September 18, 2025 • 33 mins
UCLA WBB head coach Cori Close joins Laura to talk about a culture that outlasts banners and awards—sweeping the sheds, nurturing the roots, and why “coaching people’s hearts” is her real playbook. She opens up about the Final Four learning curve, the NIL and transfer-era noise, and what infrastructure college programs actually need so coaches can coach. Plus: the service work that connects teams—and how gratitude, discipline, and “uncommon” choices turn talent into titles.
01:18 Coach Cori Close's Journey and Early Influences
03:35 The Coach Close Basketball Method
06:28 Achievements and Reflections on Awards
09:11 Mental Conditioning and Player Development
13:13 Challenges and Lessons from the Final Four
17:43 Navigating NIL and Financial Conversations
23:50 Future of Women's College Basketball
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I've also said a lot to our team.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Look, you guys, if you only want to do ball
and do me or get a degree and try to
get to the pros, well, this is not the right
program for you. I'm gonna require you to selplessly serve
in the community. I'm gonna require you to truly work
on who you are as a young woman off the
court and to be a better woman.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
And it takes more.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I will say, we do more than most programs, and
sometimes that can be annoying in the moment, especially when
you're eighteen to twenty two. Coach Wooden used to always
tell me said, don't judge it by how they feel
about it in the four years that they're with you.
Judge your effectiveness on the forty years after they leave.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Welcome back to courtside. I'm Laura Crenty. My guest today
is Coach Corey Close, one of my favorite in college basketball.
She's been the head of the UCLA women's program since
twenty eleven, and in that time she's become the winningest
women's coach in school history, leading the Bruins to nine
consecutive postseason Appearer arances. But her impact extends far past
the court, Coach Close is building a program that equips
(01:05):
her players for life beyond college, from navigating the new
NIL era to preparing athletes for long term success. She's
shaping the future of the game and the leaders who
will carry it forward. Let's get into it with Coach
Corey Close. I am here with one of my most
favorite coaches in the game, welcoming the head coach of
UCLA women's basketball, Coach Corey Close.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Welcome to courtside.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Man, it's great to be with you, so one of
my faves in the women's sports space. It's just awesome
to talk about all things women's sports.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I love that you are not new to this.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
You have been at this for quite some time and
have seen obviously the evolution, which we'll get into in
a second. But I'd love to start asking you a
very simple question, which is when did you fall in
love with the game?
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I think I fell in love with sports first, you know,
in terms of I just there was something that was
a connector that built habits. And my dad was a
teacher and a coach, and also on top of that,
I was the only girl in my neighborhood. And so
if you wanted to go play anything in the streets
after school or after church on Sundays. It was always kickball, football, basketball,
(02:11):
whatever in the streets, and if I wanted any friends,
I was gonna play.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
That.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Being said, I just think basketball was one of those
things that in my circle of influence, I had a
lot of people that were proficient in that way. But
it's interesting, I actually my first love is actually soccer.
I didn't know that, yes, and I really probably was
better at it than basketball. But I grew up in
a time where there were very few scholarships in soccer
(02:36):
and way more in basketball, and so if I wanted
to go to college and have it paid for, that
was actually the turning point.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
As I'd said, I love both.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I love soccer and I loved basketball, but one's gonna
get me through college without any debt.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
And so I started with that.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And then I became a coach at twenty three years old,
and it's all I've ever done.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
So yesterday, you started coaching yesterday. You know, it's so funny.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I don't know if I've ever showed to so soccer, basketball, softball,
growing up through sport athlete, same sort of experience in
that My street was filled with boys.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
It was a crazy block to grow up on.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Shout out to Clinton Avenue and we played everything from
Manhunt to stickball to I mean then we would set
up nets and hit everything from hockey pucks to soccer balls.
It was very much growing up in this environment, which
playing co ed rec all the way through eighth grade,
I think gave me a little bit of that competitive
edge that I don't know that you would have gotten
just playing with women specifically. So it is interesting to
(03:33):
see how those formidable days shape. Anyway, fast forward, you
become a coach, and I'm so curious to know. And
as much as the game has changed, I have to
imagine some of the principles have remained the same. You
talk a lot about John Wooden being a huge influence
how you coach your teams in terms of you coach
people's hearts is something I absolutely love that you say.
(03:54):
Can you talk about what defines the coach close basketball method?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Well, first of all, it's not mine anything I'm doing
very well.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I stole.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I don't know how to say it more cleanly that
it really is about the pursuit and the process over
the outcomes and the rewards and what people see on
the outside that I got a text from a parent
today that I shared with our staff. It was about
what they saw on the inside of their daughter coming out.
And I thought to myself, no one on the outside.
(04:24):
It's not gonna get us any awards. It's not gonna
get us anything. But it is, I said to our staff,
it is the true markers of our success is what
we bring out in our young women, or what we
help to bring out in our young women from the
inside out. Who they become and who they impact are
the only two things that will be with them for
the rest of their lives. You know, in the end,
(04:45):
banners are going to hang in gyms and rings.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Are gonna collect dust.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
But the reality of that is that we need to
invest from the inside out. And in my office, there
are two things that hang on the wall in my office,
and one is a broom and one is a show
and the broom and it's not a reminder to anyone
on the outside.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's a reminder to me.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
That a broom is to remind me to sweep the sheds.
Based off of the book of the All Blacks out
of New Zealand, the Rugby when they're executives and their
captains sweep the sheds. It's a reminder to me to
be the ultimate servant leader. And there's no job too small.
That is my job to serve. That is not a burden,
that is a privilege. And then the second thing is
(05:27):
a shovel. And my friend John Gordon, who's obviously written
tons of books, but he's said to me one time, Corey,
forget it. If you want to see the fruit of
your labor, learn to nurture the root. And the shovel
is on my wall to remind me to invest below
the surface, to plant the right seeds, to water the
(05:48):
right seeds, to cultivate the soil of the hearts of
our players, and to trust that over time, if done well,
that eventually the fruit will come, but it will be
a byproduct of the things done and below the surface.
So sort of a long answer to your short question.
But that's how I want things to be defined. And
I don't have it all together. I mess up a lot.
And the reason those things are up on my wall
(06:10):
is that I need to be reminded too. But that
is truly the desire of the style of leadership. I
want to have.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
It's amazing and I definitely want to come back to
the roots because I think the species of trees has
evolved over time as the world of women's sports and
basketball is evolving. But I want to go back to
the broom and very quite literally, you swept four major
Coach of the Year honors this past season. I want
to give you your flowers and what you've developed in
this program, which speaks I think so much to your
(06:37):
style of leadership, and a chance to just recognize you
for a minute, because I know you hardly take a
beat to do this. What do those awards mean to
you personally? And when you think about the journey from
UC Santa Barbara, where you were a four year starting
point guard all the way through to team captain, you
finish your career on the court as the programs all
time leader and assists. I mean I could go on
three point shooting percentage of all time all the way
(07:00):
through now to sweeping these awards last season. When you
think about the journey, what are those honors really have
you reflect on?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well, I think two things. One I would have predicted
and one I wouldn't have. One I would have predicted
is that the best part of sweeping those awards was
the opportunity to thank the people that helped me get
there on those stages, to be able to turn to
the incredible people in my village that poured into me,
(07:29):
believed in me when I didn't even believe in myself.
