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LOS ANGELES – It’s John Wooden Week at UCLA, with both the men’s and women’s teams hosting themed night’s around in honor of the legendary men’s basketball coach and the legacy he left on UCLA in his decades of success. The men’s team went first on Tuesday with a John Wooden bobblehead when they played Purdue, Wooden’s alma mater way back in the 1920’s, and the Bruins honored his legacy with a thrilling comeback victory against the No. 4 Boilermakers.
Now it’s women’s team’s turn when they take on Purdue themselves on Wednesday. And for UCLA head coach Cori Close, the legacy of John Wooden is something that’s on her mind daily.
Close has been a coach with the Bruins for close to three decades, first joining the program as an assistant in 1994 after a brief stint after assistant coaching careers at UC Santa Barbara and Florida State. When Close got the job, she wanted to go straight to the source of all things Bruins basketball, Wooden himself.
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Steve Lavin, a fellow restricted earnings coach at UCLA at time, brought Close along with other UCLA coaching staff to see Wooden at his apartment in Encino, but at that point, Close didn’t feel prepared to meet the living legend so soon.
“I was like, ‘I’m not ready. I’m not dressed. I have sweats on,” Close said on the Jim Rome Podcast.
Lavin said it didn’t matter and insisted she come anyways. What followed was a day of anxiety for Close as she anticipated the meeting. When she arrived with the other coaches, Wooden picked her out of the crowd right away.
UCLA Bruins Coach Cori Close breaking down the game for Avary Cain (2) during an NCAA basketball game against Colgate, Sunday November 10th, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
John Panganiban-The Sporting Tribune
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UCLA Bruins Coach Cori Close breaking down the game for Avary Cain (2) during an NCAA basketball game against Colgate, Sunday November 10th, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Wooden asked Close her name, asked her how she spelled it and took her to the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ucla-head-coach-cori-close-223101663.html
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Publish date : 2026-01-21 22:31:00
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