UCLA women’s head basketball coach Cori Close revealed why she always “loves” people first.
“I think so much of the time we’re trying to change people that haven’t decided to hold the same standards we have, and you know, I just don’t think that’s the model that we see in Jesus in terms of that He loved them first,” the 2026 NCAA champion said on the “Sports Spectrum” podcast. “He showed up in their world first.”
As a coach, Close leans on a phrase her dad always said: “You love them and love them and love them until they ask why.”
“My dad really lived that well, and he loved the person,” she continued. “If using your example at ESPN, that, you know, the janitor or the person who cleans up, or it’s the person in front of the camera — do you treat them the same? Are you present with them? Those are the things where Jesus shines, you know, and I think we lose opportunities more than we gain them when we try to speak more than we listen and try to change people before we love them.”
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“I always ask myself, is this going to give me more opportunity to have conversation or less, and you know, I just always, when I’m not sure, I just err on the side of I want to love people right where they are, and do it in a way that just points to serving differently,” she added.
Related: Bruins Women’s Basketball Coach Credits God for Historic National Championship Win
Right after the Bruins won the National Championship in April, Close referenced Ephesians 3:20.
“It’s immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine,” she said as the court flooded with confetti. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams…It would be shallow without amazing and incredible people that have poured into me my whole life.”
Throughout her entire 15 years of coaching, Close has believed that Christ called her to this role.
“It was a calling. It was the calling that God told me to do it this way,” she told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “We always said we were gonna do it in an uncommon, transformational way.”
“This has been a calling, not a job,” Close shared again in the post-game press conference. “I’ve been saying it all day, but I don’t even know how else to say it — it’s immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine. So I’m really grateful.”
As Close centers her life and coaching career on selfless love and faith, she continues to guide UCLA and fulfill what she views as a higher calling to serve others.
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