On Wednesday, the Cleveland Cavaliers hired Cal women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb as an assistant coach on John Beilein’s staff. Gottlieb expressed sadness about leaving Cal, but excitement for this new chapter in front of her in Cleveland. She hopes to make a lasting impact on women’s basketball and help pave the way for future women who aspire to have careers in whatever field they want to pursue. Below is a full transcription of Gottlieb’s teleconference with the media following the announcement.
Q: Hey Lindsay, just wanted to know the timeline of all this. When did Beilein reach out to you, when did you accept the job? What’s the timeline for when and how this all happened?
LG: “Sometime back, a friend of mine in the NBA said ‘Do you know Koby Altman? He’s awesome. The GM of the Cavs. He’s young and progressive and really smart and you guys would be great friends.’ And I was like, okay, cool. And then he had reached out to me then sometime thereafter and said I would really like to connect with you at some point and I said, ‘Sure, that would be great.’ As you all know, there’s conversations in the NBA starting about how to get women involved, young women. Where’s the NBA going? I’ve had some kind of high level philosophical discussions with a number of people and so when he asked to reach out, I thought that’s what it would be about. And instead, he looked at me and he said ‘As you know, we just hired Coach Beilein, we need and want to build this thing in Cleveland through culture and player development and being innovative and we want to put the best staff around him and we want you to be a part of that. I was shocked. That’s not what I was expecting the conversation to be. He said if you’re interested in talking further about it let me know.
“So, I took a day or two and anytime in college when I’ve gotten a call from another university I’ve said ‘Thanks, I really appreciate it, but no thanks.’ Because it doesn’t matter to me what someone else’s campus looks like. I’m all in on Cal. But this one I couldn’t get out of my head, and so I said I would like to explore a little further, so then I had some conversations with Coach Beilein, I ended up going out to Cleveland and meeting everyone and really getting a sense for what Coach Beilein is about and Koby Altman and J.B. Bickerstaff and it all happened quickly, but it at the same time it was for me making sure that it wasn’t just the NBA, but absolutely the right organization and the right people and the right opportunity. Then, once I got all that information it was obviously incredibly hard to make the decision to leave the place that I love and that is part of me. But ultimately, I felt like this opportunity was something for me and hopefully for women going forward that would be transformative, and I felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Q: What are your emotions as you leave Cal and start a new chapter in Cleveland?
LG: “Yeah, that can’t be tied up in a neat bow! Today has been really emotional. Obviously, as you know me really well Rusty [Simmons], I am fully connected on so many levels with these young women and this program and our staff and this place. So, having to tell them that I’m not going to be in their day-to-day life in the exact same way is really hard and at the same time I think the excitement of for what’s to come not just for me, hopefully, but also for the Cavs organization and down the road the impact on women and the league, is something that even the sad emotions about leaving I think are ultimately going to be positive. I think these young women in the locker room, I believe that this is going to have an impact on them in a positive way. So, even the sad emotions I think are going to be eventually mixed in to all excitement. If I get overwhelmed today with the outpouring of support and my head is spinning a little bit, it’s a big transition and a big move, but I’m just mainly really really grateful for this opportunity. The people around me that have allowed it to happen.”
Q: So it sounds like Koby reached out to you and he initiated it. That he wanted to bring you on staff. Is that correct?
LG: “He was the first person yep, that made contact and then I had some great conversation with Coach Beilein and then I spent a bunch of time when I went out there with the whole staff.”
Q: And when did Koby reach out?
LG: “He had originally reached out like I said more in like a [inaudible] type of way. He [said] we should connect some time. I’ve heard great things about you. One of those type of things, but it wasn’t until, we didn’t have the first face-to-face conversation until they were out in Chicago for pre-draft workouts and I was in Chicago speaking at the Junior NBA Conference and the text message of hey, we should catch up sometime became a face-to-face meeting and that was the first time that he put forth this concept of wanting me to be a part of their organization.”
Q: So you were in Chicago and Koby texted and you guys got together face-to-face? In that first meeting was it just you and Koby or was John [Beilein] there as well?
LG: “It was just me and Koby the first meeting.”
Q: Has this always been a dream of yours? When did you first realize you wanted to coach in the NBA and when did you first realize it could actually happen?
