Assistant coach Lindsay Gottlieb is leaving the Cavaliers to become the head women’s coach at USC, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Gottlieb agreed to a six-year contract after an “aggressive” pursuit by USC to bring her back to the Pac-12 conference. Before joining the Cavs in 2109, Gottlieb was the head coach at California, another Pac-12 program.
In just her second season (2012-13), she led the Golden Bears to the first Final Four in school history. Gottlieb, 43, also has a successful run at UC Santa Barbara before that.
“Gottlieb leaves the NBA after an aggressive USC pursuit to bring her back to the Pac-12 conference, including a massive upgrade in program salaries and resources with hopes of restoring USC to the elite of women’s college basketball,” Wojnarowski wrote.
She initially joined the Cavs under then-coach John Beilein, becoming the first former women’s college head coach to join an NBA team as an assistant. She remained after J.B. Bickerstaff was hired to replace Beilein.
