Tebsherany a trailblazer in operations
When Lauren Tebsherany tells people she works on a basketball staff, they tend to assume she’s part of a women’s team.
They’re surprised when they learn she’s the director of basketball operations for the Northeastern men’s squad. Tebsherany, one of just five women in Division 1 men’s basketball to have such a position, doesn’t hold it against people when they deduce incorrectly.
At the same time, she hopes there will be a point in the not-so-distant future when that’s not the assumption. She doesn’t view herself as a trailblazer, but she does take pride in paving the way for more women to work with men’s teams.
“She knows how difficult it is, and how that glass ceiling is there for females,” Northeastern coach Bill Coen said. “She has the courage to try and do it. I think a lot of people shy away from it. I admire her for that.”
Tebsherany is essentially Coen’s right hand. She oversees everything from academics to strength training to rehab to travel logistics to compliance, ensuring that it all goes as smoothly as possible.
Tebsherany, a 2013 Boston College graduate, describes herself as someone who does a little bit of everything and completes behind-the-scenes tasks that don’t fall under anyone’s job title.
“I really like the organization of it,” Tebsherany said. “I’m very, very, very Type A, almost to a fault, probably. I get that from my mother. The organization of it is what I think I’m best at and has allowed me to get to this point. I try not to let anything slip through the cracks.”
She grew up in Utica, N.Y., idolizing Gerry McNamara, the standout guard who helped lead Syracuse to the men’s national title in 2003, and rooting fervently for the Orange. Tebsherany vividly remembers watching the 2003 Selection Show with her father and brother, scribbling the seeds on paper, and ultimately winning her bracket pool at the age of 11.
In high school, she was the first player off the bench and regularly found herself shooting corner threes and playing “a little defense.” Her father was a coach, and most of the family friends were involved in basketball.
When she arrived at BC, she met up-and-coming star Kerri Shields and asked if there was a way to get involved. Shields, still her best friend over a decade later, encouraged her to come to practice.
“Kerri and I still joke to this day that I used to get her Powerade and her Aquaphor 17 times a day,” Tebsherany said. “That was the root of our friendship. It’s not a glamorous job. It never was. It’s very thankless, but I loved it.”
She eventually blossomed into the head manager and became heavily involved in film breakdown.
Tebsherany, who also interned with the Celtics media services in college, briefly considered stepping away from basketball for a year to focus on volunteering. Instead, she decided to catapult into Division 1 hoops, with help from BC director of basketball ops Chris Brann, BC women’s coach Erik Johnson, Bryant women’s coach Mary Burke, and others.
Her run at Bryant was a period she’ll always cherish, but she needed more financial stability. She found a new home at Northeastern and spent three years with the women’s program before double-dipping with both the women’s and men’s teams in 2020.
“I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone,” Tebsherany said. “It was a major grind, especially during COVID. We had game cancellations every other day. But it was exactly what I needed to get the job that I wanted, so it worked out.”
The job is exhausting, but milestones along the way frequently remind her she’s in the right field.
Tebsherany even got two trips to England out of the deal — one in June to gear up for the London Basketball Classic and another in November for the tournament itself.
Coen described her as someone who “gives a certain texture” to the program and uses tremendous care in her countless tasks. Though she doesn’t view herself as a groundbreaker, he sees her that way and made it clear how proud he is.
“She knows it’s difficult working in a man’s world, to earn the respect of not only our staff, but our administration and other staffs,” Coen said. “It’s a tall task, and she’s got the courage and the energy to make that happen.”
She called working for Coen one of the greatest privileges of her life and praised him for running his program like a family.
While excelling at the day-to-day tasks is her priority, she acknowledged that working as a woman in a predominantly male field is a point of pride for her, her family, Coen, and the program. She consistently abides by the motto: “Be who you needed when you were younger.”
Said Tebsherany: “Hopefully I can be that for another little girl who’s obsessed with college basketball.”