So that was what I was most excited about, was
that opportunity. The second thing that really hit me that
I didn't predict was it was going to remind me
how shallow it is, because it was really fun for
about two hours, and I don't know if I've dreamed
about it, but I definitely watched it happen over all
(07:51):
these years and people that I really respect get these
Coach of the Year honors and be at a final
four and all of those things, and imagining myself maybe
one day having the opportunity to be in those shoes,
and then when it happens, you realize, oh, you know what,
outcomes and awards they just are really shallow and won't
(08:11):
mean that much. And the things that meant the most
is the former players that text me and used it
as their opportunity to thank us for pouring into their lives.
But obviously I'm humbled and honored and thankful, but it
really didn't last long, and it really reminded me that
it didn't mean that much from a depth perspective.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Totally a moment in time, and then back to work
and speaking back to work and thinking about your shovel
and the roots. You have been a part of this
program since twenty eleven, which is a long tenure from
a coaching perspective, certainly from a leadership perspective.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
The transferable skills.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
When you think about some of those athletes who are
reaching back out today and those that you're developing for tomorrow,
many of them, as we know, will not go on
to play professionally, how do you think about their time
at UCLA forever, long or short. You talked about coaching heart,
You talked about developing the person from the inside out.
What are the things you see today that are most
critical in that development? That goes beyond how well you
(09:09):
can handle a ball.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
It starts for me on the mental side of the game,
and then it goes to how I call it strengthening
your response time, how you know how you handle adversity,
how you respond to the difficulties of life. Because we
know that it's not a matter of if, but when
and how that this adversity is going to.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Come at them.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Now, been doing this long enough, and I'm really been
committed to the mental conditioning side of the game.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I would say that that is what I hear back other.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Than the more traditional things like communication, time management, hard work.
That is the thing I hear the most about from
former players, whether they're professionals in their sport or their
professionals in some other area of life, that that is
the transferable skill they go back to the most and
least consciously. And what I mean by the mental condition side,
(10:00):
it's a lot of levels. It's it's self awareness to go, Okay,
I'm not at my best right now, what's getting in
the way, How do I respond to this? And then
having the tools to do so. I also think it's,
you know, mastering the art of talking to yourself rather
than listening to yourself. If you do nothing, eighty percent
of your thoughts are going to be negative eighty percent.
(10:21):
So think about doing nothing and just going through your
day and going through default mode and having to deal
with the ramifications of just letting eighty percent of your
negative thoughts rule in your head. And if you don't
have the tools to interrupt that, that's where you end up.
And so we spend a lot of time building the
self image or responding to the adversity, learning how to
recognize when those negative loops are just being destructive and
(10:44):
giving them the tools to interrupt that and turn those
things around. And so I'm really passionate about just that
mental side, how you see yourself. We always say to
our players, you're never going to outperform your self image,
and so how do you expand that? And that performance
equals potential interferences. You don't have to focus on playing
perfectly or performing perfectly. You really need to focus on
(11:06):
minimizing the interferences and getting to neutral and understanding like
how do you make the next right step. So I'm
really as you can probably tell, I'm very passionate, especially
for women, because women usually think they're not as good
as they are. Usually guys think they're better than they are,
And so understanding how can we teach them to understand
(11:27):
the depth of their worth, the abilities that they have,
the multi dimensional ways they can impact the world, let
alone a team. And it's just such a joy to
watch those light bulbs go on and understanding. I stopped
a workout yesterday with one of our freshmen and I said,
what are you thinking about right now? And she knew
what I was getting at, and she goes that this
(11:47):
is good for me, and she just lied, this is
good for me. I know that the best is when
I push through this adversity. Great things are going to come,
and the edge is when the good stuff happens.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I go, Okay, quit lyon.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
What are your I think?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
He said, why do I keep messing up?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
You know? Man?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Can I really do this? Is this just going to
be too hard?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And then having a chance to meet her in that
moment and go, okay, how can you draw on what
we've been talking about and how can you strengthen your response?
And to watch her make such a great turn. I
just think there's no coincidence that over seventy percent of
C suite women played high school sport and fifty four
percent of women who hold SEA suite positions played college athletics.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And I just think it's such an impactful thing.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You know, It's so funny.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I've been working on a project that has me reflecting
back to my time playing soccer in college. I wish
I would have had you as a coach then, because
as I had gone through an injury between my freshmen
to sophomore year, which found me in a very unfamiliar
position after playing the game for eighteen years, which was
on the bench, and what that will do to somebody
mentally when you're not getting the feedback when those negative
(12:59):
thoughts you hole, I walked away from the game probably
two years prematurely because they didn't have the tools, resources,
or the language to understand what I was navigating and
didn't know how to ask the questions for the feedback.
Talking about being in the mental ringer, you went on
a hell of a run last basketball season, found yourself
in Tampa at the Final four, the furthest the team
(13:19):
has gone since you took over. Yep, and you're the
most winning at coach. This is a big feat. And
I remember going to your semifinal matchup and having gotten
to know you prior to that match. You wear it
on your sleeve and I could see it up and
down the sideline of being in that pressure cooker situation
inasmuch as you are there to guide, mentor and drive
(13:41):
the team, what's going on in your head as the
coach as the leader, because I think so many executives
have been in that position. You lead your team and
you're where the buck stops. Yeah, as you reflect back,
like what was going on in your head in that moment,
and how do you navigate what goes on into the
locker room and post.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Well, yeah, and you really nicely didn't say that we
got our butts kicked.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
No, I would never.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I think that is part of the learning right now.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
This is a year that I don't think has ever
happened and won't ever happen again, quite frankly, because we
had these things leading up to it that added to
the stress component. So the house settlement with of revenue
share has the potential to be voted or signed into
law by the judge the day after the National Championship game.
(14:26):
So in order for you to be able to get
the money that you have raised out the door to
your players and retain your players, you had to have
signed contracts before that time. So nobody else other than
the teams in the final four we're having to deal
with this because they were done. But we are having
money contract conversations with families leading up to the game
(14:47):
that you're supposed to be most.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
This is with existing players.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yes, thirteen families, and talk about a recipe for disaster.
