Head Coach Lauren Gosselin

Story On Lauren Gosselin's Hiring As Princeton Head Women's Basketball Coach 

TigerBlog was in a hotel in New Haven the night before the men's lacrosse game at Yale a few weeks ago. 

The Tigers were hardly the only team staying there that night. There was a Division II women's basketball regional going on at Southern Connecticut State, and all eight teams were there as well.

As TB was wearing his usual "Princeton Lacrosse" gear, and since there were others similarly dressed, it was pretty clear that he was affiliated with the Department of Athletics. Armed with that knowledge, a woman in a "Bentley Basketball" sweatshirt walked up to him and asked him if he knew Lauren Gosselin.

The answer was, obviously, yes. The woman then introduced herself as Christiana Bakolas, an assistant coach at Bentley, one of the teams that was competing in the basketball tournament. 

She didn't as much introduce herself as she exploded into a conversation, in a very refreshing way. In about 30 seconds, TB thought of her as a good friend, though not as good a friend as Lauren Gosselin, about whom Christiana could not stop raving.  

It led TB to have this conversation with Gosselin. 

TB: "Met Christiana Bakolas, who says she's one of your best friends. Also, she's not very shy."
LG: "Small world. Yes, Christiana is not only one of my best friends. She was my maid of honor — the ultimate best friend! She is the best! And yes, she certainly is not shy :)"

Small world indeed. And that tells you a lot about Gosselin — genuine, caring, upbeat, lots of exclamation points and very, very competitive. Does that sound like anyone else? Hint - TB mentions her two paragraphs from now. 

This conversation happened shortly after Gosselin's team — the Princeton women's basketball team — won another Ivy League tournament championship. TB congratulated "her team" on the win and wished them look in the upcoming NCAA tournament. 

At the time, the term "her team" had a different meaning than it does today. Late yesterday afternoon came the announcement that Gosselin has officially been named as the replacement for Carla Berube as the Tiger head coach, replacing her mentor after Berube became the head coach at Northwestern two weeks ago. 

Now it really is "her team."

This is what Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack had to say about the new head coach: 

I am very excited about this next chapter for our women’s basketball program. Lauren has quickly established herself as a rising star in the coaching ranks and we are thrilled that she and her family have chosen Princeton as the place they want to be. Lauren is a tremendous recruiter, and a first-class developer of talent who has been instrumental in the growth of our student-athletes over her time at Princeton. She is also extremely connected around the country having put together our team’s top-tier schedule that has continuously been the toughest in the Ivy League and allowed our program to show its strength against the country’s top teams. I have been fortunate to watch Lauren grow and excel as a leader and colleague over my time at Princeton and I am supremely confident in her as we embark on this next step as a basketball program.

Gosselin came with Berube from Tufts, where she spent a year as an assistant. The seven years that they spent together at Princeton have been wildly successful. 

The head coach always gets the credit and the attention, but programs do not achieve the level that the Tigers have without having a great staff all around. 

You have to be happy for Berube, who has made the jump to Northwestern. Hopefully she'll have a great career there.

You also have to be happy for Lauren Gosselin. She's done what you have to do to get this opportunity, which is put in her time, learning, developing players, recruiting, figuring out what she would do the same and what she would do differently. 

Now she has the chance to show all that. 

Take it from TigerBlog. Or from Christiana Bakolas. 

Lauren Gosselin is a very easy coach for whom to root. Princeton is in great hands, again.