Two weeks after Carla Berube sent shockwaves through the world of Ivy League hoops by announcing her departure from Princeton to take the reins at Northwestern, Princeton’s athletics director, John Mack, announced the hiring of Lauren Gosselin, who had been associate head coach under Berube, to become the eleventh head coach in the history of the program Wednesday.
“I am very excited about this next chapter for our women’s basketball program,” said Mack in a press release issued by Princeton on Wednesday evening. “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.”
Gosselin has served on Princeton’s coaching staff as an assistant since coming over to Old Nassau with Berube from Tufts in the summer of 2019. For the past two seasons, Gosselin has served in the No. 2 role of associate head coach, in which she has overseen all operations at Princeton, including scheduling, recruiting, and running the offense.
“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,” Mack said. “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.”
“It is an incredible honor to be named the next head coach of Princeton Women’s Basketball,” said Gosselin in Princeton’s Wednesday press release. “From the moment I stepped on campus seven years ago, I fell in love with everything this university stands for – especially our mission of ‘Education Through Athletics’. My time here has proven that it is the people who make this place truly special. Our student-athletes, alumni, staff, and campus community represent the very best, and I cannot wait to lead, learn and continue to grow alongside them. This is a special opportunity, and I am eager to carry the torch with pride and lead this storied program into its next chapter. There is no better place to develop champions – on the court, in the classroom, and in life.”
Gosselin’s hiring represents a step in the direction of continuity for Princeton.
The former three-time All-American and national champion at Bentley – a 2014 graduate – played a primary role in recruiting and developing Princeton’s sensational Class of 2027, which includes All-Ivy starters Fadima Tall, Skye Belker, Ashley Chea and Olivia Hutcherson.
All four juniors averaged double-digit scoring this past season for the Orange and Black, and Gosselin’s hiring probably cements their return to Princeton to defend their title as Ivy League champions during their senior campaigns.
With Gosselin at the helm, the Tigers also are unlikely to change their systems drastically, including the team’s “Get Stops” emphasis on defense that Berube instilled during her seven-year tenure at Princeton.
Gosselin is expected to continue to prioritize scheduling an extremely challenging nonconference schedule, an art form she perfected as associate head coach under Berube. The Tigers have used the nonconference part of the season to develop an NCAA Tournament-worthy resume, a factor that helped propel the Tigers to an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament in 2025.
Where might Gosselin depart from Berube’s tendencies as head coach?
It’s possible that Gosselin might choose to place a greater emphasis on using the transfer portal to stock Princeton’s roster.
Berube eschewed using the portal largely because she couldn’t find a way to navigate Princeton’s stringent admissions policies. But given the churn in rosters throughout the world of college basketball today, Gosselin may have no choice but to work with Princeton’s admissions team to find a pathway to bringing in transfers the way Columbia, Yale and other Ivy programs have in recent years.
Gosselin’s hiring also extends the Princeton trend of hiring outside of its own alumni network when it comes to the vaunted women’s program.
When Berube was hired as the tenth coach of Princeton women’s basketball seven years ago, it was widely believed that Addie Micir, a former standout Princeton player and assistant coach, was the runner-up in the hiring process.
Micir, who has served as the head coach at Lehigh for the past five years, was whispered to be in the running once again for the Princeton position. But on Monday, Lehigh announced that it had signed Micir to an extension, which likely cleared the path for Princeton to elevate Gosselin.