Here we are having these conversations about finances and money
already is the root of all evil, and comparison is
a thief of all joy, in my opinion, and we
are saying, bring it on, bring on all the crap
that you could be focused on before the game. And
(15:11):
then on top of that, I have since learned about
how the agents were involved in college basketball for the
first time ever, and really it's a broken system because
they're actually incentivized, and not all of them did this.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Some handled it exactly the right way.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Is that you only get paid if players transfer, so
and the transfer portal window is open.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I have literal.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Stories of a player on my team being called by
an agent, an on speaker phone, and that agent saying, okay,
I talked to this school.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
This is the week of the final four.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I talked to this school and they're offering this much
and I talked to this school, and so I am.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
How can you focus?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And on top of that, normally, when you go to
the final four for the first time, there's a level
of distraction that you're just not equipped to handle, and
if I'm being just very transparent with you that I'm
sitting on the sideline and I'm seeing this just crumble
in terms of us playing towards to our best, and
if I'm honest, I'm just feeling like a failure that.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
The buck does stop with me.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
What you said is exactly right that how could I
have walked us into this moment? Had every opportunity And
I thought Yukon was the best team at the end
of the year, there's no question about that. I felt
like they were playing the best basketball, but I think
we could have competed a lot better. That being said,
ultimately that is the buck does stop with me, And
(16:37):
so it was really hard. I'm walking up and down
and I'm trying to stay focused on thinking, what in
the heck has happened? This is not the team I've
been coaching, and so ultimately that's what I have to
live with and learn from and hopefully lead better this
coming year.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, it's interesting. I guess it's just time and experience.
It's not failures, it's lessons. I guess it's his time
and experience. It's not failures, it's lessons. And I think
(17:15):
you know, as you look at what you just described,
Who do you even turn to for advice, guidance, et
cetera in that moment because it simply has not existed.
You yourself said you have to minimize interference.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah, I didn't hurt well, but it's.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Interesting when the interference is in the uncontrollable. I'm just
curious your perspective when how can you keep the main thing,
the main thing, which is coaching a team to its
potential with all of this, and like, how are you
navigating it? Because I think very rarely we get to hear,
especially at your level. When I think about our listeners,
which are prominently the media, marketing, advertising industry, who's looking
to invest from an nil perspective, but might not have
(17:53):
an understanding of all of the nuances that you know,
compete or conflict with what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I'm even conflicted because, on the one hand, I absolutely
love that women are, especially women, are being able to
maximize and leverage their opportunities in this new space. I
love that I'm having financial conversations and that women are
not usually raised to think this way as entrepreneurial as
they are now, and I think that's wonderful. It should
(18:22):
have happened twenty years ago. But the problem is that
there was no boundaries. There was no strategic understanding of
what the unintended consequences were going to be if you
just said, Okay, go for it, you know, and then
that's really what's ended up happening. I love though, that
I'm able. It's a huge advantage for me being in
Los Angeles that I'm able to maximize the being in
(18:43):
the number one media market in any power for school,
and I'm able to have a group of influencers that
support our program, that are able to multiply the opportunities
that our women are able to have, which is incredible.
And so I'm not being sort of Nancy negative about NIL.
I think there is incredible things about it. That being said,
(19:06):
it's not the end all be all, and just what
we talked about earlier about what really matters and what
really lasts, and I think that what's happening now is
it's starting to erode some of those things that we
just talked about earlier about what's really special about college
athletics and the life lessons and the equipping and name
another training ground that's better for these life skills and
(19:29):
transferable skills we were talking about.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Name it maybe the military. I don't know. I don't
think there is a.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Better one, and so be careful because you erode that
and you miss out on the best training ground you
have for not only women but young people.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
And what are you.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Replacing it with and then play that scenario out. It's dangerous.
I'm trying to figure out how I can stay mission
minded and still be competitive at the highest levels, because
I do want to be competitive at the highest levels
and I want to have excellence in my craft. That
being said, it's just it's really hard to balance those
right now, and the volume is just really great. But
(20:09):
I you know, at the same time, I'm loving that
women are killing it in this space and advertisers are
starting to understand. This is the first year I think,
if I have this right, you correct me if I'm
wrong that not only that are advertisers and corporate spending
more in the social media space than on the linear
television space in terms of their advertising marketing dollars, but
(20:31):
they're also spending it more on women.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And how awesome is that? That's great?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I love that, and I want to foster that, and
I want to continue to work more and for women's
sports to continue to explode, we need that corporate involvement,
and we would We don't want it as a charity.
We want it because it's the right asset to invest in,
and so we want to continue to fuel that. I
just don't want to lose the character of what's the
character model of what's really being built in college sports.
(20:58):
And I think we're at a tenuous line that we
have to really be careful that we walk well.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
And one thing I do want to highlight coaches are
now asked to be brand builders, marketers, commercial dealers.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
On and on what you didn't get in this game
to do.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And this is no different by the way, from the
youth all the way up to the pro level, and
that we are adding to the responsibilities without really strategically
thinking about the skill sets that they warrant to properly produce.
And one of the challenges that I've seen I'll just
go to the pro level for a second, is yes,
it is an exciting time. Commercial money is flowing in
(21:35):
a way that we have never seen before, which is
what the space warrants and deserves. And also this investment
that is coming in needs to go towards creating an
infrastructure that can support the deal flow, because if you
can perform and win championships on the court, that's absolutely
going to impact the ability to market, sell, and build
the brand that is US women's basketball. This is the conundrum.
(22:00):
This is unique at all to UCI. In fact, I've
had conversations with other college coaches. I'll say, in the
top twenty five, how do I get brand money and
how do I get brand deals, etc. But is this
the right person to be having this skill set conversation with?
Speaker 4 (22:12):
I mean, let's take a look at that.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
In fairness and respect to all that you've done and
all that you've built, I think the pressures that this
has applied have not been fully thought through, particularly at
the collegiate level, and I think there needs to be
a re examination of where that ownership sits because it's
clearly detrimental in certain places, especially in a final four tournament.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Well, and I want to say thank you to you.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
A part of I think I'm probably more equipped than
most just because.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Some of the time I've spent with you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I remember I was sitting at my first conference in
New York with you, and what you were doing in
the summit, right But I sat and I literally had
tears in my eyes, and I recorded the whole thing
the entire day on my phone because I'd never heard
the enthusiasm, the knowledge, the equipping for women in sports
and veesment and what was needed. And so thank you
(23:03):
for the work that you've done and how you've taught me.
I agree with you completely that you can't have the
responsibility without the authority to grow the infrastructure and to
have the equipping to make it work in an intentional way.
And this is not what we're doing right now. One
thing I am sure of is it is not sustainable.
So we need to be able to and things happen
(23:24):
in life and business that you have to pivot and
understand a new landscape and sort of start over in
some ways and build a healthy infrastructure. But a healthy
infrastructure needs to be built.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
We are in this interesting phase where I'm sure we'll
look back ten twenty years from now and can't even
believe that the origins of it as it hopefully materializes
and professionalizes, I do think it's worth acknowledging because the
expectations are unrealistic.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Let's pivot to basketball.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
You have a top recruit coming in in Siena Bett's
younger sister to Lauren Betts. Kicky Rice is back, who
was another player I absolutely love. As you start think
thinking about the shaping coming off of that loss in
last season's tournament, what's the motivator, what's the preseason talk
right now?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Well, honestly, motivation is really easy for me right now
because there's a you know, you have to deal with
sometimes in life. Either you want the pain of discipline
or the pain of regret. And the reality is is
that we had some pain of regret that we had
to own up with and go, Okay, now what are
we going to do with this? And they have responded
(24:30):
as well as I could have dreamed about, and we
added really critical pieces. We had some players that left,
and I think that's the part of our new world now.
