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Women’s college basketball has had to take a backseat to the new era of college sports, but it has reaped all the downsides of what many believe has become the Wild West.
Football, with a men’s basketball twist, was the launching pad for the conference realignment. Certainly, those who committed to UCLA to play women’s basketball just three years ago didn’t have it on their bingo card to play roughly half of their games east of the Mississippi.
But like football and men’s basketball, female basketball players have fallen victim to the prospect of chasing NIL money.
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UCLA Bruins head coach Cori Close cuts down the net after winning the Spokane Regional Championship against the LSU Lady Tigers 72-65 in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Spokane Arena on March 30, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
“The day after we got off the plane for the Final Four, six kids left our program,” UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close said in a recent interview with Pak Gazette. “And I think there really are reasons to transfer. So I’m not at all implying that all kids are chasing money. That’s not the case. But I do think it makes it easier and incentivizes kids to chase the wrong things.”
That’s why Close tries to exemplify how to leave a mark on the Southern California community. UCLA and Close partnered with Wescom Financial to support the Wescom Foundation’s wildfire relief initiative, eliminating $10 million in debt for people affected by the 2025 Southern California wildfires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
During games this season, Close hosted some of the debt relief recipients, meeting with them and hearing their stories about how they were affected by the wildfires.
“It’s one of those things that really was a no-brainer. It was just the kind of thing that I want to be a part of, that I want to learn from, that I want to be better at. And so when the opportunity came to partner with Wescom Financial and do something with such meaning and importance, it really was a no-brainer,” Close said.
Head coach Cori Close of the UCLA Bruins celebrates a 67-63 victory over the Creighton Bluejays during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament – Second Round at UCLA Pauley Pavilion on March 25, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)
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Close admitted that it’s not easy to get her players involved in the community, considering they are trying to win a national championship on the court and build their brands from there. But Close mentioned that his team leads the NCAA in assists per game and tries to instill assist in others both on and off the court.
“When you look at it as, how can I add value to someone else? How can I make someone else better? And you get a lot of purpose and meaning from that, you know, I think it makes us better people, but I also think it makes us a better basketball team,” Close said.
Close said numerous locals have reached out to her over the past year to thank her, as watching or attending a Bruins game made them forget about the harsh new reality of the fires. She said love was actually able to alleviate the pressure on the players to perform while fighting for a national title.
“Any time you feel pressure, you’ve probably forgotten your why. And then people don’t get burned out on things because they’re doing too much. They get burned out because they lose track of why. And so, actually, it was probably one of the best things that could have happened to us from a pressure standpoint, because you always know that someone else is dealing with things that are a lot harder than you are with the game of basketball,” Close said.
UCLA Bruins head coach Cori Close celebrates after a game against the LSU Lady Tigers in the Elite Eight round of the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament held at Spokane Arena on March 30, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Photos by Tyler McFarland/NCAA via Getty Images)
“I just go, you know what? We can be an inspiration to others. We can bring joy to someone else. We can bring a bag of clothes to a person who was making their documentary about us and lost their house. We can bring them a big duffel bag of clothes. We have to be a part of that.”
