Nikki Blue goes from LA Sparks assistant to same job for USC women's basketball team
Blue is making a quick pivot from the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, who hired her as an assistant in January.
She had been the interim head coach for the Phoenix Mercury over the final 28 games of the 2023 season after joining the franchise as an assistant in 2022.
Before working at the pro level, Blue was an assistant at UNLV, Cal State Bakersfield, Grand Canyon and Arizona State over 16 seasons.
'We have elite players who want to eventually become pros, so we wanted to add someone who has pro experience,' Gottlieb said in a statement Wednesday.
Blue was a star guard for crosstown rival UCLA in the early aughts before playing in the WNBA for five years with Washington and New York. She also played two years in Turkey and Greece.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
22 minutes ago
- USA Today
Fever's Sophie Cunningham clarifies controversial WNBA expansion take
After creating some controversy with her recent remarks on the WNBA's planned expansion to Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia over the coming years, Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham provided some clarity on her comments. "First of all, I know the history behind the WBA. I know that both of those cities have had teams before, and what they got us, and I'm thankful for that," Cunningham expressed. "All I was really getting at is, like, Broadway [Nashville], the off-court lifestyle, and so I think that is really intriguing. I think Miami's intriguing. That's all I was getting at. I'm thankful for what they've done for the history of the sport. I think it'd be fun to kind of get some teams outside the NBA market. I do think there is a benefit when you do have an NBA team, but that's all I was getting at. "I think people totally misread that situation. I would never speak down upon middle-class, blue-collar working people. That's where I come from. I'm from Missouri. I get I'm in Indiana, and that's kind of why I'm hinting that, Broadway sounds fun, SoFi in Miami sounds fun. All I was getting at." Cunningham and the Fever (9-8) return to action on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. CT with a date against the Los Angeles Sparks on NBA TV. Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews
San Francisco Chronicle
41 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Liverpool players join family of Diogo Jota and his brother for funeral held in Portugal
GONDOMAR, Portugal (AP) — Liverpool players joined family and friends for the funeral of their teammate Diogo Jota and his brother on Saturday, two days after the siblings died in a car crash in Spain. The service will be held at Igreja Matriz church in the Portuguese town of Gondomar, where Jota had a home. Portugal's national team coach Roberto Martínez and several top Portuguese players also attended, including Manchester City duo Bernardo Silva and Rúben Dias and Manchester United's Bruno Fernándes. Jota, 28, and his brother, André Silva, 25, were found dead near Zamora in northwestern Spain early Thursday after the Lamborghini they were driving crashed on an isolated stretch of highway just after midnight on Thursday and burst into flames. The brothers were reportedly heading to catch a boat from northern Spain to go to England where Jota was to rejoin with Liverpool after a summer break. Spanish police are investigating the cause of the crash, which did not involve another vehicle, they said. They said they believe it could have been caused by a blown tire. Their bodies were repatriated to Portugal after being identified by the family. A wake was held for them on Friday. Jota's death occurred two weeks after he married long-time partner Rute Cardoso while on vacation from a long season where he helped Liverpool win the Premier League. The couple had three children, the youngest born last year. Jota was born in Porto but started his playing career as a child on nearby Gondomar. Silva played for Portuguese club Penafiel in the lower divisions. Their loss led to an outpouring of condolences from the soccer world and Portuguese officials. ___ Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. ___
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
How to score $20 Centre Court seats at Wimbledon
Associated Press LONDON (AP) — It might just be the best deal in all of major professional sports: Tennis fans can get a chance to watch stars such as Carlos Alcaraz compete on Centre Court at Wimbledon by forking over just 15 pounds — about $20 at the current exchange rate. That's instead of Friday's price of nearly $220 for the best seats at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament's biggest stadium. Face value there rises as the event goes on, hitting nearly $370 by the end of Week 2, then going up again for the singles finals. The secret to saving so much cash? The official resale service. It allows anyone already on-site with a ticket to sign up via the Wimbledon app for a daily lottery to get into one of the top three courts at a cut rate, including about $13 each for No. 1 Court or No. 2 Court. Those spots are offered up to the All England Club by spectators who leave before play ends. Wimbledon offers cheap tickets to its biggest courts when fans leave early 'It's an elite tournament in terms of the players, but it's not elite to get in, which is part of the appeal,' said Ed Hogan, a retired 69-year-old from Reading, which is a little more than an hour west of Wimbledon. 'The concept of resales is great. It's recycling at its best — sharing the joy.' The All England Club wouldn't say how many tickets get resold. 'We're selling the same ticket twice,' said the club's operations manager, Michelle Dite, 'and the primary reason is to make tennis as accessible to as many people as possible.' All England Club ticket resales raised about $300,000 for charity in 2024 Money from resales goes to charities via the Wimbledon Foundation. Nearly $80,000 was raised through the first three days of this year's tournament; last year's total was about $300,000. Wimbledon has done resales since 1954, but until last year, folks hoping to take advantage of the deal needed to stand in a line once they were on-site, hope they were there soon enough — and hope enough tickets were returned. Now, though, that 'line' is virtual. Here's how it works: After opting in on the app and getting their phone scanned by 2:30 p.m. at kiosks on-site or near the Wimbledon Queue, where thousands of people camp out at a local park for up to 24 hours in hopes of getting full-price tickets for main courts or grounds passes for smaller ones, fans then wait for a text message giving the good news that they were one of the lucky ones chosen for the resale, which runs from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. They have 10 minutes to confirm they still want a used ticket for the rest of the day, and another 20 minutes to get themselves to the green-and-brown ticket resale booth behind No. 1 Court to show the QR code that lets them pay for the cheap tickets. Spending $13 instead of $115 to see Ben Shelton at Wimbledon 'You're not stuck in one place forever," said Henry Thompson, 38, a high school math teacher from Missouri. 'This is much more efficient. Took 30 seconds. Much better.' Thompson, who was wearing a blue hat with the Wimbledon logo, really wanted to see 10th-seeded American Ben Shelton, so he entered the resale lottery and was able to get a seat for No. 2 Court for $13 instead of $115. 'It's beneficial to the sport to give people access to those courts for a reasonable price,' said Marcos Giron, a 45th-ranked American who won first-round matches in singles and doubles this week. 'It's a wonderful thing.' Chen Pinjung, who just finished medical school in Taiwan, waited in the queue for six hours, paid 30 pounds ($40) there for a grounds pass, then also got herself into No. 1 Court via a resale for an additional $13 — instead of the $150 it could have cost to see 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina win there Thursday. 'If everybody knew how that works, I'm sure everybody would apply,' said Rafael Garcia, who was with his girlfriend, Diana Meneses, and her brother, Gustavo Meneses. 'We saw that (resale) office last year, but we didn't know how to do it. Now we will.' ___ Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: More AP tennis: in this topic
