USC women's basketball eager to get while mentor Lindsay Gottlieb is on maternity leave

She was days away from providing beginning to her 2nd baby, but Lindsay Gottlieb was continue to coaching. The USC head coach despatched e-mails when she couldn’t slumber, fired off a couple of small texts and manufactured time for a speedy mobile phone contact to look at on her team’s development. Just like her daughter’s owing day, USC’s opener towards Cal Point out Bakersfield on Nov. 8 was approaching quickly and Gottlieb could not set either on keep, regardless of pleas from her coaching personnel to relaxation.

“We’re like, you should have a baby,” assistant Wendale Farrow joked at a latest follow, “and fret about motherhood.”

Even though Gottlieb isn’t in the gym, her impact continues to be powerful as the Trojans proceed their rebuild under the next-yr coach. The group is hopeful Gottlieb, who gave birth to Reese Caroline Gottlieb Martin on Oct. 15, can return in November when associate head mentor Beth Burns, Farrow and fellow assistant Nneka Enemkpali start the period.

USC mentor Lindsay Gottlieb and her husband Patrick Martin welcome their newborn kid Reese Caroline Gottlieb Martin

(Courtesy of USC Athletics)

“The assistant coaches are absolutely keeping it down,” sophomore forward Rayah Marshall mentioned. “The tempo is nonetheless there. The only detail we’re missing is Mentor G’s electrical power and her whistle, but they are undoubtedly undertaking a genuinely good position.”

Burns, who was the exclusive assistant to the head mentor at Louisville for five many years, will assume the interim head mentor title. She is San Diego State’s winningest head mentor with a 295-186 total file for the duration of two eight-yr stints that included 7 NCAA tournament appearances. The defensive-minded coach is in her second stint as an affiliate head coach at USC, possessing beforehand loaded the placement from 2014 to 2017, has labored as a graduate assistant and strength mentor beneath Stanford legend Tar VanDerveer, and served Louisville to two Final Fours.

Her prolonged resume involves just about every single knowledge in the match, but she identified that quickly taking over for an anticipating head mentor is a new chapter in her guide.

USC associate head coach Beth Burns is the winningest mentor in San Diego Point out heritage.

(Mark Humphrey / Involved Push)

“Having been a head mentor for numerous a long time, [I know] that the biggest trust another person can give you is to allow you run their crew,” Burns stated. “I’m honored that she selected me in a placing she realized was special.”

Following Gottlieb announced to her players in April that she was expecting, the coaching staff members formulated a program for her absence that would coincide with the most crucial weeks of the offseason. Teams depend on Oct to get wins in February, Burns reported.

To overcome the distinctive scenario, the Trojans utilised September workouts that ended up confined to eight hours a week to set up sets and go over five-on-five conditions that teams generally save for Oct, when 20 hrs a week of observe time is permitted. Having two workouts a week as opposed to five designed for an inconsistent studying atmosphere, but it was a essential obstacle for Gottlieb to set a foundation with her crew and for Burns, who didn’t join the staff members until finally June, to have an understanding of how to carry the eyesight ahead.

“September was form of a transition period for us,” claimed Farrow, a second-12 months assistant who coached under Gottlieb for five a long time at California. “[We were] attempting to build our new strategies, reform our patterns and confirm our principles whilst comprehending that Lindsay may not be listed here to see it by way of [from] Oct into November.”

Not only have been the Trojans sorting through a coaching transition, but they also ended up incorporating seven transfers right after heading 12-16 and finishing 10th in the Pac-12 final year. Previous Minnesota ahead Kadi Sissoko and nationwide champion South Carolina guard Destiny Littleton will assistance the Trojans substitute 4 of their top rated five scorers from past period, which include top scorer Jordyn Jenkins, who transferred to Texas San Antonio. Marshall is USC’s major returning scorer just after averaging 11.2 points and 7.7 rebounds previous season

A 2nd consecutive offseason of major personnel adjustments usually means that no 5 gamers on USC’s roster have shared the court docket throughout a match, Burns pointed out. Just after the unconventional summer season schooling format, Burns is not certain no matter if the staff is in advance of or at the rear of schedule, only that things are obtaining better every working day with the objective of rebuilding the once-very pleased plan.

“We have some genuinely very good items and some actually talented people today, and at USC we haven’t completed our aspect,” Burns claimed. “SC is 1 of the most prestigious and great universities in the world. Women’s basketball has not accomplished their portion and we individual that.”