years later we were eighth in the country.Β That group, we inherited an incredible freshman class.
"You talk about superstars and a group that kind of put Cal on the map. It was Devanei Hampton, who just went into the Cal Hall of Fame; Alexis Gray-Lawson, who had some epic performances and Ashley Walker. Those three were phenomenal. They got Cal to a Sweet Sixteen. Alexis was the rookie of the year and Dev was the first team All-Pac-10 her freshman year. The next year she was All-Pac-10 player of the year. For me, when I first think about the Pac-12 it was that those years as an assistant coach. We had some really epic battles of the day.
βMy first time ever being an acting head coach, Joanne Boylesβ father had fallen ill and so I had to coach for a week and it happened to be the Stanford week and we lost at Stanford. But Alexis Gray Lawson, I think had 35 or something. It was just kind of a crazy intro to the Battle of the Bay. Those are my early memories."
Winning a league title at Cal:Β βThe next thing that really stands out to me is our Final Four year.Β I think the one of the things I'm most proud of in my career is going 17-1 in the Pac-12 (in 2012-13) and sharing the Pac-12 title with Stanford. Because the Final Four is amazing, the conference tournament championship is amazing, but those things take a week or two weeks. To run through that conference.
"And I think we played we played Stanford, like the second or third week. I think we were both 4-0 when we played then they beat us at our place. We ran it back three days later at Stanford and beat them and so we were both 3-1 or 4-1 and I knew we were going to have to win out to win the title and we won every which way. We crushed a really good UCLA team, but then we were down 10 to an Oregon State team. ... They were coached by Scott (Rueck) so they were competitive, but it wasn't one of the great Oregon State teams. We were down and we had to claw back and win.
βTo me, my first years as an assistant, then my second year as a head coach, I think, really spell out what the Pac-12 was about.β
Winning at two schools:Β βI have a couple of memories of beating Stanford on senior day at Cal. One of them, Asha Thomas, hit a game winner at the buzzer. Weβre down one, put the ball in her hands, she makes a crossover move, gets by Dijonai Carrington, then help comes over and she had a floater at the buzzer to beat Stanford. You are talking about a kid from Oakland hitting a walk off, game winner to beat Stanford. I'll never forget that moment. Kristine Anigwe had 20 (points), 20 rebounds against Stanford one year when we beat them.
βTwo games from last year, I think, are etched in my memory forever. Obviously beating Stanford at home when they're number two in the country and nobody gave us any chance. (Then) our comeback win on senior night against Washington State where we down by 20 and it felt like 40. We came back and won that game in double overtime. Kadi Sissoko played 50 minutes."
Legends of the game:Β βI describe to other people who maybe arenβt as in tune on what itβs like to have Cheryl Miller just stop by as if Michael Jordan walked in just to chat with your players at North Carolina. The best player, really in the history of our game.
"Maybe (Miller's) career was cut short, but in terms of who she was at βSC I can't help but get goosebumps. Like I'm not starstruck often, but it's Cheryl Miller. She is this epic player and to have the connection to USC with her to know what our mission is to try and get USC back to the level that she and her teammates were at, and to have her be here in support, it's just it's incredibly special. I think that's an understatement.
βIt's a unique position to be in in womenβs college basketball. I think we're all stewards of the game. We all have to honor the history.Β To be here and sheβs on my wall, as is Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson and the McGee twins (Paula and Pamela). But Cheryl is right in the middle so I look at her on the wall every day then she walks to the office and is like, βCoach, what's up? How can I help?βΒ I'm just like, it's crazy to me to think this is my life and this is what I get to do. But I take that responsibility really seriously. She's just such a cool human being and an epic great in our game that I just want to be part of telling her story and also having our players understand what it means to wear the USC jersey.β
Only in the Pac-12:Β βThere are a lot of epic, epic moments. The Pac-12 Network caught a lot of them because when it was new, it was such a novelty that womenβs basketball was on TV. There was one time we were at UCLA and (Calβs) Brittany Boyd hustled for a ball and got her foot stuck in the scorer's table. It was like underneath and she was sitting there trying to get her foot out. The official, Bob Scofield, helps her get it out and she runs down and scores a basket on that play. The Pac-12 Network played it over and over and over. These are things that I'll just never forget. And they're part of my coaching history. They're part of my personal life. There are so many good players, so many good coaches, so many good opponents. Weβre all excited maybe to build a new thing and a new conference, but we definitely grieve for the rivalries and the great players and coaches that we've been able to share all these memories with.β
USC women's basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb talked about her journey as a coach through Cal, the NBA, a letter from Stanford's Tara VanDerveer in this Pac-12 Network interview presented by Paycor. (Pac-12 Network YouTube)
Celebrating the final season of Pac-12 women's basketball, the Star shares stories from former Arizona players as well as former and current league coaches. Up this week: Former Arizona coach Joan Bonvicini.
Celebrating the final season of Pac-12 women's basketball, the Star shares stories from former Arizona players as well as former and current league coaches. First up: Wildcat legend Sam Thomas.
