Sports
Ahead of Notre Dame game, USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb talks JuJu Watkins, growth and more
When Lindsay Gottlieb thinks back to the start, before USC was about to become the biggest thing in women’s college basketball — and maybe college basketball overall — her mind travels to a phone call 3½ years ago. She had just taken the job at USC, inheriting a once-elite program that hadn’t been relevant in a quarter-century. Gottlieb and her family were in New York, visiting the Central Park Zoo, when her cellphone rang. On the other line was Jazzy Davidson, a budding 14-year-old star in the class of 2025.
“I really connected with her,” Gottlieb recalled. But then the uncertainty set in. USC hadn’t competed for players like her in years. “I just remember hanging up and thinking, ‘Huh, well, I hope we even get a shot at this kid. I hope she doesn’t just go to Stanford.’”
USC guard JuJu Watkins and her teammates celebrate during the Trojans’ 124-39 win over Cal State Northridge on Nov. 12 at the Galen Center.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
But in the time it took Davidson to choose her college destination, Gottlieb built USC into a bona fide super team with not just Final Four aspirations, but expectations, led by one of the biggest stars women’s college basketball has ever seen in JuJu Watkins. When Davidson, now the No. 2 prospect in her class, signed with USC last week, the basketball world nodded along expectedly, but Gottlieb took a second to think of that first phone call.
“That was a moment,” she said, “where it was like, ‘Wow, we really got that kid. We built something worthy of the best players in the country saying, ‘This is the right fit for me.’”
A tidal wave of talent has poured into the program ever since its Elite Eight run last season. Not just the No. 1 high school recruiting class, but the top transfer haul, too, with a star in Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen who’s expected to be a top three pick in the WNBA draft in April.
The sudden gravitational pull toward Troy starts with Watkins, a sophomore who has already surpassed 1,000 career points and enters this season operating in a different stratosphere of stardom than any player who came before her outside of former Iowa star Caitlin Clark. A-list athletes have already flocked to see Watkins and snap photos with her. Brands including Gatorade and Nike have already inked name, image and likeness endorsement deals with her. And on Saturday, just before No. 3 USC faces off with No. 5 Notre Dame in a marquee matchup on NBC, the network will debut the first episode of “On the Rise,” a docuseries following — and produced by — Watkins.
That dynamic is certainly different from anything Gottlieb has dealt with before.
“This is a new year for me, for a number of reasons,” Gottlieb said. “I’m trying to figure out how to embrace the talent we have and the expectations that we have and doing right by this group. That’s what I would do every year, no matter what the circumstance was. But things that are coming at me are different than they were even six months ago.”
The Times spoke with Gottlieb, a former NBA assistant coach who recently earned her 300th head coaching win, about the changes at USC and within college basketball and the expectations that come with them. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
USC guard JuJu Watkins shoots over a Cal State Northridge double-team during a blowout win at the Galen Center on Nov. 12.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Last year was obviously such an important, unique moment for women’s basketball.Caitlin Clark is in the WNBA now. What do you feel like that next step is, especially at the college level?
I think it just continues to move forward. I don’t know if there will be a singular moment in the way that the Caitlin effect or Caitlin and Angel Reese — that definitely brought a lot of people to the table. But I think now it continues to evolve around things that are really just a part of our sport. Incredible players. Great stories. And then — this comparison has been made before — but the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird thing was just so big and new, and then, it was, well, wait a second, here comes Michael Jordan. The game kind of took off in a different way. So I don’t think we’ll turn back in terms of the attention, but I think now it will continue on a trajectory going forward. There are more people covering women’s college basketball this year. There are more people out there. So the stories are here and have been here, and it continues to grow. We’re fortunate that the college game is shifting from Caitlin and does have JuJu, does have [Connecticut star] Paige [Bueckers], does have [Notre Dame’s] Hannah [Hidalgo]. There’s other big stars that are ready to take that on. But really, the game has always had stars.
