Cavaliers assistant Lindsay Gottlieb becomes USC Trojans women’s head coach

USC has hired Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Lindsay Gottlieb as its women's basketball head coach. 

Gottlieb joined the Cavaliers bench in 2019 after eight seasons as the women's head coach at the University of California, where she led the Bears to NCAA tournament appearances in seven of her eight seasons at the helm, including a Final Four berth in 2013. The Brown graduate won Pac-12 Coach of the Year that season. 

Gottlieb, 43, "went to the NBA to challenge myself at the highest levels of the game of basketball and was fully invested in that journey," she said in a release, and became the seventh female NBA assistant when John Beilein hired her two years ago. 

She added: "It is an honor and a thrill to become the women's basketball coach at USC.  I am inspired by the incredible history of this program and excited about the opportunity to do special things with the young women I will have the privilege to coach." 

Gottlieb has plenty of collegiate experience out west, as her first head-coaching gig was at UC-Santa Barbara from 2009-11. 

Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Lindsay Gottlieb before the game against the Golden State Warriors during the first quarter at Chase Center. (Photo: Kelley L Cox, USA TODAY Sports)

Mark Trakh retired last month after four seasons, his second stint with the program, creating the opening for athletic director Mike Bohn. 

"A trailblazer who smashed through the glass ceiling of men's professional sports, I cannot think of a better coach, leader, and role model for our young women," Bohn said in a statement. "Lindsay has a proven record of success in the country's premier women's basketball conference … after an incredible experience in the NBA, Lindsay is taking leadership of our program at a time when she has become her very best as a coach and teacher." 

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.

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