UCLA head coach Cori Close is amazed by the growth of the women’s game over her 15-year coaching career with the Bruins. But she remains cautious of where it’s going in the new NCAA landscape, which many have categorized as an unregulated Wild West.
“I do think we need to be really careful that we don’t crush our game by being too greedy [and] by not having good boundaries and infrastructure,” Close said on Yahoo Sports’ Hoops 360 podcast on Wednesday.
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Close called the introduction of name, image, likeness in 2021 “long overdue,” and has spoken consistently about issues around transfer portal timing, as well as other NCAA rulings impacting the sport. But she isn’t a fan of the new landscape that allows unchecked player movement, often with big paychecks as the motivator, and which carries down-level impact.
“We just have no boundaries at all,” Close said. “There’s no salary cap. There’s no competitive equity. And what’s happening is, the people that are losing I’m worried will slow down the growth of the game because it’s shutting out high school athletes. It’s really taking away their percentages of opportunities. And I don’t like it.”
Cori Close is set to lose her best player, Lauren Betts, to the WNBA Draft this spring. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
(Michael Hickey via Getty Images)
Transfers used to be a rarity and looked down upon under the NCAA’s strict regulations limiting movement. They are now an annual reality, and players have swapped schools three or four times. Some do it for the money offered elsewhere by collectives. Coaches are left to recruit their players throughout the season or else lose them and find a way to fill the more veteran hole left behind.
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The rise of NIL and transfer rule changes have resulted in fewer four-year development situations, Close said. Fewer freshmen are given opportunities, while transfers take spots on elite rosters. And it’s not an issue on which a coach such as Close — who, in an interview with Hoops 360, focused as much on individual personal development as athletic development — can easily take a stand.
“I have a responsibility to keep our program at a championship level and I don’t think I can do it with just freshmen anymore,” Close said.
Three of UCLA’s top six contributors are transfers as the program chases its first NCAA championship and a repeat Final Four. Its 2025 Final Four berth in Tampa was the first in the NCAA era for UCLA.
All six of them are seniors, creating a massive hole Close needs to fill. She said she can’t and won’t replace them with six freshmen, as she would have in the past with larger recruiting classes. Instead, Close and the coaching staff will enter the offseason seeking four to five transfers, with a smaller three-to-four-player freshman class.
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“We have no interest in rebuilding,” Close said. “We really are intent on reloading. My responsibility is to adjust in the landscape that I’m given and to lead well no matter what. But the reality is, I have to do that whether I like it or not.”
The No. 2-ranked Bruins are losing Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, Gianna Kneepkens, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Angela Dugalić. Betts (Stanford), Leger-Walker (Washington State), Kneepkens (Utah) and Dugalić (Oregon) are all former transfers.
Betts, the reigning Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, is projected to go in the lottery of the 2026 WNBA Draft. As much as Close is focused on high schoolers moving up into college in a good position, she also has eyes on that next step and the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations that center around a revenue-sharing structure.
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“I’m really pulling for the WNBA right now to have a CBA that’s going to help us continue to build the momentum of that league,” Close said. “I just think when money comes in and greed comes in, you have a danger of losing what’s really special about the growth of the sport. And I’m hopeful, but I’m also really, I’m warning people, we have to make hard, right choices in order to protect the integrity of our game as well as the growth of our game. And if we get greedy and we get too selfish, we’re going to lose it before we know it.”