LG: “So, thankfully to my parents who are actually no longer with us, I believed when I was a kid anything was a reality. There was a time when I was six years old, when I wanted to be the short stop for the New York Yankees or a Senator. Like, I came from a family where really anything was possible and it’s funny, today when this news broke, I spoke to my cousin. My older cousin and she says: ‘I remember when you were like twelve and you made us watch the draft lottery. Like, not the draft. But the lottery and I was like why do you need to, Lindsay, why do you want to watch where the ping pong balls fall?’ and she said that I said because I want to do that one day. I want to be a GM. I don’t even remember that, but she said ‘you said it as if a kid says I want to be a fireman and you said it! Like that’s what I want to be.’
“And so, I do think I’ve always loved the NBA, I’ve always had a dream to be in the NBA, obviously times have changed rapidly here thanks to Adam Silver’s vision and Becky Hammon knocking down doors and I have a few people closest in the NBA who have said you could do this. You could be in the NBA. So, that has always been a dream. Like I said, I haven’t had much interest in other jobs besides my own, the one that I have, but I’ve always had this kind of notion that yeah, someday I’d like to be in the NBA for sure. I will say though that this particular situation, I am so, I am intentional about things. I am so, the number of questions I asked and conversations I’ve had, first asking about Coach Beilein. Even this week, right before this kinda happened I called them back, had a really great conversation and said Koby was really clear with the vision. This isn’t about checking a box. This is about even within a, I think a revolutionary league of pushing kind of more equality, the Cavs put forth something that I haven’t heard anyone else thinking about doing. Wanting a sitting college head coach to add value to their staff.
“As I said to Coach Beilein, I want to make sure, we connected really well, we had known each other a little bit from the past, but we really connected when I met him and I said I want to make sure this is what you want and the organization made it really clear they’re on board. All of this is saying it had to be the right fit and the mission, vision, and values of the Cavs and what they’re trying to do really appealed to me. Getting in on the ground floor as Coach Beilein, who is a basketball genius, puts in his stuff, is really appealing. The idea that in Cleveland, the notion is to win by building culture and developing players and growing together as a unit, all of those things really spoke to me. And just an incredibly forward thinking way of saying for us to be as good as we can be, we need different thought processes and they really I think value what I’m going to be able to bring to the table.”
Q: What does this move mean to you personally and what do you think you bring to the Cavs?
LG: “For me, not to sound too cliché or anything, but if your dreams don’t scare you, then they probably are not crazy enough. I think the easier thing to do was to stay here. I love it here. I’ve had a vision and a plan for this program over the next however long. Seven years. And so, when this came about through very suddenly, change is hard, doing something different is hard, I think my husband has never lived outside of California except for business school. So, for me personally, it’s just an amazing I think process of going through…how willing are you to get out of your comfort zone to do something that might have a lasting impact? When I originally came to Cal as an assistant, with Joanne Boyle, we were at Richmond, I remember thinking when she got the job here ‘Can I do this? Can I move to California? Can I coach McDonald’s All-Americans? Will they listen to me?’ And it was scary, and it turned out to be the singular most important thing in my life. I met my husband out here. I built my career out here. I have lasting relationships, so similarly, there’s part of me that’s like ‘Is this crazy? Can I do this? Can I be good at it?’ And ultimately, I’m like ‘I’m leaving.’ I just have to be courageous enough to do it.
“Big picture wise, I am most excited about getting to Cleveland on Monday and talking about the draft and putting an offense in for summer league. I’m excited about being an assistant coach and learning and adding value. But big picture, I think we’d be missing a piece of it if it wasn’t about saying that my ability to maybe impact a million girls, not just the ones in my program right now, that is appealing. Where someone has to leave a head coaching job in college, in women, and go do this so that eventually some great women’s coach is going to get offered a head job in the NBA if they’re the right person, somewhere down the road. So that piece of it I do take ownership of, that I hope that the impact, girls seeing me in this role will empower them to do whatever it is that they might need the courage to do. Whether that’s being in the NBA or run for president or whatever it might be.”
Q: What impact did Steve Kerr have on this process?
