Women's basketball

Gobrecht brings passion to bench

By Valerie Mendoza
Staff Writer

o much -- in so little time. That may be the feeling for USC women's basketball Head Coach Chris Gobrecht when she looks back on her 20 years of coaching.
Yet, it's being part of the long, sometimes frustrating journey of the development of a sport which for a long time did not welcome women that has been most rewarding.
In the early 1970s, Title IX passed -- the federal mandate ensuring equality for women in school sports.
"I was just ecstatic that in my senior year in high school we had a team. But the bad experience I had early on as an athlete is why people need to understand what women's sports are all about," Gobrecht said.
"I just wanted to play, but what happened to me was so wrong -- it was such blatant discrimination. It can make me sick my stomach when I think back at how stupid it was. I was suppose to be satisfied with field days to play the other high schools and later eat popsicles, and even what we had to wear was so stupid. But we all bought into it because that's the way it always had been. We just wanted to do it the way the guys did it, but no one gave us a chance."
Gobrecht got her chance at USC, where she played basketball and volleyball.
After graduating from USC in 1977, coaching was not something Gobrecht even thought about.
Instead, she and her husband spent a year volunteering in the Peace Corps, teaching in Apia, Western Samoa. It was there where she would discover how satisfying it could be to coach sports.
When the couple returned to California, it was her husband Bob suggested that she try coaching a local high school team, after he saw how much she liked coaching.
Gobrecht said her timing as an athlete was lousy, but that it was great as a coach.
"I was very fortunate to land a high school job, and then after that, a junior college job. My first two years, I took over two good teams and really had no right to take credit for their success."
At 24, Gobrecht was hired as the head coach at Division I Cal State Fullerton, where she coached for six years. In 1986 she took over as the head coach at Washington, where in 11 years, she would take the Huskies to nine NCAA Tournament appearances and three Conference Champion-ships. She would also be honored twice as Pacific 10 Conference Coach of The Year.
It's a long list of achievements for a person who just wanted the girls to play like the boys.
Meanwhile, the women's basketball program at USC has enjoyed a long reign of success, including two national championships. However, at a time when the program is struggling, it is only fitting that a former Trojan take over and try to bring back the prosperity it once enjoyed.
However, she takes over as the fourth coach in the last five years. Gobrecht said the frequent changeovers have contributed to the gradual weakening of the team. It's now, when the need is so great, that Gobrecht chose to return.
"The heritage of the program at USC is stronger than that of any other women's basketball program out there," Gobrecht said. "I'm not sure the fans understand who the people that have come out of this program are. The two greatest players to ever play the game, Lisa Leslie and Cheryl Miller, were Trojans, and Cynthia Cooper, MVP of the WNBA, is a star who is very visible in the game.
"So, I feel privileged, and yet, it's a little humbling to take over that legacy. At the same time, I know that the program has fallen short, and there is more that this program can achieve."
Her players -- like junior guard Kristin Clark and senior center Adrain Williams, who were in the middle of all the coaching transitions -- said the team respects her experience and knowledge.
"She's good for USC; she's good for the program. She's a Trojan," Clark said.
Through it all, it's been a long journey. Last year, during her one-year stint coaching Florida State, Gobrecht had an 0-16 record in Conference play. This year, the Women of Troy are struggling with team injuries, losing five of their last seven games. However, she stayed for the same reasons she began coaching -- she loves the sport.
"You see people like me -- who early on had this kind of discrimination, but stayed because we challenged the status quo and had love and passion for the sport," Gobrecht said. "There's no job in the world that could give me the kinds of rewards coaching has -- there'd be something missing"
USC women's basketball fans have been missing something, too, and hope that Gobrecht may be the missing piece that the women's basketball team needs.