And I think I probably had too much talent last year,
young talent. I just couldn't There's no there was just
not enough minutes to go around.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
I learned a lot about that.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
From a leadership perspective. But we really strategically place some
new players in our roster and this is the most
I think complete and complimentary roster I've ever coached in
thirty two years, So I'm pretty excited, to say the least.
Adding also Gianna Neepkins, who's one of the very few
fifty forty ninety players.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
What's a fifty to forty ninety player, just for those
who don't know the inside talk.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Fifty percent from the floor from two, forty percent from three,
and ninety percent.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
From the free throw line. So she's very good. She's
very good, and so that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
And then on top of that, what people don't realize
is that Charlie Ledger Walker may arguably one of the
top three players in the PAC twelve won a PAC
twelve championship, was all pack twelve player, was sitting out
last year and now she's healthy and Kiki Rice was
not healthy last year. We get a healthy Kiki Rice
back this year. It's very exciting talent. Though, is only
(25:46):
your floor, Your character and your discipline will create our ceiling.
But we are pretty focused that if we can stay
healthy and we can focus on championship level habits, then
I think we'll have a chance to compete for a
championship on the floor.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
What are championship level habits? Because I love winning.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I do who doesn't love winning? I think it's just
seeing the order in which those come right. So it's
going to be doing the extra work. It's going to
be the intentionality of your improvement. It's going to be
the kind of sacrificial teammate you're willing to be. It's
the time management. What are you willing to sacrifice? That's
maybe the fluff in order to have the substance be
(26:24):
where it needs to be. It's the things that probably
everybody can rattle off, but do you have the commitment
to develop those? And that's going to be our challenge
is that you know, it's going to take a tremendous
amount of discipline and selflessness for this team to mold together,
to be stronger together than we could ever be individually,
because individually we're pretty good, but we'll be great and
(26:45):
excellent when we really have those complementary sacrificial pieces come together.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
You talk a lot about this idea of being uncommon.
Will that continue to be the bumper sticker for the
program moving forward? Or is there a new one for
the twenty five twenty six season.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Well, sometimes we have some subtitles.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I do think that in the end being uncommon sets
the framework that we're not going to do it like
everybody else.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
And I've also said a lot to our team. Look,
you guys, if you only want to do ball and
do me or.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Get a degree and try to, you know, get to
the pros, well, this is not the right program for you.
I'm gonna require you to selflessly serve in the community.
I'm going to require you to truly work on who
you are as a young woman off the court and
to be a better woman. And it takes more. I
will say, we do more than most programs, and sometimes
(27:38):
that can be annoying in the moment, especially when you're
eighteen to twenty two. Coach Wooden used to always tell
me said, don't judge it by how they feel about
it in the four years that they're with you. Judge
your effectiveness on the forty years after they leave. And
I just think that's so important in this But our mission,
I mean, I remember when I first got Shannon Lebuff
(27:59):
when she was working with me there. She's been with
me for the last fourteen years and she had just
coached in two final fours at Duke and she says,
your mission, Corey is harder, and it's harder as a
staff as well as as a player, she said, But
I wouldn't do it any other way, And that's really
what I'm looking for. I call it uncommon courageous women
willing to make uncommon, courageous choices and yielding an uncommon result,
(28:24):
which would be for US winning the first national championship
since nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
We can't ignore the commercial side.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
What do you believe you and your program, as well
as just women's college basketball in general, needs either monetarily
resource wise infrastructure pie in the sky corey thirty thousand
feet to just make your twenty five twenty six season
more productive so that you can focus on the basketball.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Without vision, people perish, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I think we need strategic vision, and then we need
an infrastructure that's reversed engineered from that. For me hiring
assistant GM position, it's taking more of those things off
of my plate so that my percentages and proportions are
being spent on the right things, My time assets are
being spent on the correct things. I think what you
(29:13):
talked about earlier is really the key. I actually think
it'll have a tremendous return on investment. If we're not winning,
it doesn't matter right as you referred to earlier. But
I also think that you want your in game experience
to be spectacular. You want your marketing to be strategic
and focused, not like they've done it in college athletics
for the last thirty years. You want it to What
(29:34):
is this landscape and women's athletics require from a marketing perspective.
I always say it's the trifecta, And I think you
really should be answering this question, not me, but you're
way more knowledgeable. But you know, are we increasing our
butts in the seats? Are we increasing our in game
experience in the professionalism of that that people even besides
(29:55):
the game are like, oh my gosh, that was so cool.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
And then are you.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Increasing the corporate involvement and corporate sponsorship, marketing dollars and
sports ambassadorships and influencer dollars? Are you increasing in those
three areas? And if you're growing in that that area,
you're not going to solve.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
It all at once.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
I'm probably not going to have the perfect infrastructure this year.
But if we can be twenty five percent fifty percent
better in those three areas, I think we're growing women's
sports in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Well, I did turn my TV on a time or
two this past season. I think every time you're on,
I like take a picture and send it to you,
Like you don't know you're your own sideline. But I
and I get so excited when I could catch a
game on the East Coast, and it's very clear the
butts and seats are growing. It's very clear the commercial
interest continues to grow. It's very clear the brand of
women's basketball is. I think now it's just a matter
(30:45):
of right sizing. You know, I talked about this like
we've recognized the value. Now we need to right size it.
And that's not just in financial means, it's in resource needs.
And so I am hopeful with people like yourself who
have played this game and have led this game for
a long time, you're not going to go down without
a fight. And making sure people understand the impact and
the implications of what's at stake here. I think we
(31:06):
have to remember at the end of the day, it
is a game, and we're developing people, not just points.
I'm so glad to know you and all that you
navigate and the adversity that has been thrown at you,
and I'm a big believer in UCLA at the top
this year.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Let's go nineteen seventy eight. I mean, come on, I know.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
The other really rewarding part is that a lot of
the women that were on that nineteen seventy eight team
are season ticket holders of ours now and they just
are so in our corner.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
You know, you can run your.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Mouth a lot, but you got to back it up
with performance and growth and doing things at a level
of excellence that back up what you say. And so
it isn't just about what we're going to do to
go to the top, it's what it's going to hopefully
provide and set a roadmap for other people.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
That's really important. But you're one of those ones set
in a roadmap.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
So I just really appreciate with the team sportmen, we're
all in it together, We're all that together. I'm just
appreciative of your time and expertise that you shared today
and your experience because I think, again, it's easy to
get overwhelmed by the excitement of the prospect of NIL
and all it's creating, but I think there is a
real need to understand the realities of what it's impacting.