LG: “I believe that Steve Kerr being the person that he is and opening the door and welcoming me to practice over these couple years…you don’t know that you’d be comfortable around something until you’re around it. So, his willingness to make me feel welcome at camps, practice, his willingness to ask me about our team when I’m at practice. Not everyone is Steve Kerr, but this idea that the NBA became accessible to me in that way I think is really significant. I think Steve Kerr being as amazing as a human being and an ambassador for the league, all of us feel like this is a league that is really welcoming to this kind of growing movement of change. But I did not bug him during his NBA Finals and call him and say hey what do you think of this? I felt like that would not have been the right thing to do, but he did text me today and had some really nice things to say.”
Q: The Pac-12 was way different when you first got to the league. Can you reflect on how much it has improved, your part in that, and how it has prepared you for your new job?
LG: “Yeah, I am so proud of what Pac-12 women’s basketball is right now. You’re absolutely right. When I got here as an assistant and then obviously taking over early as a head coach, it was a different league. There was I think my first year we finished second in the league and maybe got an eight seed in the tournament and now, you can finish fifth in the league and be a Sweet Sixteen or a Final Four contender. That’s how good and deep the league is and it’s more than just hey now there are good players in the league. It was a movement of coaches working together, of universities making a commitment, it’s something really cool.
“I think as I move away from it a little bit and I reflect on this part of my career, it’s something I will really be proud of having been a part of the process of that and in particular of growing up Cal women’s basketball. I will say, Cal is an incredible program with wonderful young women in it and a terrific coaching staff here and an administration that to be honest, they don’t need me. These women are resilient, and tough, and strong and they will get someone unbelievable because now, not only Cal, but the Pac-12 is a draw for the top coaches in the country.”
Q: Looking back at your time at Cal, what do you think is your legacy to the program?
LG: “Number one, Talia Caldwell said something today on the phone, she’s a former player of mine and she said ‘I hope this makes you believe that the way you’ve done things. Like when you need a gut check: Can I do this or whatever, that trust your instincts. The way you’ve done things even when it’s been a little bit different has worked. And I really appreciated that. I think what she meant is that when I came in here I tried to learn from other people but be who I am and part of who I am is I think an ability to connect with people and be open to letting people be who they are even as we’re trying to achieve a mission together. I think one of my legacies here will be that you can be a high level division one basketball coach and put the interests of the student-athletes first and that the two things aren’t mutually exclusive. You can have success while trying to grow individual young women in their own path.
“And to be honest, I think some of those characteristics are what made me attracted to the Cavs organization. We’ve talked about an ability to connect with young players. The guys in the NBA now, many of them, are nineteen years old and they need to feel connections and they are to learn what they need to learn and you build that trust with them and then you tell them that to get out on hedge the pick and roll or whatever it is you need to tell them basketball-wise, so I think that will be part of it.
“ And then I would be remiss if I didn’t say I am one thousand percent aware that it is the young women who wore this jersey and won us games, and got us to a final four, and won championships, and went to class and carried themselves well. It is on them that I have this opportunity. I hope that I’ve worked really hard, I hope that I’ve brought value, but coaches get places and do things because of the players and I’m very aware of that, and grateful to every single person that I’ve coached because that’s why I have this opportunity and that’s also why I feel like I’m doing it for them. That their aspirations are not just to succeed in college basketball, but to change the ways that they feel compelled to do so.”
Q: I just wanted to know your thoughts on the differences between coaching women’s basketball and versus coaching men’s basketball, what are the similarities and in what ways is adjusting to the men’s game going to challenge you?
LG: “Oh that’s a great question. So, anyone who’s kinda been around me for these couple of years know that I just have this crazy capacity to watch basketball. Even when I got a game coming up and we’re scouting, I’m always watching an NBA game on set. In fact, I was having dinner with Coach Beilein and we’re just talking about stuff and he was, not disrespectfully, but saying how do you know so much about the NBA? When I was in college, I couldn’t watch women’s college basketball and the NBA and everything all at once and I was just like I’ve watched for a really long time, so I do know that I have a ton to learn, but I’m pretty familiar with the NBA game.
“I did have an opportunity kind of in these past couple of weeks. A different organization had invited me out to work their mini-camp. Their free agent mini-camp and I thought it was number one, I’ll take on any opportunity to get better and grow and learn, but I thought it would be really good for me to go and actually coach G-League guys and guys that have been overseas or trying to get back on a team, and I thought gosh, if I can go spend two days and really coach them, I will see. And as soon as I had a clip board in my hand and was in the huddle and drawing up plays and putting in the offense that we’re going to run, I felt extremely comfortable with terminology and I’ve been a head coach for eleven years.
