Caitlin Clark’s fame and success at Iowa inspire USC coach Gottlieb in shaping JuJu Watkins' future
After changing the landscape of women's basketball for good, Caitlin Clark's college legacy will help shape players like JuJu Watkins on the Division I level. Watkins was the best freshman in the nation last year and broke the all-time scoring total by a first-year player (920 points). With the same momentum in her sophomore year, she could soon be the face of women's college basketball.
However, it's a tough challenge for USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb in terms of managing star power, fan/media expectations and helping Watkins navigate her rise.
With questions around the same, Gottlieb reached out to Caitlin Clark, who experienced all the fame and success college basketball could offer her during her time at Iowa.
"We do have this blueprint in front of us and we have reached out to Iowa," Gottlieb told Sirius XM on Thursday. "My administration has reached out to ‘what you do about security? What did you do about autographs? What did you do on a game day?.’"
"And we saw Caitlin at the Wooden Awards, and I said, hey, when Juju was standing here, Caitlin was right here. I said, ‘Hey, you know, what advice can you give me?’ And she was great. She said, ‘I’ve had this attention for like, a year and a half. Juju is gonna have it for three years. Let me help, however I can."
Clark not only agreed to help Gottlieb but offered her contact details. Nevertheless, Gottlieb waited nearly eight months before reaching out to her, giving her space to go through her rookie WNBA season with the Indiana Fever.
Lindsay Gottlieb saw JuJu Watkins' potential to be a star while recruiting her
JuJu Watkins has singlehandedly changed the USC Trojans' women's basketball program, and coach Lindsay Gottlieb saw it coming. So, when the top recruit in the nation was reclining in the coach's backyard during her program visit, Gottlieb spoke to Watkins about her potential.
“I would say that the story goes kind of like this—when Juju was sitting my in my backyard on her recruiting visit, I was very intentional about sitting and asking her and saying, 'I’ve never been the number one player in the country at anything you know, let alone basketball',” Gottlieb said in the same interview.
Gottlieb's intention was to cultivate an honest and open nature of communication with Watkins, which would enable her to help the guard navigate her college stardom.