So thank you for sharing that directly with us, and
(32:11):
I think you educate a lot of people who are
going to listen. Love being with you, and it's a
privilege always.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Thanks Coach Close.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I'm your host Laura Crenti, founder and CEO of Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz,
and this show is produced by Ryan Martz along with
Meredith Barnes. Court Side is an Iheartwomen's Sports production and
partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Listen on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Want more, follow, rate.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
And review court Side wherever you get your podcasts, and
stay in the game by following us on social media
at Iheartwomen's Sports, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter.
In the show notes, thanks for listening. We'll see you
next time. Court Side
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Look
I've also said a lot to our team.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Look, you guys, if you only want to do ball
and do me or get a degree and try to
get to the pros, well, this is not the right
program for you. I'm gonna require you to selplessly serve
in the community. I'm gonna require you to truly work
on who you are as a young woman off the
court and to be a better woman.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
And it takes more.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I will say, we do more than most programs, and
sometimes that can be annoying in the moment, especially when
you're eighteen to twenty two. Coach Wooden used to always
tell me said, don't judge it by how they feel
about it in the four years that they're with you.
Judge your effectiveness on the forty years after they leave.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Welcome back to courtside. I'm Laura Crenty. My guest today
is Coach Corey Close, one of my favorite in college basketball.
She's been the head of the UCLA women's program since
twenty eleven, and in that time she's become the winningest
women's coach in school history, leading the Bruins to nine
consecutive postseason Appearer arances. But her impact extends far past
the court, Coach Close is building a program that equips
(01:05):
her players for life beyond college, from navigating the new
NIL era to preparing athletes for long term success. She's
shaping the future of the game and the leaders who
will carry it forward. Let's get into it with Coach
Corey Close. I am here with one of my most
favorite coaches in the game, welcoming the head coach of
UCLA women's basketball, Coach Corey Close.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Welcome to courtside.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Man, it's great to be with you, so one of
my faves in the women's sports space. It's just awesome
to talk about all things women's sports.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I love that you are not new to this.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
You have been at this for quite some time and
have seen obviously the evolution, which we'll get into in
a second. But I'd love to start asking you a
very simple question, which is when did you fall in
love with the game?
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I think I fell in love with sports first, you know,
in terms of I just there was something that was
a connector that built habits. And my dad was a
teacher and a coach, and also on top of that,
I was the only girl in my neighborhood. And so
if you wanted to go play anything in the streets
after school or after church on Sundays. It was always kickball, football, basketball,
(02:11):
whatever in the streets, and if I wanted any friends,
I was gonna play.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
That.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Being said, I just think basketball was one of those
things that in my circle of influence, I had a
lot of people that were proficient in that way. But
it's interesting, I actually my first love is actually soccer.
I didn't know that, yes, and I really probably was
better at it than basketball. But I grew up in
a time where there were very few scholarships in soccer
(02:36):
and way more in basketball, and so if I wanted
to go to college and have it paid for, that
was actually the turning point.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
As I'd said, I love both.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I love soccer and I loved basketball, but one's gonna
get me through college without any debt.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
And so I started with that.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And then I became a coach at twenty three years old,
and it's all I've ever done.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
So yesterday, you started coaching yesterday. You know, it's so funny.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I don't know if I've ever showed to so soccer, basketball, softball,
growing up through sport athlete, same sort of experience in
that My street was filled with boys.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
It was a crazy block to grow up on.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Shout out to Clinton Avenue and we played everything from
Manhunt to stickball to I mean then we would set
up nets and hit everything from hockey pucks to soccer balls.
It was very much growing up in this environment, which
playing co ed rec all the way through eighth grade,
I think gave me a little bit of that competitive
edge that I don't know that you would have gotten
just playing with women specifically. So it is interesting to
(03:33):
see how those formidable days shape. Anyway, fast forward, you
become a coach, and I'm so curious to know. And
as much as the game has changed, I have to
imagine some of the principles have remained the same. You
talk a lot about John Wooden being a huge influence
how you coach your teams in terms of you coach
people's hearts is something I absolutely love that you say.
(03:54):
Can you talk about what defines the coach close basketball method?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Well, first of all, it's not mine anything I'm doing
very well.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I stole.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I don't know how to say it more cleanly that
it really is about the pursuit and the process over
the outcomes and the rewards and what people see on
the outside that I got a text from a parent
today that I shared with our staff. It was about
what they saw on the inside of their daughter coming out.
And I thought to myself, no one on the outside.
(04:24):
It's not gonna get us any awards. It's not gonna
get us anything. But it is, I said to our staff,
it is the true markers of our success is what
we bring out in our young women, or what we
help to bring out in our young women from the
inside out. Who they become and who they impact are
the only two things that will be with them for
the rest of their lives. You know, in the end,
(04:45):
banners are going to hang in gyms and rings.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Are gonna collect dust.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
But the reality of that is that we need to
invest from the inside out. And in my office, there
are two things that hang on the wall in my office,
and one is a broom and one is a show
and the broom and it's not a reminder to anyone
on the outside.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's a reminder to me.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
That a broom is to remind me to sweep the sheds.
Based off of the book of the All Blacks out
of New Zealand, the Rugby when they're executives and their
captains sweep the sheds. It's a reminder to me to
be the ultimate servant leader. And there's no job too small.
That is my job to serve. That is not a burden,
that is a privilege. And then the second thing is
(05:27):
a shovel. And my friend John Gordon, who's obviously written
tons of books, but he's said to me one time, Corey,
forget it. If you want to see the fruit of
your labor, learn to nurture the root. And the shovel
is on my wall to remind me to invest below
the surface, to plant the right seeds, to water the
(05:48):
right seeds, to cultivate the soil of the hearts of
our players, and to trust that over time, if done well,
that eventually the fruit will come, but it will be
a byproduct of the things done and below the surface.
So sort of a long answer to your short question.
But that's how I want things to be defined. And
I don't have it all together. I mess up a lot.
And the reason those things are up on my wall
(06:10):
is that I need to be reminded too. But that
is truly the desire of the style of leadership. I
want to have.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
It's amazing and I definitely want to come back to
the roots because I think the species of trees has
evolved over time as the world of women's sports and
basketball is evolving. But I want to go back to
the broom and very quite literally, you swept four major
Coach of the Year honors this past season. I want
to give you your flowers and what you've developed in
this program, which speaks I think so much to your
(06:37):
style of leadership, and a chance to just recognize you
for a minute, because I know you hardly take a
beat to do this. What do those awards mean to
you personally? And when you think about the journey from
UC Santa Barbara, where you were a four year starting
point guard all the way through to team captain, you
finish your career on the court as the programs all
time leader and assists. I mean I could go on
three point shooting percentage of all time all the way
(07:00):
through now to sweeping these awards last season. When you
think about the journey, what are those honors really have
you reflect on?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well, I think two things. One I would have predicted
and one I wouldn't have. One I would have predicted
is that the best part of sweeping those awards was
the opportunity to thank the people that helped me get
there on those stages, to be able to turn to
the incredible people in my village that poured into me,
(07:29):
believed in me when I didn't even believe in myself.
