Staff Q&A: Meet Ari Wideman

New women’s basketball head coach joins campus for 2024-25 academic year

By California State University, Bakersfield

July 17^th, 2024

How did you get into the athletics world? Have you always been focused on basketball?

I started playing basketball when I was 5. My dad loves it and kind of introduced me to the game. I played competitively, probably since I was 15, then I played at Bishop Amat. It’s a private school in La Puente in Southern California. I earned a scholarship to the University of Nevada in Reno, so I played there for all four years. By my sophomore year, I knew I wanted to get into coaching and stay around the game. I really care about relationships and people, and it's the way that I get to serve. My position coach is the head coach at Oklahoma State now. Being around her and her energy and demanding excellence was something that I was attracted to. I was like, “Okay, I want to do this.” I played overseas after that. I played in China and Iceland, and then I was like, ‘I want to be a coach one day and preferably a young head coach one day.’

[NOTE: While she didn’t get the GA job right away, she eventually worked at Prairie View A&M, a small Division I school in Texas, San Jose State University, Arkansas State and finally, the University of Toledo.]

In late March, I got the call about this job. I interviewed, and fortunately, I got it. I know there were a good amount of people that applied, but I guess I was the best fit and it worked out. I’m very blessed to be here.

What was it about Bakersfield that spoke to you and made you realize this was the fit for you?

I'm not going to lie; when I first heard about CSUB, I was like, ‘what?’ When I was little, there wasn't much out here and then one of my former players had a house here and she's like, ‘it's developing a ton.’ I played down here in college, so I knew a little bit about it and I just wanted to bring some new energy, something fresh in terms of coaching and trying to get these players to play extremely hard and represent this community in an elite way.

Coach McCall did a great job for a long time, and I'm grateful for everything that he's done for this program, but sometimes change is needed, and I was just a product of that. I love rebuilding. I love places that seem a little desolate and like the outside world is like, ‘Oh, why would you take that job?’ I love projects like that, that you want to turn around because it looks like maybe nothing to the outside, but how can we make it really special and elite? The vision is to bring a championship here.

What does the rebuild look like for you, and what do you hope the team will accomplish?

The first year we can't sacrifice culture — we have to recruit high-character players who are going to represent CSUB with class. I'll sacrifice talent for a good person who works hard, and so we have to be very diligent in our recruiting and make sure that we're getting quality people now. We have some returners who committed to staying. I got the job a little late, but they were open to staying and open to the vision that I have. I want to see that this team's growing, that they value discipline and accountability, high energy, doing things the right way.

You have to be consistent, and so my mantra is work to win; you work to win every single day and that's just to let our daily habits match our goals. If not, we shouldn't expect to win because we haven't done the work. I believe everybody in this world — not just basketball — has a skill, and you need to maximize it and be on your craft because you just never know when your time's up. If you're skilled, prepared and confident, I believe that we should be open and expectant to winning. It's not guaranteed, but we can be open and expect it because we've done the work.

What do you hope the community sees from the outside?

I just hope the community knows that we want to represent them really well. The team is going to work extremely hard. We're going to play up tempo fast. We share the ball. We're selfless. We're good teammates. You can tell a lot about a team by the bench and their culture. I want this to be a place where, you know, people see that we truly love the game and we love people.

Life is about two things: it's who you are and who you help. Be a good person and try to help and serve others. I think that we can just be a light here based on basketball, but also how we treat people. I told them if you're in public, like you need to be saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Don't expect anything. If you see somebody struggling, go help them out.

What is a typical day like for you when it comes to practice and gearing up for game day?

In the summer right now, we're in workout(s), then the girls lift and we'll have staff meetings. Now when we're in season, we’ll have academic meetings in the morning with our players. Each of us have to make sure that they're doing well in the classroom. We have community service. There are so many things that are not basketball. We’ll be practicing and doing our film prep. We're going to value scouting at a high level to make sure we're ready for our opponents, and we’ll go from there.

What are you most looking forward to this season?

This year, I'm most looking forward to seeing how these guys adapt to how we want to do things here. I'd love to see it come to fruition, that they want to buy in. The best and quickest way to get buy in is if the players see that what you're doing works. I'd love to see that. I want to see progress in this group. I want to see that they have a love for competing and I want to see that they win, that winning is fun, so I want them to experience that. I want them to have the best student-athlete experience that they can have!

What are a few fun facts about yourself that you want people to know?

I love CrossFit. I love In-N-Out. If I had to have my last meal, it'd be a double-double and animal-style fries. I love hiking, paddle boarding, anything outside, being active. And I love reading; definitely a big and avid reader.

Is there anything else you would like people to know?

I want people to know I’m going to give everything I have to this program, to these players, to this community, and I just hope that they support us as well. It’s a process to build something but I want people to love and support us, the players. Know that we’re doing our best every day to represent this women’s basketball program at CSUB in the best way possible.