USC’s JuJu Watkins can be next star in women’s basketball, coach Lindsay Gottlieb says

CLEVELAND — Lindsay Gottlieb is about to witness the passing of a torch, and her conversation with an Uber driver Thursday served as a reminder of what lies ahead.

Bound for her currently empty home in Cleveland she rents to Browns and Cavaliers players, Gottlieb told the man her story. She revealed she served as a Cavaliers assistant for two seasons from 2019-21.

“I said, ‘Now I coach women's basketball at USC, and right away he says, 'JuJu Watkins,'” Gottlieb said. “People who have no other association to me or to women's basketball know JuJu.”

The Women’s Final Four that concludes Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will mark the end of a storied career for the sport’s transcendent star, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. LSU’s Angel Reese will follow Clark to the WNBA, leaving University of Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers and USC freshman Watkins as the biggest names.

Gottlieb believes Watkins is ready to take on a bigger presence despite missing the Final Four when the Trojans fell to UConn in the regional final. With 920 points, Watkins became the all-time leading freshman scorer in women’s Division I history and her 110 points in four NCAA Tournament games was one shy of the freshman record of 111 by Tennessee’s Tamika Catchings in 1998.

“She is sort of next level in terms of her attention,” Gottlieb said by phone Friday before attending the semifinals. “I knew getting JuJu is going to be a new experience for all of us. And obviously it's been kind of even bigger than any of us expected. I don’t know that it has anything to do with me, but she's going to be in the spotlight.”

Watkins averaged 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists as Southern Cal finished 29-6. The Trojans’ attendance jumped from an average of 1,037 in 2022-23 to 4,412 in 2023-24. A January game against UCLA drew 10,657 to USC’s Galen Center.

Represented by Klutch Sports Group, whose clients include LeBron James, Watkins has signed endorsement deals with AT&T, Nike, SpringHill, Wells Fargo, Ritz, Dove, Mielle, Celsius and NerdWallet, according to Forbes. Candace Parker and actor Kevin Hart have attended USC games this season, along with James, who watched Watkins pour in 27 points in 29 minutes against UC Riverside on Dec. 10.

“We've had a lot of famous people come, but when LeBron sat courtside and I turned and looked, I definitely got a little bit like, ‘Oh, my gosh, LeBron's watching us,’” Gottlieb said. “More of an NBA feeling, more the way I felt when [the Cavs] would play the Lakers and you look courtside and see who's there. We had a lot of those moments where it feels a little bit like a movie.”

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Watkins committed to USC with the Trojans coming off a 12-16 season in Gottlieb’s first year. In 2022-23, USC went 21-10 and reached the NCAA Tournament. But until Watkins signed, the resurgence of USC women’s basketball wasn’t certain; it still seeks its first Final Four appearance since 1986.

“For her to take us from relative obscurity going into the season to a No. 1 seed and four minutes away from being in the Final Four, what she's done is insane,” Gottlieb said of Watkins. “I think those are the moments this year that I was like, ‘Wow.’ Seeing this in real time, you're kind of blown away by it.”

A native of Watts in Los Angeles, Watkins worked out with James Harden of the Los Angeles Clippers when she attended Sierra Canyon School, which also produced LeBron James Jr. But Gottlieb said Watkins becomes a favorite of pro players has not affected her.

“It's remarkable,” Gottlieb said. “Whatever you see on TV, the poise and the competitiveness and the fearlessness in real time it plays out in this way that not fake. It's not a show. It’s just who she is. She's handled this season unbelievably well.

“I tell people I've never once had to coach anything other than her basketball and ‘Hey, how are you doing as a human?’ Never a body language thing, never a personality, never anything. She just really handles the spotlight with a lot of grace. We had 400 people in the stands the last couple of years, and now there's 10,000 for a couple games. She greets everybody after the game who wants an autograph. She understands her role in the community. She just really has a poise that's beyond her years and very, very special.”

Gottlieb believes the popularity women’s basketball experienced this season with Clark becoming the game’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Pete Maravich (NCAA) and Lynette Woodard (AIAW), is sustainable because more games are being televised.

“The number one thing here is the investment in terms of visibility in platforms,” Gottlieb said. “Make no mistake, women's basketball has been exciting before. We've had great players before — Maya Moore, [Diana] Taurasi, Stewie [Breanna Stewart], [Kelsey] Plum, Sabrina [Ionescu]. I mean, there's been incredible players, but it never was on TV. I do feel like this investment in women and putting it on TV is the number one driver.