So that was what I was most excited about, was
that opportunity. The second thing that really hit me that
I didn't predict was it was going to remind me
how shallow it is, because it was really fun for
about two hours, and I don't know if I've dreamed
about it, but I definitely watched it happen over all
(07:51):
these years and people that I really respect get these
Coach of the Year honors and be at a final
four and all of those things, and imagining myself maybe
one day having the opportunity to be in those shoes,
and then when it happens, you realize, oh, you know what,
outcomes and awards they just are really shallow and won't
(08:11):
mean that much. And the things that meant the most
is the former players that text me and used it
as their opportunity to thank us for pouring into their lives.
But obviously I'm humbled and honored and thankful, but it
really didn't last long, and it really reminded me that
it didn't mean that much from a depth perspective.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Totally a moment in time, and then back to work
and speaking back to work and thinking about your shovel
and the roots. You have been a part of this
program since twenty eleven, which is a long tenure from
a coaching perspective, certainly from a leadership perspective.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
The transferable skills.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
When you think about some of those athletes who are
reaching back out today and those that you're developing for tomorrow,
many of them, as we know, will not go on
to play professionally, how do you think about their time
at UCLA forever, long or short. You talked about coaching heart,
You talked about developing the person from the inside out.
What are the things you see today that are most
critical in that development? That goes beyond how well you
(09:09):
can handle a ball.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
It starts for me on the mental side of the game,
and then it goes to how I call it strengthening
your response time, how you know how you handle adversity,
how you respond to the difficulties of life. Because we
know that it's not a matter of if, but when
and how that this adversity is going to.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Come at them.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Now, been doing this long enough, and I'm really been
committed to the mental conditioning side of the game.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I would say that that is what I hear back other.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Than the more traditional things like communication, time management, hard work.
That is the thing I hear the most about from
former players, whether they're professionals in their sport or their
professionals in some other area of life, that that is
the transferable skill they go back to the most and
least consciously. And what I mean by the mental condition side,
(10:00):
it's a lot of levels. It's it's self awareness to go, Okay,
I'm not at my best right now, what's getting in
the way, How do I respond to this? And then
having the tools to do so. I also think it's,
you know, mastering the art of talking to yourself rather
than listening to yourself. If you do nothing, eighty percent
of your thoughts are going to be negative eighty percent.
(10:21):
So think about doing nothing and just going through your
day and going through default mode and having to deal
with the ramifications of just letting eighty percent of your
negative thoughts rule in your head. And if you don't
have the tools to interrupt that, that's where you end up.
And so we spend a lot of time building the
self image or responding to the adversity, learning how to
recognize when those negative loops are just being destructive and
(10:44):
giving them the tools to interrupt that and turn those
things around. And so I'm really passionate about just that
mental side, how you see yourself. We always say to
our players, you're never going to outperform your self image,
and so how do you expand that? And that performance
equals potential interferences. You don't have to focus on playing
perfectly or performing perfectly. You really need to focus on
(11:06):
minimizing the interferences and getting to neutral and understanding like
how do you make the next right step. So I'm
really as you can probably tell, I'm very passionate, especially
for women, because women usually think they're not as good
as they are. Usually guys think they're better than they are,
And so understanding how can we teach them to understand
(11:27):
the depth of their worth, the abilities that they have,
the multi dimensional ways they can impact the world, let
alone a team. And it's just such a joy to
watch those light bulbs go on and understanding. I stopped
a workout yesterday with one of our freshmen and I said,
what are you thinking about right now? And she knew
what I was getting at, and she goes that this
(11:47):
is good for me, and she just lied, this is
good for me. I know that the best is when
I push through this adversity. Great things are going to come,
and the edge is when the good stuff happens.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I go, Okay, quit lyon.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
What are your I think?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
He said, why do I keep messing up?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
You know? Man?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Can I really do this? Is this just going to
be too hard?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And then having a chance to meet her in that
moment and go, okay, how can you draw on what
we've been talking about and how can you strengthen your response?
And to watch her make such a great turn. I
just think there's no coincidence that over seventy percent of
C suite women played high school sport and fifty four
percent of women who hold SEA suite positions played college athletics.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And I just think it's such an impactful thing.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You know, It's so funny.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I've been working on a project that has me reflecting
back to my time playing soccer in college. I wish
I would have had you as a coach then, because
as I had gone through an injury between my freshmen
to sophomore year, which found me in a very unfamiliar
position after playing the game for eighteen years, which was
on the bench, and what that will do to somebody
mentally when you're not getting the feedback when those negative
(12:59):
thoughts you hole, I walked away from the game probably
two years prematurely because they didn't have the tools, resources,
or the language to understand what I was navigating and
didn't know how to ask the questions for the feedback.
Talking about being in the mental ringer, you went on
a hell of a run last basketball season, found yourself
in Tampa at the Final four, the furthest the team
(13:19):
has gone since you took over. Yep, and you're the
most winning at coach. This is a big feat. And
I remember going to your semifinal matchup and having gotten
to know you prior to that match. You wear it
on your sleeve and I could see it up and
down the sideline of being in that pressure cooker situation
inasmuch as you are there to guide, mentor and drive
(13:41):
the team, what's going on in your head as the
coach as the leader, because I think so many executives
have been in that position. You lead your team and
you're where the buck stops. Yeah, as you reflect back,
like what was going on in your head in that moment,
and how do you navigate what goes on into the
locker room and post.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Well, yeah, and you really nicely didn't say that we
got our butts kicked.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
No, I would never.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I think that is part of the learning right now.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
This is a year that I don't think has ever
happened and won't ever happen again, quite frankly, because we
had these things leading up to it that added to
the stress component. So the house settlement with of revenue
share has the potential to be voted or signed into
law by the judge the day after the National Championship game.
(14:26):
So in order for you to be able to get
the money that you have raised out the door to
your players and retain your players, you had to have
signed contracts before that time. So nobody else other than
the teams in the final four we're having to deal
with this because they were done. But we are having
money contract conversations with families leading up to the game
(14:47):
that you're supposed to be most.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
This is with existing players.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yes, thirteen families, and talk about a recipe for disaster.
Here we are having these conversations about finances and money
already is the root of all evil, and comparison is
a thief of all joy, in my opinion, and we
are saying, bring it on, bring on all the crap
that you could be focused on before the game. And
(15:11):
then on top of that, I have since learned about
how the agents were involved in college basketball for the
first time ever, and really it's a broken system because
they're actually incentivized, and not all of them did this.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Some handled it exactly the right way.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Is that you only get paid if players transfer, so
and the transfer portal window is open.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I have literal.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Stories of a player on my team being called by
an agent, an on speaker phone, and that agent saying, okay,
I talked to this school.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
This is the week of the final four.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I talked to this school and they're offering this much
and I talked to this school, and so I am.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
How can you focus?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And on top of that, normally, when you go to
the final four for the first time, there's a level
of distraction that you're just not equipped to handle, and
if I'm being just very transparent with you that I'm
sitting on the sideline and I'm seeing this just crumble
in terms of us playing towards to our best, and
if I'm honest, I'm just feeling like a failure that.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
The buck does stop with me.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
What you said is exactly right that how could I
have walked us into this moment? Had every opportunity And
I thought Yukon was the best team at the end
of the year, there's no question about that. I felt
like they were playing the best basketball, but I think
we could have competed a lot better. That being said,
ultimately that is the buck does stop with me, And
(16:37):
so it was really hard. I'm walking up and down
and I'm trying to stay focused on thinking, what in
the heck has happened? This is not the team I've
been coaching, and so ultimately that's what I have to
live with and learn from and hopefully lead better this
coming year.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, it's interesting. I guess it's just time and experience.
