Ignatius L Hoops
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2015
- Messages
- 10,779
- Reaction score
- 3,612
- Points
- 113
https://www.minnpost.com/sports/201...doesnt-mean-us-decision-hire-her-without-risk
Only about 200 fans braved the freezing rain and the approaching snowstorm to attend the announcement, but Whalen had plenty of friends in the floor seats. Minnesota Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve led a large turnout of Lynx staffers. There was Lynx teammate Seimone Augustus, who was shocked to hear Whalen got the job and cracked open a bottle of wine to celebrate; former U Coach Pam Borton; Kelly Roysland Curry, head coach at Macalester and Whalen’s former U teammate; Rachel Banham, who idolized Whalen before breaking her U scoring record; and U football and basketball coaches P.J. Fleck and Richard Pitino...
...It’s a risk on both sides. Whalen knows the game, and Reeve trusts her implicitly. In the final minutes of the Game 5 championship victory over Los Angeles last year at Williams Arena, it was Whalen, not Reeve, running the huddle during a timeout. And it was Whalen, along with Maya Moore, who delivered the Lynx to a fourth WNBA title in seven years...
But there’s a lot more to college coaching than Xs and Os. Whalen has never recruited; never assembled a staff; never had to fight football and men’s basketball for resources; never had to discipline a selfish player or tell obnoxious parents to back off.
...Expect Whalen to hire a former Division 1 head coach as her lead assistant, someone trustworthy to organize things while Whalen plays this summer for the Lynx. It probably won’t be Borton, a successful businesswoman and executive coach who responded to that question with an enthusiastic, “Hell, no!” repeated twice more for emphasis. Whalen likely will lean on Borton and Reeve for guidance, along with Mike Thibault of the Washington Mystics, Whalen’s first WNBA coach in Connecticut...
...
Only about 200 fans braved the freezing rain and the approaching snowstorm to attend the announcement, but Whalen had plenty of friends in the floor seats. Minnesota Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve led a large turnout of Lynx staffers. There was Lynx teammate Seimone Augustus, who was shocked to hear Whalen got the job and cracked open a bottle of wine to celebrate; former U Coach Pam Borton; Kelly Roysland Curry, head coach at Macalester and Whalen’s former U teammate; Rachel Banham, who idolized Whalen before breaking her U scoring record; and U football and basketball coaches P.J. Fleck and Richard Pitino...
...It’s a risk on both sides. Whalen knows the game, and Reeve trusts her implicitly. In the final minutes of the Game 5 championship victory over Los Angeles last year at Williams Arena, it was Whalen, not Reeve, running the huddle during a timeout. And it was Whalen, along with Maya Moore, who delivered the Lynx to a fourth WNBA title in seven years...
But there’s a lot more to college coaching than Xs and Os. Whalen has never recruited; never assembled a staff; never had to fight football and men’s basketball for resources; never had to discipline a selfish player or tell obnoxious parents to back off.
...Expect Whalen to hire a former Division 1 head coach as her lead assistant, someone trustworthy to organize things while Whalen plays this summer for the Lynx. It probably won’t be Borton, a successful businesswoman and executive coach who responded to that question with an enthusiastic, “Hell, no!” repeated twice more for emphasis. Whalen likely will lean on Borton and Reeve for guidance, along with Mike Thibault of the Washington Mystics, Whalen’s first WNBA coach in Connecticut...
...
