Cori Close has turned UCLA women’s basketball into a national power, but her most important work takes place outside of the scorebook. The renowned coach’s distinctive talent for nurturing players comes from within — an amalgam of California roots, athletic lineage, and abiding Christian faith that grounds her coaching belief system.

The secret to Close’s success isn’t complicated play calls; it’s the plain truths learned around the kitchen table of her family, about perseverance and faith and service that now guide one of college basketball’s most respected programs.

What Is Cori Close’s Ethnicity?

The head coach from UCLA was born into a sports family in Milpitas, California, and is of White American descent. Don, her father, a former small-college football player, fulfilled two roles in one, as an educator and a coach, which fostered an environment that married competition with the cultivation of character. This is what he said when Cori dwelled on something: “Get out of the pity pond and make a difference.”

Her mother, Patti, had cultivated balance at home while raising Cori and her two sisters.

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Though few details are available about her extended family, this upbringing clearly shaped Close’s philosophy as a coach. Those values absorbed in that Northern California household, where athletic success never eclipsed personal development — now resonate through UCLA’s program, shaping players as people first.

What Is Cori Close’s Nationality? Where Was She Born?

Close is as West Coast basketball as they come. Born in Milpitas on July 29, 1971, her basketball life has been lived entirely in California. She set records at UC Santa Barbara as a player, and then moved on to coach at Westwood.

Her coaching resume is akin to a California basketball road map: starting as an assistant at UCLA, then nine seasons back at UCSB, and now leading the Bruins. Not even Close’s seven seasons at Florida State could wash out those Golden State roots and Close eventually dove back in to establish her legacy at the flagship university of her home state.

What Religion Does Cori Close Follow?

Close’s Christian faith grounds and guides her in her coaching odyssey. A childhood spent immersed in religious life turned into personal conviction over a college career interrupted by injury. Her ruptured Achilles tendon was her spiritual awakening, discarding an athletic identity and exposing a greater purpose.

Her approach is now guided by two principles: the verse 2 Corinthians 12:9 about strength in weakness, and her personal mantra that  “…I need to love people right where they are and I need to just trust God with this. It is not my job to convert people; it is not my job to convince. My job is to ‘act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with my God’ (Micah 6:8) and to ‘be prepared to give an account for the hope that lies within me’ (1 Peter 3:15).” This ethos has been the foundation of a UCLA program that is celebrated with the same reverence for its culture as its competitiveness.

From her California roots to her Christian convictions, each layer of Cori Close’s background has enriched UCLA’s cross-cultural culture of excellence, on the court and off.