“Part of the thing when you shift from being an assistant to being a head coach is you learn to draw on the board and be clear and those type of things and so I realize that as I’m standing there, guys don’t have an issue with what you look like, male or female as long as you can make them better and that was really eye-opening for me. And then the other thing I sort of learned there is that these are 19-20 year old guys who need who need to be taught things. Like crazy athleticism and all of that, but we get players here for four years, but when they’re freshmen they need to absorb and sophomores, some of the guys need to be taught just basic fundamental things and so for me, knowing that there’s going to be a teaching component and a relationship component, I think also made me feel like I can add value in those areas.
“And then this job is really appealing to me again because of Coach Beilein and J.B. Bickerstaff. It’s going to be a master class in the thing I love most, which is basketball. Imagine that! At this point in your career being able to pivot and learn at the highest level from the best minds in the game and hopefully add something to this staff that they wouldn’t have if I wasn’t there. So, the appeal of kinda shifting all of that is going to be great. I also think it’s a neat situation in that Coach Beilein’s terminology and the stuff that he wants to run is going to be new for everybody. So, to get in at the ground level of that I think made this situation in the NBA particularly a good fit for me at this time and I’m just really excited about that piece of it.”
Q: Was that in Minneapolis, the chance you were talking about to work with G-League guys?
LG: “Yes.”
Q: You’ll have a platform being a trailblazer doing what you’re doing. What are your thoughts on that new platform?
LG: “Number one is I’m just excited to get to Cleveland on Monday and watch film and talk about the draft class and figure out exactly what’s needed from me to help us achieve our mission. But the bigger platform, when it’s the right time and place, that is something I’m comfortable with. I don’t know what exactly it’s going to look like, but I’m comfortable with the role that come with coaching that are not just watching film. So if there’s a chance to do basketball without borders one day and go to Africa and tell girls that they can play and they can go to college or whatever it is they want to do, I’m going to take that on or if it’s a chance to be in the community and get girls and boys in the Cleveland area to feel connected to me and therefore connected to the organization and the mission, that’s pretty cool, too.”
Q: What was it about Coach Beilein that drew you in and what were those conversations like?
LG: “So, all the way back when Joanne Boyle got the head coaching job at the University of Richmond and asked me to come along with her as an assistant, we got there, and John Beilein was the head coach of the men’s team, I heard all these great things. You’re going to love Coach Beilein, he’s the best and then two weeks later he left for West Virginia. So, I kinda feel like maybe it’s fate that it circles back, and I actually get to be around him, and we spent a little bit of time together when we were Nike and Michigan was Nike. The Nike trips.
“But, in this process, it was Koby and Coach Beilein and J.B. Bickerstaff that made me feel like this is it. I have to do this. I remember we went to dinner. The first night, I was in Cleveland for a night, and then the next day I called my husband and I said I’m not sure that there are three people in the NBA that I connect better with…Who they are as people to me, that’s a big part of this. And John Beilein is one of the five best minds. He just is an unbelievable teacher of the game. You watch his teams play at Michigan and the collective whole is always even more impressive than the sum of the parts. You cannot find one person in the basketball world, college or pro that has one negative thing to say about the guy.
“I’ve laughed a ton around him, he was asking about my son Jordan, he’s a family guy, I can’t say enough good things and I’m really excited number one, but how excited he is. And also, just to learn and add value, I think it’s pretty neat. There’s a 36-year old [Koby Altman] from Brooklyn and Coach Beilein is a 66 year old first time NBA head coach and the two of them looked at me and said we want you here, you can add value. It’s like a laboratory in the way that their mind works, it was something that I wanted to be a part of in how they want to build the Cavs through player development and culture building really appealed to me and that is really why I was able to make the decision to do it.”
Q: You talked about Jordan. How did you tell him and what was his reaction?
LG: “He doesn’t really know. Yesterday [Wednesday] when it, I mean literally it wasn’t finalized until yesterday. We were in the kitchen and I said Jordan, do you want to go to the NBA? Do you want to go to Cleveland? And he said ‘Yeah!’ I said, ‘Ok, we’ll go!’
