The message: Build an elite program and fans will come. USC’s AD needs to hire a new men’s basketball coach.
The vision came to fruition on Sunday for USC women’s basketball. This is what head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and star player JuJu Watkins dreamed of when they both came to USC, Gottlieb a few years ago and Watkins last year. This is what any coach, and any star player, want to see when they go to a school in search of a spark.
USC women’s basketball created the first dynasty of the Women’s NCAA Tournament era, which began in 1982. USC was the first school to win multiple NCAA Tournament national championships in the 1980s thanks to Cheryl Miller and Cynthia Cooper. The program remained strong into the mid-1990s thanks to Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson. Then, for roughly 25 years, the music and the magic stopped. The program slid into irrelevance and obscurity.
Gottlieb was sold on the idea that USC women’s basketball could rise again and become what it once was. In order for Gottlieb’s vision to emerge, she needed a transformative player. JuJu Watkins, a Los Angeles native, was right there as the top recruit in the country. Gottlieb kept her home in Southern California. One elite coach plus one elite player — and all the other decisions and roster additions flowing from them — brought USC women’s hoops to Sunday afternoon in the Galen Center. The Trojans clearly outplayed No. 2 UCLA and dealt the Bruins, a likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, their first loss of the season. Watkins played great. Gottlieb coached a brilliant game. The role players were terrific. The defense was lights-out. Everything came together.
USC couldn’t have — and wouldn’t have — played as well as it did without an electric, vibrant, full-house crowd at the Galen Center. USC set an attendance record for women’s basketball in its on-campus arena, which is not quite 20 years old. Over 10,600 fans packed into Galen. Everyone wanted to get in. This is what it looks like when a basketball program hits its stride and reaches its potential.
USC Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen noticed this:
Some industry insiders think that after making several NCAA Tournaments in a row, Andy Enfield should be safe as the men’s basketball coach. However, when you look at how greatly Gottlieb has transformed the women’s program, it shows what happens when a truly elite coach takes hold of a program.
Jen Cohen needs to ask herself if USC can do better than Enfield. Cohen knows Enfield is a good coach. He has done a good job at USC. However, this season’s team was supposed to be doing the same kinds of things the women have done and are doing right now. The success of one basketball program is magnifying the failure of the other at USC. Enfield has improved USC basketball over his 11 years with the school, but he has never done what Gottlieb has managed to do in less than three full seasons.
Notably, Enfield and Gottlieb both had No. 1-ranked recruits. Gottlieb has enabled JuJu Watkins to play and perform like a superstar, maximizing both her own talents and the abilities of her teammates. No. 1 men’s basketball recruit Isaiah Collier — now injured — did nothing of the sort due to Enfield’s inability to unlock the full measure of his talents.
Jen Cohen sees the hype USC women’s basketball has created. She can see the packed houses and the identity JuJu Watkins is creating under Lindsay Gottlieb. There’s no reason USC men’s basketball can’t go out and get a great coach — an upgrade from Enfield — and reach the same heights.
The message — like the visuals from Sunday’s stirring win over UCLA — could not be any clearer.
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