As we’ve seen since, there are some pitfalls of ascending to that next level of popularity as a sport …
I mean, look at the WNBA. Half the coaches were fired. I mean, look at the toxicity on social media. When you jump to another level, it’s a little bit like, ‘Careful what you wished for here.’ Now there are people covering women’s basketball for the right reasons, and there are people covering it for clicks. There’s more trolls on social media. And I know one of the responses is, well, look at the NBA. That’s always been there. And I think in women’s basketball, we can say, ‘Yeah, but it’s OK to put it off. It’s OK to not accept that that’s where we go.’ There was so much racist and misogynistic language around it this year, and no one wants that. You want coverage, and controversy is OK, and you want debate. Morning talk shows, I’m great with all of that. But one of the downfalls certainly has been how divisive some of the language is. And that obviously coincides with certainly where the country is. That would be one thing. Then I would say, like, more eyes on it, if we are being more like pro sports, then in the WNBA, hard things happen when people think there’s money to be made. People I know and like and care about get fired. More turnover, that’s just going to be part of it, too.
USC forward Kiki Iriafen drives to the basket under pressure from Mississippi’s Madison Scott, left, and Tameiya Sadler in the season opener played in Paris on Nov. 4.
(Aurelien Morissard/Associated Press)
Coaching a player like JuJu, who is going to be in that limelight a lot this season, how do you balance your instincts to protect her from those negative forces, while also letting her spread her wings and fly, so to speak, as the marketable star athlete she is?
I would say my instinct with JuJu is to do as much as I can to allow her, No. 1, to be happy and fulfilled as a young person and to be as successful as possible. It looks different all the time. Of course, with all the players, I have a kind of maternal protection instinct, and I have an instinct — I want to get out of her way and let her be the artist, creative basketball player she is. Let’s do what we can to put guardrails in place, where her greatness and her popularity can soar, but making sure we always have her safety in mind. The administration has really helped me with that as well. You don’t know what you don’t know, but now that we have somewhat of a blueprint — we’ve really talked to Iowa a number of times about things that they experienced and what we can look to. We’ve tried to be proactive. But as a basketball player, like, my human connection with JuJu comes first. Because I think she’ll be at her best when she knows and believes she can trust me. We’re always on the same page with what the team goals are and what she’s facing. I just try and show up for her in that way. Like I said, get out of the way, and let her be great. But also be there as someone who makes her better and helps her when she needs it.
Is there anything in particular you learned from Iowa when you spoke with them about their experience with Caitlin Clark?
A couple things. Our administration has talked to them just about how they handled everything from autographs and security to game day things. I’ve talked to [former Iowa coach] Lisa Bluder about, like, ‘What was it like coaching with all the eyes and all the attention Caitlin and the team was facing?’ I talked to Caitlin herself this summer, like, ‘Help me. What do I do to make JuJu’s experience the best?’ We’ve tried our best to reach out. And I’ve tapped into my NBA experiences and people I know to understand the mindset when your life is a little different, in the way JuJu’s is now.
USC guard JuJu Watkins is surrounded by fans as she signs autographs after the Trojans beat Cal State Northridge on Nov. 12 at the Galen Center.
(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
This team has a stockpile of talent. But, obviously, there are other intangible factors at play for a program to go from good to great. What do you feel like is the biggest challenge for this team in making that leap?
I think handling expectations and handling, you know, individual goals at the same time as the team goals. It’s a good challenge to have. I am utterly certain and very confident that this team wants to win. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t want to win. We don’t want people to sign up to just be the one. That’s just the way we’ve constructed the roster. To me, that’s a constant challenge, just to make sure I’m pushing all the right buttons. But every coach has challenges and that’s a good one to have. I wouldn’t shy away from it. Then, just the expectations. None of us have been in this situation before. Kiki has come from an incredible program. [Point guard Talia von Oelhoffen] comes from an incredible program. We had a lot of success last year. But no one has been preseason whatever we are, with the expectations. So we’re just trying to be ready and get better every day and give ourselves a chance to do what we’re capable of doing.
Now, in your fourth season, it seems like you’re working a completely different job. Where do you feel like your job has changed the most?
We don’t have enough time [laughs]. I mean, it’s so different. Even from mid-last year. But really from when last year ended, the conversations with TV stations, with people promoting games, with administration on getting ready for this year, with hiring a GM and NIL stuff, with, I mean, even the on-court stuff of managing expectations, none of it is completely like anything I’ve experienced before. But at the nuts and bolts, it’s still humanity. It’s still Xs and O’s and finding the right schemes. It’s still getting to their soul and what’s going to make them the best player. It’s challenging them and building them up. The coaching stays the same. But all of the other stuff that happens on a daily basis is, like, pretty different.
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
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