“In seriousness, I am now thinking about a family. I will say my husband has special interests. To watch him support me and support our family and say hey let’s do this, has been really, he has modeled for me what it looks like to be a good partner. I’m forever grateful for that. But we have thought about what this looks like for Jordan and I think moving at two is easier than moving at twelve. A couple of people have said to me when I was struggling, gosh how do I leave this place that Jordan and Patrick, wherever they are with you, it will be home.
“The Cavs organization has been wonderful about, I said when this started you said that you want a female, I’m going to ask different questions than anybody else has ever asked around child care and what it looks like and all that and they’ve been amazing. And I think Coach Beilein was also big in that he’s a family guy and has really talked about and actually in many ways, the 82 game season will be new for all of us, but there’s in some ways more free time in the pros in that you’re not on the phone all the time with recruits maybe be a little more present, so he has many family decisions in terms of the way my mind has worked, but Jordan will have many sisters in California. He was part of this team here and I’m looking forward to him being a part of the Cavs organization and he’s a great little guy and I just want him to be able to look and say one day that my mom did something scary, but it was really important.”
Q: A couple of days ago, Swin Cash got a position with the New Orleans Pelicans. Obviously Becky [Hammon] with the San Antonio Spurs, Sue Bird with the Denver Nuggets, etc. There’s just been a lot more of a door opening for women in the NBA. What does it mean to you to be a part of that and have any of them reached out to you since you got this job?
LG: “Yeah, I think it’s incredible. Again, I credit Adam Silver, who I’ve met with about six years ago, who said if we don’t include women in this league, we’re losing out on half the talent that we could be accessing in terms of growing the league. So he is a visionary and to see how this has exploded recently in the NBA is inspiring. So yeah, you start seeing Swin Cash hired in a high level position with the Pelicans and you say why the heck not? Of course they should do that. So she reached out to me today on Twitter and Jenny Boucek reached out to me today. I haven’t spoken with Becky yet, but I plan to and pick her brain. I’ve spoken with Kara Lawson, who is an analyst with the Washington Wizards. She’s been on the team day to day.
“So, I’m going to pick everyone’s brain, but I do think it’s important, the people who are on the front end of it, there is a value in that, right? I do think someone is my role has to leave a power five head coaching job and go be an assistant and be good, I need to be good, and I need to do it right so that eventually you’re looking at a coach that, a high level college coach and you say why can’t she be the head coach of an NBA team if she’s the right fit and feels like the right thing for her. I value women’s basketball, I love the game. For me right now is a neat opportunity to go out to the NBA, but I hope that it opens up…as they earn those opportunities going forward.”
Q: It’s mixed emotions for Cal fans right now. They’re happy for you, but also sad to see you go. If you were talking to them in Haas Pavilion after a game what would you tell them?
LG: “Number one, I would be nothing but thankful. Literally, this place has been my home for the better part of fifteen years and I don’t think that will change. I think I will always think of The University of California, Berkeley as home. But I would also say that I think you’re doing it right when it’s really hard to leave a place because that means that that the relationship was real. So, it’s hard for me to leave. But I feel compelled to do this, but I think when it’s still hard means that you’ve done something right. I would also say to them this program is something special and it’s not something special because of me. It is something special because of the university and the student athletes that wear the jersey and I hope that what I’ve been a part of building will be even better going forward. I believe that it will. They’re going to get a great head coach who just needs to put their stamp on it and keep it going, so I would say to the fans here to keep supporting, to stay connected to me because I’m going to stay connected to the program, and really, I would just say thank you for really the best years of my life on so many levels.”
Q: Steve Kerr talked about this right in the middle of the NBA Finals. I think that shows the importance of this. What is your reaction to him commenting right in the middle of all this?
LG: “I mean, he is just so gracious. I think he always has such a wonderful ability to, I’ve learned a lot from him. On how to handle the pressures of his job and his role with such grace. It’s not surprising that someone asked him a question about this that he would be willing and able to comment on it. I texted him the other night ‘congrats on the win in Toronto’; of course, he sends back ‘I feel awful for Kevin.’ Like that’s who he is. He’s willing to put things above himself and his immediate needs and so I feel kind of in awe of it that Steve Kerr would be talking about this at all. In awe that Billie Jean King reached out on Twitter, like it’s all crazy to me, but I’m not surprised that Steve Kerr would take a moment to value, speak on behalf of Cal women’s basketball and women’s basketball and then women making strides in the NBA. That’s who he is.”
