UCLA's Close asks NCAA to make changes, ease coaching burden - ESPN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — UCLA women's basketball is amid its most successful period since the NCAA era began in 1982. But Bruins coach Cori Close said Thursday that collegiate sports success comes with an exhausting pace for coaches.

«I've never been as tired as I've been in the last two years, and it's made me think how much longer I can do this,» said Close, whose No. 1 seed Bruins face No. 4 seed Minnesota in the Sacramento 2 Regional semifinals Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). «And I'm just being transparent with you about that. There are so many things that are harder, and we keep losing incredible people on the men's and the women's side.

»If there's one thing I would ask of our governing bodies and the NCAA and our administrations is please develop infrastructure and boundaries that create an opportunity to have sustained excellence and sustainable pace. Otherwise, we are going to continues to lose some of our best coaches, and I do not think our game can afford to do that."

Close, 54, is in her 15th season at UCLA. In 1978, the Bruins won the AIAW national championship, but last year was the first time they made the NCAA women's Final Four, falling in the national semifinals to UConn.

The Bruins have advanced to at least the regional semifinals four years in a row now. UCLA had a similar run in 2016-19, making the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite Eight once.

But with the transfer portal and athletes' ability now to take advantage of Name, Image and Likeness opportunities, the landscape is entirely different now than it was in 2016-19.

Close is a past president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and also was involved with the Kaplan report that was commissioned by the NCAA in 2021 after inequities between the