'A scary thing'
Standing at a podium at midcourt of the Galen Center in February, Gottlieb choked up when she begin to speak on Forbes at USC's senior day, the former Cal coach recounting the time she left the program for a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Part of me going and doing a really scary thing for me, was that someday, someone like Kenzie and all other young women would feel slightly more empowered to do their scary thing. And maybe one day, someone like Kenzie, could be in a head-coaching job as a female, to be a head coach in the NBA or to a GM in the NBA,” Gottlieb announced to raucous cheers.
“Well, sooner than later, she did her scary thing,” Gottlieb continued, as Forbes bowed her head with emotion, “which was leaving Cal — which was also leaving home for her — and going to Harvard.”
The tears flow easy between the two. When Gottlieb called Forbes that summer in 2019, delivering the news she took the Cavaliers job, they both started crying, Forbes remembered. She was a blue-chip recruit who'd committed to Gottlieb out of Folsom, an instant contributor as a shooter off the bench at Cal; the coach's departure completely transformed things.
“Damn,” Forbes thought then, “basketball can just kinda blow up in front of your face.”
She entered the portal and took visits to Duke and Gonzaga, among other programs. It didn't feel quite right. Forbes' mind was broader, veering away from basketball, rattled. She simply wanted happiness, security and a good degree. And she thought of her brother Mason, who was happily hooping at Harvard.
When she reached out to coaches there, she was told the transfer deadline had passed, and she'd have to wait until the next semester's window. And she'd have to go to community college to get an associate's degree. And she'd have to finish that associate's degree in one year instead of two. And she'd have to get straight A's, because she once got a C in high school, and this was Harvard.
“My parents wanted me to just — they were like, `Go to Duke!'” Forbes recounted, laughing.
Her parents knew that wasn't going to sway her, of course. When Forbes was little, she played tackle football in an all-boys league for four years, the starting quarterback of the Mighty Mites. There were a lot of ticked-off fathers, dad Sterling Forbes remembered, that there was a girl running the offense. She didn't care.
“I'm so stubborn, honestly,” Forbes smiled, sitting in front of her locker years later. “I was just like, `I'ma (expletive) get in there. No one can make me go back on this decision.'” emails, because stubbornness won out. That May, an email popped into her inbox at 8 a.m. one day: a financial-aid offer from Harvard. Forbes was confused. “Why'd I get this? I haven't gotten in yet.” She furiously scavenged through her messages, only to find a message from Harvard a day earlier.
She'd been accepted. She completely missed it.
She ran downstairs screaming, waking up her entire house.
It wasn't that easy, of course, because nothing ever has been. When Forbes finally arrived on campus, Harvard's season was shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic, wiping out another year of organized hoops.
In the two years that followed, though, she grew from an out-of-shape nearretiree to an all-around force, averaging 14 points a game in two years at Harvard. Her competitiveness, Harvard coach Carrie Moore said, drove the Crimson every day for two years before her transfer to USC.
And as a Trojan, she played like she had nothing to lose, because she'd already seen everything one could see in college basketball.
“I've been waiting my whole life, but honestly my whole college career to make a deep run in March Madness, because I always felt like I was – I always felt like I deserved to be on