Andy Greder: In Year Two, Lindsay Whalen is a Wiser Coach

[Ignatius L Hoops]

In Year Two, Gophers’ Lindsay Whalen is a wiser coach

MINNEAPOLIS — Gophers women’s basketball player Destiny Pitts sat alone on the edge of Williams Arena’s raised floor before Wednesday’s practice when head coach Lindsay Whalen approached.

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Andy Greder:

After Whalen made a quick and multi-tasking transition from legendary Lynx point guard to be a rookie college coach last year, Whalen’s players now point to her deeper relationships with them as a primarily improvements for the second-year coach.

“She understands each player more,” said Gadiva Hubbard, who sat out last year with a foot injury. “She started to learn each player more and how to coach each person. … She is building relationships a lot more, which I love!”

Gophers post player Taiye Bello said there were “growing pains” that are standard with a coaching change. Athletics Director Mark Coyle hired Whalen after Marlene Stollings left for Texas Tech.

“I feel like when (Whalen) first got here she didn’t know when to yell at us and when not to,” Pitts said. “When she was a player, she had never been in that role, where she had to kind of get on one of us.”

Hubbard said she wants to hear directly from Whalen or her staff about what she needs to improve on. “I will go do it right then and there in practice,” she said.

Last year, Whalen was struck by the amount of work necessary for the job, and she has since honed in on her relationships with players.

“It’s what it’s all about,” she said. “There has been times when I’ve been really good with that and there are times when I have to keep working and keep improving.”

Whalen also better understands how opponents will defend her team, sharing how Northwestern did a “triangle and two” defense on Pitts and Kenisha Bell last year. She is not sure if the Wildcats will use that again Thursday, but if they do, she says the Gophers are ready for it now.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

That part about "honing in on her relationships with her players".....

 

[Whytetale]

3 players didn't travel ?