Finding her path through a torn ACL injury, Lindsay Gottlieb has done it all. The USC coach is in her third season. Her presence as head coach has completely revitalized the program as her leadership led USC to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. Her dedication has built such a strong team that plays dominantly with Juju Watkins as the key player.

They defeated Baylor in the Sweet 16 and took a step closer to the national title. While the Trojans gear up for their next battle against UConn in the Elite 8, let’s take a look at USC’s hardworking and dedicated head coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s family.

Meet the Gottlieb family

Balancing her life as USC’s head coach, Lindsay is happily married to Patrick Martin. The two dated for a year and got engaged in March 2017. Being from the same hometown, the two shared a common love for the game. Patrick proposed to Lindsay after getting the blessing of Lindsay’s best friend, Connecticut Sun star Kristine Anigwe. Eventually, they tied the knot on September 23rd, 2018.

Patrick works from home as a finance entrepreneur, providing remote work flexibility. Before that, he worked for the Genetics Diagnostics company in San Francisco as a senior finance supervisor. The couple welcomed their first child, Jordan, on May 7th, 2017. As a result, he had the privilege of attending the wedding of his parents.

The Gottlieb family has its roots in the legal sector. Lindsay’s father, Stephen Gottlieb, was a New York state judge. Similarly, her uncle was a lawyer. However, Lindsay had her mind set on basketball from early on. Coming back to her life with her husband, Lindsay, and Patrick’s relationship has set a remarkable example of betting on each other’s dreams and aspirations.

Gottlieb’s son, Jordan, became an integral part of her life as he visited the campus every day, taking naps and playing in coaches’ offices. He took his first steps while running after the players on the court during their practice sessions.

The now 6-year-old was already practicing his moves with the ball between his legs and draining long-distant shots on the Pop-A-Shot game in the garage. While Gottlieb was busy with her trip to Utah and Colorado, there was a whole adventure planned for Jordan at home that included basketball games and a whale-watching trip where he spotted 17 dolphins.

Then came the time when Gottlieb gave birth to her baby daughter, Reese, on October 15th, 2022. It was her second season at USC and the timing of that was tricky for Gottlieb as she was nursing, training with the team, prepping for the upcoming tourneys, making calls while she dropped Jordan to school, and looking after her well-being as well.

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Jordan, being a bit older to understand his surroundings, got integrated into Gottlieb’s work with ease. He could easily come to watch games and visit her office after school. Reese’s addition to the family called for a quest for a whole new routine.

Lindsay Gottlieb building a work-life balance

Although it wasn’t an easy and ideal blueprint for the working mothers out there, Lindsay did it every day because of her love for her family and her team, her sport. Before Reese’s birth, the Gottlieb-Martin family went into a routine transformation, similar was the case with the Trojans and their head coach.

It was just like she was getting ready for a next-level battle of maintaining a balance between family and her work. Hence, she detailed a plan to keep her players on track and minimize the time that she was spending away from her newborn. Moreover, she re-arranged the teams’ preseason training schedule and put plays into motion during the summer before she left. She kept coaching until the final weeks before her due date.

Despite being pregnant, she got out of her comfort zone and would sit on an exercise ball in the gym while the team went through drills. Even after she was out, handling the responsibilities of the assistant head coach Beth Burns, she transitioned the in-person talk into Zoon meetings, texts, and emails.

Her job has been that of a head coach, however, her internal fire burns like an insatiable hunger that only the best players have. This is the reason she never settled for a job that required a 4-5 day work. “I made the decision not to be the mom that has a 9-to-5 where you’re at every activity on the weekends. But he gets to come with me a lot and he gets to do some cool things,” she told the LA Times last year.

But she was not alone in this, she had the support of her husband at her disposal, along with an au pair who kept everything organized back home, and a doula, who was claimed to be the baby whisperer and would pack everything from blankets to toys to other things for Reese whenever Gottlieb used to set out for a tourney.