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.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The Green Bay Packers’ playoff exit on Saturday immediately put added focus on what the organization will do with head coach Matt LaFleur.
The NFL coaching cycle has been the wildest in recent memory, with veteran coaches like John Harbaugh and Pete Carroll being shown the door. Packers fans seemingly put LaFleur on the hot seat following their crushing defeat to the Chicago Bears.
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur reacts during the wild-card playoff game against the Bears Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
ESPN’s Adam Schefter said Sunday that the Packers will have a major decision to make.
“The Green Bay Packers and their new president, Ed Policy, have a significant decision to make here in the coming days – and that is whether to extend Matt LaFleur’s contract. He’s currently got one year remaining, or to move on from him,” Schefter said. “If they moved on from him, he would automatically go near the top of coaches available and shakeup this current head-coaching cycle yet again.”
Schefter added that Harbaugh could be one of the names that would interest the Packers’ organization.
BEARS’ BEN JOHNSON GIVES FIERY MESSAGE TO TEAM AFTER PLAYOFF WIN: ‘F— THE PACKERS!’
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur talks after the playoff game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
“Notice how we said this belongs to the Packers’ president, Ed Policy. Well, the Packers’ former president from the back in the day was a man by the name of Bob Harlan,” Schefter explained. “Bob Harlan’s son, Brian Harlan, represents John Harbaugh. John Harbaugh is a Midwestern guy, who has a home in the Upper Peninsula, and a lot of people around the league have been wondering if the Packers decide to go in a different direction, if all of a sudden the Green Bay Packers might fall to the top of John Harbaugh’s list as the top available choice for him.
“This has been a wild, crazy coaching cycle, and we may be just scratching the surface.”
Green Bay Packers’ Matthew Golden celebrates his touchdown against the Bears Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Green Bay finished 9-7-1 this season. LaFleur is 76-40-1 as the Packers’ head coach with a 3-6 record in the playoffs.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
For brothers Boone and Ford Casady, pickleball is more than just a game, it is a passion. The 16-year-old twins are among the top junior players on the planet, but more important to them than trophies and medals is a desire to spread the fastest-growing sport in America to high schools and colleges.
Their vision, combined with the persistence of fellow Crossroads sophomores Samantha Leeds and Hannah Carey, has birthed the L.A. High School Pickleball League, the first of its kind in California. The first match will be Jan. 24 at the Santa Monica Pickleball Center.
Teams from Crossroads, Brentwood, Windward, Palisades, Notre Dame and Santa Monica Pacifica Christian will participate, and possibly several more.
Matches will be biweekly with all schools competing at the same shared location. The match format is loosely based on high school tennis with three doubles lines, one singles line and “friendlies” — ensuring that beginners, alternates and developing players all get playing time. The season culminates with semifinals and a league championship.
“My brother and I grew up playing competitive tennis and baseball,” Boone said. “We’d been playing tennis since we were about 3 and in eighth grade we moved to Barcelona to train at the Emilio Sánchez Academy for tennis. We were first introduced to pickleball earlier while we were in Mexico playing with friends and we immediately fell in love with it. We entered our first tournament in Palm Springs and realized we’d found something special.
“We noticed that so many juniors were training and competing individually but there wasn’t a school-based structure like you have in other varsity sports. We decided to change that. We wanted girls to be involved from the start — it was important to us that the league be coed and inclusive to reflect how competitive girls pickleball already is. We’re also co-founders of the Crossroads Pickleball Club along with Samantha and Hannah and we’re working to grow participation on campus and across L.A.”
The four founders of the L.A. High School Pickleball League play mixed doubles.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Unlike most youth sports initiatives, the league was not created by adults or administrators, it was built entirely by students. Over the last two years they have coordinated with the Southern Section for recognition and guidance, worked with Crossroads administrators to establish pickleball as a school-sanctioned varsity sport, organized early intramural and inter-school tournaments, built communication networks among local high schools and helped other schools begin turning their club teams into varsity programs.
“In high school sports, students usually join a system that already exists,” Leeds said. “With pickleball, we had to build the system ourselves.”
Boone defeated Ford to earn the No. 1 seed at the 2024 Junior PPA National Championships, but they met again for the gold medal and this time Ford won. They also took the gold in doubles and finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the country in the 14s division.
At the 2025 Junior PPA National Championships, the brothers took silver and bronze in the Boys U16 singles and partnered for silver in doubles. They were also presented the Community Assist Award to acknowledge their initiative in starting the Los Angeles High School Pickleball League. They are straight-A students and play shortstop and third base on the varsity baseball team.
So far, their toughest competition in pickleball has been each other.
“Boone and I practice together all the time and we play against each other constantly,” Ford said. “Boone knows the part of my game to attack and I know what to do against him so we always have great matches. No matter who wins, we hug it out at the end.”
The siblings played in their first pro event of the year Saturday — the Masters Tournament in Palm Springs.
Leeds and Carey were introduced to pickleball in eighth grade.
“I remember leaving PE after playing pickleball, heading to soccer practice and honestly feeling kind of bored,” Leeds recalled. “All I wanted to do was keep playing pickleball.”
“Samantha and I got randomly paired to do pickleball in PE,” said Carey, who lost her home in the Palisades fire. “Most kids would sit out, look bored, or try to skip but as the pickleball nets went up our peers were engaged, exhilarated and connecting over their love of pickleball. So Samantha and I started making petitions to create a league.”