It's not failures, it's lessons. I guess it's his time
and experience. It's not failures, it's lessons. And I think
(17:15):
you know, as you look at what you just described,
Who do you even turn to for advice, guidance, et
cetera in that moment because it simply has not existed.
You yourself said you have to minimize interference.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah, I didn't hurt well, but it's.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Interesting when the interference is in the uncontrollable. I'm just
curious your perspective when how can you keep the main thing,
the main thing, which is coaching a team to its
potential with all of this, and like, how are you
navigating it? Because I think very rarely we get to hear,
especially at your level. When I think about our listeners,
which are prominently the media, marketing, advertising industry, who's looking
to invest from an nil perspective, but might not have
(17:53):
an understanding of all of the nuances that you know,
compete or conflict with what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I'm even conflicted because, on the one hand, I absolutely
love that women are, especially women, are being able to
maximize and leverage their opportunities in this new space. I
love that I'm having financial conversations and that women are
not usually raised to think this way as entrepreneurial as
they are now, and I think that's wonderful. It should
(18:22):
have happened twenty years ago. But the problem is that
there was no boundaries. There was no strategic understanding of
what the unintended consequences were going to be if you
just said, Okay, go for it, you know, and then
that's really what's ended up happening. I love though, that
I'm able. It's a huge advantage for me being in
Los Angeles that I'm able to maximize the being in
(18:43):
the number one media market in any power for school,
and I'm able to have a group of influencers that
support our program, that are able to multiply the opportunities
that our women are able to have, which is incredible.
And so I'm not being sort of Nancy negative about NIL.
I think there is incredible things about it. That being said,
(19:06):
it's not the end all be all, and just what
we talked about earlier about what really matters and what
really lasts, and I think that what's happening now is
it's starting to erode some of those things that we
just talked about earlier about what's really special about college
athletics and the life lessons and the equipping and name
another training ground that's better for these life skills and
(19:29):
transferable skills we were talking about.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Name it maybe the military. I don't know. I don't
think there is a.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Better one, and so be careful because you erode that
and you miss out on the best training ground you
have for not only women but young people.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
And what are you.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Replacing it with and then play that scenario out. It's dangerous.
I'm trying to figure out how I can stay mission
minded and still be competitive at the highest levels, because
I do want to be competitive at the highest levels
and I want to have excellence in my craft. That
being said, it's just it's really hard to balance those
right now, and the volume is just really great. But
(20:09):
I you know, at the same time, I'm loving that
women are killing it in this space and advertisers are
starting to understand. This is the first year I think,
if I have this right, you correct me if I'm
wrong that not only that are advertisers and corporate spending
more in the social media space than on the linear
television space in terms of their advertising marketing dollars, but
(20:31):
they're also spending it more on women.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And how awesome is that? That's great?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I love that, and I want to foster that, and
I want to continue to work more and for women's
sports to continue to explode, we need that corporate involvement,
and we would We don't want it as a charity.
We want it because it's the right asset to invest in,
and so we want to continue to fuel that. I
just don't want to lose the character of what's the
character model of what's really being built in college sports.
(20:58):
And I think we're at a tenuous line that we
have to really be careful that we walk well.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
And one thing I do want to highlight coaches are
now asked to be brand builders, marketers, commercial dealers.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
On and on what you didn't get in this game
to do.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And this is no different by the way, from the
youth all the way up to the pro level, and
that we are adding to the responsibilities without really strategically
thinking about the skill sets that they warrant to properly produce.
And one of the challenges that I've seen I'll just
go to the pro level for a second, is yes,
it is an exciting time. Commercial money is flowing in
(21:35):
a way that we have never seen before, which is
what the space warrants and deserves. And also this investment
that is coming in needs to go towards creating an
infrastructure that can support the deal flow, because if you
can perform and win championships on the court, that's absolutely
going to impact the ability to market, sell, and build
the brand that is US women's basketball. This is the conundrum.
(22:00):
This is unique at all to UCI. In fact, I've
had conversations with other college coaches. I'll say, in the
top twenty five, how do I get brand money and
how do I get brand deals, etc. But is this
the right person to be having this skill set conversation with?
Speaker 4 (22:12):
I mean, let's take a look at that.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
In fairness and respect to all that you've done and
all that you've built, I think the pressures that this
has applied have not been fully thought through, particularly at
the collegiate level, and I think there needs to be
a re examination of where that ownership sits because it's
clearly detrimental in certain places, especially in a final four tournament.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Well, and I want to say thank you to you.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
A part of I think I'm probably more equipped than
most just because.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Some of the time I've spent with you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I remember I was sitting at my first conference in
New York with you, and what you were doing in
the summit, right But I sat and I literally had
tears in my eyes, and I recorded the whole thing
the entire day on my phone because I'd never heard
the enthusiasm, the knowledge, the equipping for women in sports
and veesment and what was needed. And so thank you
(23:03):
for the work that you've done and how you've taught me.
I agree with you completely that you can't have the
responsibility without the authority to grow the infrastructure and to
have the equipping to make it work in an intentional way.
And this is not what we're doing right now. One
thing I am sure of is it is not sustainable.
So we need to be able to and things happen
(23:24):
in life and business that you have to pivot and
understand a new landscape and sort of start over in
some ways and build a healthy infrastructure. But a healthy
infrastructure needs to be built.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
We are in this interesting phase where I'm sure we'll
look back ten twenty years from now and can't even
believe that the origins of it as it hopefully materializes
and professionalizes, I do think it's worth acknowledging because the
expectations are unrealistic.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Let's pivot to basketball.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
You have a top recruit coming in in Siena Bett's
younger sister to Lauren Betts. Kicky Rice is back, who
was another player I absolutely love. As you start think
thinking about the shaping coming off of that loss in
last season's tournament, what's the motivator, what's the preseason talk
right now?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Well, honestly, motivation is really easy for me right now
because there's a you know, you have to deal with
sometimes in life. Either you want the pain of discipline
or the pain of regret. And the reality is is
that we had some pain of regret that we had
to own up with and go, Okay, now what are
we going to do with this? And they have responded
(24:30):
as well as I could have dreamed about, and we
added really critical pieces. We had some players that left,
and I think that's the part of our new world now.
And I think I probably had too much talent last year,
young talent. I just couldn't There's no there was just
not enough minutes to go around.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
I learned a lot about that.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
From a leadership perspective. But we really strategically place some
new players in our roster and this is the most
I think complete and complimentary roster I've ever coached in
thirty two years, So I'm pretty excited, to say the least.