“Now, Caitlin Clark is really special in terms of the way her gravitational pull that a regular fan can watch the way you watch Steph Curry make a crazy logo 3, that resonates with people. Caitlin's game resonates with people as well. But I think the timing of this that you have JuJu following and is here now as well, she also has that magnetism in the way of a Kobe [Bryant] or Michael Jordan. That's what her game is like.”

USC’s move to the Big Ten next season along with UCLA, Oregon and Washington adds to Gottlieb’s excitement.

“We'll be on more national TV,” Gottlieb said. “The Pac-12 Conference … not a lot of people saw JuJu until the NCAA Tournament. I think now people will see her a lot. You guys would get to see her at Ohio State or at Michigan. It’s kind of a cool time in terms of the coverage.”

Gottlieb said she took much from her two seasons with the Cavs working under coaches John Beilein and J.B. Bickerstaff. That’s what made the Trojans' 80-73 loss to UConn so tough to take.

“That's why it's so heartbreaking to not have the team here,” she said. “Everyone wants to make the Final Four. But for me to make the Final Four in Cleveland and coach in a building that has meant so much to my life and career, it's hard to have been so close.”

Asked what she learned in the NBA, she mentioned vertical spacing, opportunities for her team to run more, principles in transition, calling fewer plays. But there were also lessons about off-the-court life that apply to NIL money and increased visibility in college.

“This new world of players being able to monetize; I've always believed they should be able to,” Gottlieb said. “But what I think the secret sauce in the NBA is knowing that one guy makes $30 million, one guy's on the vet minimum, and one guy's a mid-level. You’re aware of it and it's OK to acknowledge, but at the same time it can't impact the integrity of your locker room and what impacts winning.

“I think it's made me more equipped to just be comfortable with this landscape where on JuJu's off day she might be doing a shoot for Slam magazine, and another player is going to study hall and doing their homework. We all have different experiences. But what matters is what impacts winning and what USC is all about. It’s OK to have different players in different realms of their life.”

Before she came to the Cavs, Gottlieb spent eight seasons as head coach at Cal (179-89), taking her team to the NCAA Tournament seven times. She also directed UC Santa Barbara (56-39) for three years from 2009-11. Leaving Cleveland was not an easy decision.

She and her husband, Patrick, the parents of son Jordan and daughter Reese, plan to keep their home in Northeast Ohio.

“It's a great spot. And we love Cleveland, and so we'll come back,” she said.

Gottlieb said USC officials called her five or six different times before she agreed to return to the college ranks.

“I really struggled with the decision to go … because I really loved what we were doing,” Gottlieb said of the Cavs. “I felt really a part of it, and look at what they've done since. I kind of wanted to see that through. But I also knew I wanted to be a head coach again at some point. And the opportunity at USC, it just was such a once-proud program, a great brand, a great school that had not invested in women's basketball in 20 years. And now I was in a position to say, ‘I'll come here if you do A, B, and C,’ and they did and it's been amazing.”

Cognizant of the insecurity of NBA jobs, Gottlieb knew if she helped build the Cavs into a championship contender that might have created other opportunities. This season there are only five female assistants in the NBA; she said she felt “a little bit of guilt in terms of letting down women.”

But the history of the USC women’s program was a pull she couldn’t resist.

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“I just felt like this was one I couldn't pass up because we've been able to connect with Cheryl Miller and Tina Thompson and connect this new group to the past,” she said. “Of course, it wasn't easy to leave the NBA. I didn't come to dip my toe in and leave. You've seen there's sort of been a downturn now of women in the NBA, but in some ways our market value is higher elsewhere.

“I've tried to make our building a place where NBA players can come in and work out. [USC product] DeMar DeRozan comes and works out. You try to make it a synergy between the two leagues. I can be someone maybe who's a part of that.”

The presence of pro players may also help Watkins navigate her life in the spotlight. Gottlieb said she’s already heard from Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and believes in the plan that is taking shape to capitalize on the attention.

“I owe him a call back,” Gottlieb said. “They've kind of strategized about how to handle that moving forward, and she's built for it. She wants to impact her community. She is great, wants to be great on a lot of levels, and how she handles it is remarkable. I think we all have an opportunity here, and also a responsibility, and I look forward to navigating that as best as I can.”

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: USC's JuJu Watson poised to take the torch from Iowa's Caitlin Clark