Nick
When the shocking news broke that Lindsay Gottlieb accepted a job in the NBA, I’m a little bit disappointed in myself to admit that my first reaction was similar to the reaction I had when Joanne Boyle was hired away from Cal by Virginia. That is to say: I wasn’t heartbroken.
That seems harsh. After all, Coach G is a wonderful person who also took Cal to heights the program had never experienced before. An honest-to-God conference title and a Final Four!
But it’s also true that since that Final Four season, Cal has barely been above .500 in conference play (56-52) with a 4-5 tournament record. That’s despite having plenty of talent on the roster, whether you’re looking at talent from a recruiting ranking perspective or a WNBA draft pick perspective.
Thus, my initial take? This is probably the right time for everybody to move on. Coach G doesn’t owe Cal anything, and lord knows she gave her all to her players and program. Cal rewarded her with contract extensions and program support. Her on court record in the 2nd half of her tenure didn’t meet her own stated expectations for the program. Next year was (and still is) likely to be a really really rough year. Cal can move on without having to closely examine whether or not a universally admired personality is meeting on court program expectations . . . because the honest answer to that question was likely to be a very uncomfortable ‘no.’
Reef
I like the framing of this as the best thing for all involved. Coach G has done so many things that I am grateful for as an alum: built a culture and recruited a set of student athletes that represented the university in a way I was always proud of; made the players (and herself) more visible and accessible as role models for young people in the community; improved the fan experience--making every season ticket holder feel like they were part of the family; and initially elevating on court results to the point where we have shifted our basic understanding of what’s possible for WBB at Cal.
But we were also reaching an uncomfortable reckoning. There were two years left on her contract, and it would have been hard to justify extending one of the highest salaries on campus for a sport that doesn’t generate much revenue and that has not been generating elite on-court success.
Lindsay Gottlieb is a bright basketball mind who, for many of the reasons we have been documenting in this space for years, has not recently delivered the on-court execution and results she and the fanbase expected. There was a disconnect there—a deep hoops thinker who couldn’t get the vision in her head and the words coming out of her mouth to become reality between the lines. Our end-of-year article is still sitting in the queue, unpublished, because I never had the heart to finish the critique of this year’s coaching performance, especially on the defensive end. While a part of me was hoping next year would be the year she finally flipped the script and exceeded expectations, much of the data tells us that would have been unrealistic. Instead she leaves with the ideal narrative, perfectly aligned with all of the values she stood for as the leader of this program: courageously taking on challenges, clearing new paths toward equity and diversity, serving as a model to young women.
I think there’s a very good chance she’ll do a great job with the Cavs in the role she’s taking on.
Meanwhile, Cal does not have to deal with the question of whether it’s getting what it paid for, and whether the off-court success justified paying a coach as if she were regularly putting teams in the top 10. Everyone gets to move on: Coach G to a place where her passion for and knowledge of basketball might be better utilized, and Cal to a place where we can hopefully explore new heights.
Which brings us to the really hard question: what happens now?
Reef, after spending more time considering Coach Gottlieb’s legacy
Actually, before we look toward the future, I want to add one more thing. Personally, I am going to miss Lindsay Gottlieb. From a fan and a writer perspective, she was open, caring, direct, fun...a basketball junkie after my own heart...and just a genuinely good person. Even though I had more than my share of frustrations with our quality of play, I also have some truly special memories from the Gottlieb era, and I enjoyed being a WBB fan. So much so that I renewed my season tickets last month without hesitation, despite some trepidation about our roster composition.
We are sports fans because--hopefully--it increases our measure of happiness in life, and Lindsay Gottlieb’s basketball teams gave me plenty of joy and plenty of pride. I don’t want to take that for granted, and I think it’s important to be grateful and say, thanks coach.
Nick
(Written while waiting in line 30 minutes before the Louvre opens!)
What I will remember mostly distinctly about Lindsay Gottlieb’s time at Cal was her determined advocacy for her players and for women’s basketball. She’s an evangelist for her game in the best sense of the word, and she might be the most honestly holistic coach I’ve ever followed. The players who graduated under her love her fiercely, and it’s not hard to see why.
She opened up a window to her program in a unique way, and you felt like you knew her players in ways you didn’t typically get in any sport, let alone a sport with fleeting windows to watch a player grow.
Sometimes that window felt almost too much - when the team was struggling and Coach G’s sunny demeanor seemed at odds with the reality of the situation, it was hard to see the good as losses obscured the whole. To her credit, I think Coach G still fundamentally changed how I consume sports.
I don’t think any of that should make us forget or ignore the on-court reality of the post-Brittany/Reshanda Bears, nor the current bleak outlook. But you’re right that also appreciating the uniquely good things Coach G brought to Cal is the best way to fairly remember her complete approach to coaching.
Reef
And now there’s this business of picking up the pieces. I was not a close fan of the program the last time we went through a WBB coaching change, so this coaching transition thing is new ground for me. Data and analytics are harder to find on the women’s side, and thus it’s difficult for me to even begin thinking about coaching candidates. So I’ll just tell you where I’m at. Despite the fact that I think this change is best for all involved, I’m worried:
- First, because there’s no obvious successor in our ranks who is a sure-fire head coach in waiting. If I’m being real, I’m not even sure I’d want to consider anyone complicit in the troubling trends of the last several years (although that does not necessarily preclude everyone associated with Coach G’s staff, if their particular mix of skills wasn’t fully realized as an assistant).
- Second, because our roster is not as strong as it has been. With the exception of Kenzie Forbes, we have a collection of solid Pac-12 players with little high end talent to elevate us. Our returning players and our recruits mostly seem to fit that description. From a talent pool perspective, this is probably the worst time in recent program history to absorb the recruiting lull that often accompanies a coaching transition.
- Third, because there is inherent instability when teams switch coaches. New systems and routines, on and off the court, often take a season or two to take hold. Players often leave. (Already Lauren Fields has asked to be released from her LOI.) We were already looking at a tough transition from the loss of a stellar senior class and a discouraging transfer. How much worse will it get with a coaching change?
- Fourth, because I think we were both left uninspired by the recent MBB coaching search conducted by this regime. Is there anything that makes us feel more confident in what’s about to occur?
- Fifth, because we’re broke.
Yikes. I just talked myself into a really dark place. Can you talk me out of it?
Nick
All the problems you mention are real, but we should also consider that Cal should be an attractive job.
First, this is a Pac 12 job, and the conference is currently perhaps the premier conference in the country. Five different schools have made the Final Four in the last 7 years, a number nobody else can touch. This is where the best, most consistent college WBB is played right now.
And Cal has been a pretty consistent 2nd tier power since, with 11 tournament appearances in 14 seasons and regular access to the best recruiting state in the country. Based on program fundamentals, Cal should be one of the very best jobs in the tier just below traditional powers.
In other words, Cal should be able to make an excellent hire.
‘Should’ and ‘will’ are sadly two very different things. As a non revenue sport, this would be an easy hire to cheap out on. And because we’re late in the hiring/firing season there are no obvious easy picks, which means we must trust the current regime to do their homework (gulp).