How No. 4 USC became an elite defense under assistant Beth Burns

LOS ANGELES — The first time Lindsay Gottlieb called, Beth Burns said no. Burns had lived several lifetimes in basketball already, a 30-plus-year coaching career with head-coaching runs at San Diego State and Ohio State. She was perfectly happy in simplicity, an associate strength and conditioning coach at Louisville.

But Gottlieb kept calling, and in 2022, Burns found herself packing up a moving van for Southern California – with one caveat. She was into her mid-60s. She wanted little...