The Cleveland Cavaliers have hired Cal women’s coach Lindsey Gottlieb to join John Beilein’s staff.
Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news Wednesday, and pointed out the fact Gottlieb is the first woman to ever get pulled from the ranks of college coaching to join the NBA.
In a landmark appointment for the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers are hiring University of California-Berkeley women’s head coach Lindsay Gottlieb to be an assistant coach on John Beilein’s staff, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 12, 2019
Gottlieb – a Final Four and seven-time NCAA Tournament head coach for Cal – is the first women’s collegiate head coach recruited to an NBA coaching staff. https://t.co/Rto5l8mshx
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 12, 2019
I know people generally will be on both ends of the extreme here. They’ll either applaud like this is incredible or they’ll claim this is insanely stupid. (RELATED: Cleveland Cavaliers Hire Michigan Basketball Coach John Beilein)
Luckily, I have the ability to look at things from a rational standpoint. If she can keep up with everybody else, then she deserves to hang around.
If not, then she should promptly be shown the exit. There’s no space in sports for people who can’t cut it, and I don’t care what their gender is.
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She’s clearly had a lot of success at the college level, but she’s about to be dealing with a very different beast. I’ll be as blunt as I can be here. Nobody cares about women’s basketball. They just don’t. Nobody is going wild over the results.
People do care about men’s basketball, and they care a lot. The margins for error are razor thin. She’s about to be under pressure that will make what she experienced in college look like a picnic, and it could be taken in a heartbeat if things go south.
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I can’t wait to see what she does with the Cavaliers. Again, there will be people on both sides screaming to back up their feelings and facts won’t matter to them.
Let the results unfold, and we’ll find out just how much Gottlieb deserves to hang around at the highest level of basketball.