As a standout basketball student-athlete, NCAA postgraduate intern, graduate assistant and now an associate head coach at Princeton, Lauren Gosselin has grown to excel at making meaningful connections and taking advantage of them at the right moment. She honed this skill during her time as a student-athlete and postgraduate intern, preparing her for success in a career she loves.
Before becoming a leader from the sidelines, Gosselin — then Lauren Battista — was a leader on the court. Playing for Hall of Fame coach Barbara Stevens at Bentley, a Division II university in eastern Massachusetts, she become one of the most decorated student-athletes to ever come through the program, finishing as the school's all-time leading scorer, with 2,112 points.
A three-time Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-American, Gosselin was awarded Division II National Player of the Year honors during her senior season in 2013-14, when her team went 35-0 and won the national championship.
Gosselin averaged 17.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists during Bentley's undefeated championship season. (Photo courtesy of Bentley)
"As a coach now, I realize how ridiculously hard that is to do," Gosselin said. "I think as a player, you're in the moment, and you just take it as it comes. But now looking at years of having teams here at Princeton and other places, it is very difficult to not lose. So to have a group that just bought into that and did the little things to make it happen … those will be some of my favorite memories forever."
Gosselin did not just excel on the basketball court, either. As a double major in marketing and liberal studies, she finished with a 3.96 GPA. Gosselin earned three Academic All-American selections from College Sports Communicators and was named the Division II Academic All-American of the Year for 2013-14.
"We won a lot, and I happened to be an important piece of that," Gosselin said. "But those awards wouldn't have come had I been playing on a different team. So 100% of that credit goes to my teammates, my coaches and just the success that we had as a program."
Among the list of several other awards Gosselin earned, with the help of those around her, was the NCAA Today's Top 10 award, given to exceptional former student-athletes for their athletic and academic achievements, as well as their contributions to their campuses and community.
While accepting the award at the NCAA Convention, Gosselin met some of the postgraduate interns who were working at the event. During the brief interactions they had with one another, the interns encouraged her to learn more about the program and apply. Initially unsure of what area fit her best, Gosselin took some time to decide which positions to apply for.
"At first I was a little skeptical, like, 'Do I want to do women's basketball? Would it be beneficial to do something different and experience different sports or a different department altogether?'" Gosselin said. "But part of me was like, 'Well, I know basketball. I'll do really well in this role. Let me put that my top one that I'm interested in.'"
Gosselin earned an interview and eventually the role of Division I women's basketball intern in the 2015-16 cohort. That particular year, Gosselin experienced the women's basketball championships for all three divisions hosted at one site in Indianapolis. Working on an event of such magnitude, Gosselin appreciated just how quickly she was given a chance to make an impact with her work.
"As the intern, you never know how much trust they'll put in you to lead things," Gosselin said. "The people that I worked for really did put trust in me to not only come up with new ideas but execute them and just run with things."
Gosselin (14) celebrates on the bench alongside her head coach, Barbara Stevens, during a game. (Photo courtesy of Bentley)
One of the new ideas that Gosselin ran with was a ticketing package for former women's basketball student-athletes. Alongside her marketing director and vice president, she created a unique experience that included discounted tickets, swag, special events and even a three-on-three tournament.
"I actually played in the (three-on-three) tournament the following year … so it was fun to come up with a new idea and see if it would stick," Gosselin said.
In addition to her ticketing project, Gosselin was able to put her hands in several other areas, from events operations to the tournament selection committee.
"I just got to touch a lot of different things," Gosselin said. "I feel like, even now, as a college coach whose team is trying to vie for an NCAA tournament spot every year, having that knowledge of like how selections happen and what the committee is looking for … I still pull on those experiences."
As the championships were played and her internship wound down, Gosselin's ability to take advantage of the network she built during her internship paid off. When she expressed interest in going back to school to earn her master's degree and also pursue an interest in coaching, Jerrell Price, then a women's basketball coordinator at the national office, referred Gosselin to an open graduate assistant position at Boston College.
In 2018, after earning her master's in leadership and administration and strengthening her experience as a coach, Gosselin earned her first assistant coaching position at Tufts, where she worked under a familiar face in Carla Berube.
"I actually met with Carla on my professional development trip," Gosselin said. "I literally sat on her couch in November of my (NCAA postgraduate) internship to talk to her about coaching and her journey and stuff like that. It's funny to think I met her as a little intern from back in the day, and now I've been working for her for seven years."
Gosselin coached under Berube at Tufts for a season before following her to Princeton in 2019, working her way up since then to associate head coach. Gosselin has helped the Tigers reach the NCAA tournament each of the past four seasons. This season will be her first one as a mother, having had her first child this summer.
Lauren Gosselin is entering her seventh season on the Princeton women's basketball coaching staff. (Photo courtesy of Princeton)
"What's fun about (coaching) is no two days are the same," Gosselin said. "At a place like Princeton, there's so much pride, not only with our women's basketball program and the success that we've had, but the university as a whole. No matter where we go, if you're wearing Princeton, someone's going to stop you and say, 'Go Tigers.' It's fun to be an ambassador of that and hopefully make a positive impact on the lives of our players so that when they graduate from here, they think as fondly of their experience as I do of my college basketball experience."
As Gosselin embarks on another season, she will continue to rely on what she considers the greatest skill she learned as an NCAA postgraduate intern — how to create meaningful connections.
"As scary as it might be sometimes, you never know what those connections can lead to," Gosselin said. "One of the scariest things as a new coach is like picking up the phone and calling that recruit for the first time or that coach for the first time, or whoever it is. But if you have something in common to connect about, it is super natural and organic. (It's) definitely something that has taken time to get comfortable with, but I got to practice it so much during the internship."