Adding also Gianna Neepkins, who's one of the very few
fifty forty ninety players.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
What's a fifty to forty ninety player, just for those
who don't know the inside talk.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Fifty percent from the floor from two, forty percent from three,
and ninety percent.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
From the free throw line. So she's very good. She's
very good, and so that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
And then on top of that, what people don't realize
is that Charlie Ledger Walker may arguably one of the
top three players in the PAC twelve won a PAC
twelve championship, was all pack twelve player, was sitting out
last year and now she's healthy and Kiki Rice was
not healthy last year. We get a healthy Kiki Rice
back this year. It's very exciting talent. Though, is only
(25:46):
your floor, Your character and your discipline will create our ceiling.
But we are pretty focused that if we can stay
healthy and we can focus on championship level habits, then
I think we'll have a chance to compete for a
championship on the floor.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
What are championship level habits? Because I love winning.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I do who doesn't love winning? I think it's just
seeing the order in which those come right. So it's
going to be doing the extra work. It's going to
be the intentionality of your improvement. It's going to be
the kind of sacrificial teammate you're willing to be. It's
the time management. What are you willing to sacrifice? That's
maybe the fluff in order to have the substance be
(26:24):
where it needs to be. It's the things that probably
everybody can rattle off, but do you have the commitment
to develop those? And that's going to be our challenge
is that you know, it's going to take a tremendous
amount of discipline and selflessness for this team to mold together,
to be stronger together than we could ever be individually,
because individually we're pretty good, but we'll be great and
(26:45):
excellent when we really have those complementary sacrificial pieces come together.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
You talk a lot about this idea of being uncommon.
Will that continue to be the bumper sticker for the
program moving forward? Or is there a new one for
the twenty five twenty six season.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Well, sometimes we have some subtitles.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I do think that in the end being uncommon sets
the framework that we're not going to do it like
everybody else.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
And I've also said a lot to our team. Look,
you guys, if you only want to do ball and
do me or.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Get a degree and try to, you know, get to
the pros, well, this is not the right program for you.
I'm gonna require you to selflessly serve in the community.
I'm going to require you to truly work on who
you are as a young woman off the court and
to be a better woman. And it takes more. I
will say, we do more than most programs, and sometimes
(27:38):
that can be annoying in the moment, especially when you're
eighteen to twenty two. Coach Wooden used to always tell
me said, don't judge it by how they feel about
it in the four years that they're with you. Judge
your effectiveness on the forty years after they leave. And
I just think that's so important in this But our mission,
I mean, I remember when I first got Shannon Lebuff
(27:59):
when she was working with me there. She's been with
me for the last fourteen years and she had just
coached in two final fours at Duke and she says,
your mission, Corey is harder, and it's harder as a
staff as well as as a player, she said, But
I wouldn't do it any other way, And that's really
what I'm looking for. I call it uncommon courageous women
willing to make uncommon, courageous choices and yielding an uncommon result,
(28:24):
which would be for US winning the first national championship
since nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
We can't ignore the commercial side.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
What do you believe you and your program, as well
as just women's college basketball in general, needs either monetarily
resource wise infrastructure pie in the sky corey thirty thousand
feet to just make your twenty five twenty six season
more productive so that you can focus on the basketball.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Without vision, people perish, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I think we need strategic vision, and then we need
an infrastructure that's reversed engineered from that. For me hiring
assistant GM position, it's taking more of those things off
of my plate so that my percentages and proportions are
being spent on the right things, My time assets are
being spent on the correct things. I think what you
(29:13):
talked about earlier is really the key. I actually think
it'll have a tremendous return on investment. If we're not winning,
it doesn't matter right as you referred to earlier. But
I also think that you want your in game experience
to be spectacular. You want your marketing to be strategic
and focused, not like they've done it in college athletics
for the last thirty years. You want it to What
(29:34):
is this landscape and women's athletics require from a marketing perspective.
I always say it's the trifecta, And I think you
really should be answering this question, not me, but you're
way more knowledgeable. But you know, are we increasing our
butts in the seats? Are we increasing our in game
experience in the professionalism of that that people even besides
(29:55):
the game are like, oh my gosh, that was so cool.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
And then are you.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Increasing the corporate involvement and corporate sponsorship, marketing dollars and
sports ambassadorships and influencer dollars? Are you increasing in those
three areas? And if you're growing in that that area,
you're not going to solve.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
It all at once.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
I'm probably not going to have the perfect infrastructure this year.
But if we can be twenty five percent fifty percent
better in those three areas, I think we're growing women's
sports in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Well, I did turn my TV on a time or
two this past season. I think every time you're on,
I like take a picture and send it to you,
Like you don't know you're your own sideline. But I
and I get so excited when I could catch a
game on the East Coast, and it's very clear the
butts and seats are growing. It's very clear the commercial
interest continues to grow. It's very clear the brand of
women's basketball is. I think now it's just a matter
(30:45):
of right sizing. You know, I talked about this like
we've recognized the value. Now we need to right size it.
And that's not just in financial means, it's in resource needs.
And so I am hopeful with people like yourself who
have played this game and have led this game for
a long time, you're not going to go down without
a fight. And making sure people understand the impact and
the implications of what's at stake here. I think we
(31:06):
have to remember at the end of the day, it
is a game, and we're developing people, not just points.
I'm so glad to know you and all that you
navigate and the adversity that has been thrown at you,
and I'm a big believer in UCLA at the top
this year.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Let's go nineteen seventy eight. I mean, come on, I know.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
The other really rewarding part is that a lot of
the women that were on that nineteen seventy eight team
are season ticket holders of ours now and they just
are so in our corner.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
You know, you can run your.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Mouth a lot, but you got to back it up
with performance and growth and doing things at a level
of excellence that back up what you say. And so
it isn't just about what we're going to do to
go to the top, it's what it's going to hopefully
provide and set a roadmap for other people.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
That's really important. But you're one of those ones set
in a roadmap.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
So I just really appreciate with the team sportmen, we're
all in it together, We're all that together. I'm just
appreciative of your time and expertise that you shared today
and your experience because I think, again, it's easy to
get overwhelmed by the excitement of the prospect of NIL
and all it's creating, but I think there is a
real need to understand the realities of what it's impacting.
So thank you for sharing that directly with us, and
(32:11):
I think you educate a lot of people who are
going to listen. Love being with you, and it's a
privilege always.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Thanks Coach Close.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I'm your host Laura Crenti, founder and CEO of Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz,
and this show is produced by Ryan Martz along with
Meredith Barnes. Court Side is an Iheartwomen's Sports production and
partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Listen on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Want more, follow, rate.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
And review court Side wherever you get your podcasts, and
stay in the game by following us on social media
at Iheartwomen's Sports, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter.
In the show notes, thanks for listening. We'll see you
next time. Court Side
Speaker 4 (33:00):
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