The girls, then 13, had a meeting with Anthony Locke, head of school at Crossroads, and made a pitch deck. Using her skills as a filmmaker Leeds created a short sizzle video to help show what pickleball could look like as a real school sport.
“We were told that forming school-based teams and leagues is a necessary first step towards eventual CIF recognition,” she said. “I created a Varsity Team Starter Kit, outlining the steps we used to establish pickleball as a school-sanctioned varsity sport. Leaders at other schools are actively using it to establish their own teams.”
Added Carey: “We connected with Boone and Ford, which was such an honor considering their talent and passion for the sport. We decided to join forces and use our resources together to further our process of creating a league.”
The inaugural season runs from January to March but beginning in the 2026-27 school year the plan is to move to the traditional winter sports window, November through January.
“Pickleball has the potential to become a true varsity sport at both the high school and college levels,” Boone said. “We’re so excited to help push it forward.”
Sports
US figure skating power couple makes history with record breaking seventh national championship
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
U.S. figure skating stars Madison Chock and Evan Bates made history on Saturday with their record-setting seventh U.S. Figure Skating title in their final competition before the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The three-time reigning world champions, performing a flamenco-style dance to a version of the Rolling Stones hit “Paint It Black” from the dystopian sci-fi Western show “Westworld,” produced a season-best free skate and finished with 228.87 points.
“The feeling that we got from the audience today was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before,” Chock said.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of United States perform during ISU World Figure Skating Championships – Boston, at TD Garden, on March 28, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Jurij Kodrun – International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)
They’ll be the heavy favorites to win gold next month in Italy.
“I felt so much love and joy,” Chock continued, “and I’m so grateful for this moment.”
U.S. Figure Skating will announce its selections on Sunday.
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik were second with 213.65 points and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko were third with 206.95, making those two pairs the likely choices to join Chock and Bates on the American squad for the upcoming Winter Games.
The men’s medals also were to be decided on Saturday, though two-time world champion Ilia Malinin had built such a lead after his short program that the self-styled “Quad God” would have to stumble mightily to miss out on a fourth consecutive title.
The U.S. also has qualified the maximum of three men’s spots for the Winter Games, and competition is tight between second-place Tomoko Hiwatashi, fan favorite Jason Brown, Andrew Torgashev and Maxim Naumov to round out the nationals podium.
The last time Chock and Bates competed in the Olympics in 2022 in Beijing, they watched their gold initially go to an opponent who was later disqualified for doping violations.
Chock and Bates initially had to settle for team silver with their American teammates on the podium at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Team Russia and Kamila Valieva, who was 15 at the time, stood above them with their gold medals.
It wasn’t until the end of January 2024, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found Valieva guilty of an anti-doping rule violation, when Chock, Bates and the U.S. were declared the rightful 2022 gold medalists.
UN URGES COUNTRIES TO HONOR TRUCE DURING WINTER OLYMPICS, NOT DENY VISAS TO ANY NATION’S ATHLETES
Madison Chock and Evan Bates compete in championship ice dance at the U.S. figure skating championships Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance, during an anti-doping test at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in December 2021. She was suspended for four years and stripped of all competitive results since that date.
Chock and Bates spoke about what their message to Valieva would be today during an interview at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee media summit in October.
“It’s hard to, I think, imagine what a 15-year-old has gone through and under that kind of situation,” Bates said. “And I know how stressful it is, being an elite athlete as an adult, as a 36-year-old. And I think that grace should be given to humans across the board. And we can never really know the full situation, at least from our point of view. … I genuinely don’t know what I would say to her.”
Chock added, “I would just wish her well like as I would. I think life is short. And, at the end of the day, we’re all human just going through our own human experience together. And regardless of what someone has or hasn’t done and how it has affected you, I think it’s important to remember we’re humans as a collective, and we’re all here for this, our one moment on earth, at the same time. And I just wish people to have healthy, happy lives, full of people that love them.”
Chock and Bates had to wait more than two years after the initial Olympics to get their rightful gold medals, and they were finally presented with them during a ceremony at the Paris Olympics last summer.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA perform in the Gala Exhibition during the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final Nagoya at IG Arena on December 07, 2025 in Nagoya, Japan. (Atsushi Tomura – International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)
Chock, Bates and teammates Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou were given a specialized gold medal ceremony to receive the medals in front of more than 13,000 fans.
Chock and Bates became the first ice dancers to win three consecutive world championships in nearly three decades in March when they defeated Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Sunday Puzzle: Pet theory
Video: Violence at a Minneapolis School Hours After ICE Shooting
Google pulls AI overviews for some medical searches
Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from enforcing mail-in voting rules in executive order
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from enforcing mail-in voting rules in executive order
Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine
Nationwide anti-ICE protests call for accountability after Renee Good’s death
Trump says Venezuela has begun releasing political prisoners ‘in a BIG WAY’
Somali minister says Israel plans to displace Palestinians to Somaliland
-
Detroit, MI1 week ago2 hospitalized after shooting on Lodge Freeway in Detroit
-
Technology5 days agoPower bank feature creep is out of control
-
Dallas, TX3 days agoAnti-ICE protest outside Dallas City Hall follows deadly shooting in Minneapolis
-
Dallas, TX6 days agoDefensive coordinator candidates who could improve Cowboys’ brutal secondary in 2026
-
Delaware2 days agoMERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach
-
Iowa5 days agoPat McAfee praises Audi Crooks, plays hype song for Iowa State star
-
Health1 week agoViral New Year reset routine is helping people adopt healthier habits
-
Nebraska4 days agoOregon State LB transfer Dexter Foster commits to Nebraska