Fire Whalen!
- Thread starter Block M
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They are down 30, so why would she bother?
Whalen's in her second year. Remember when Pitino had one of, if not the, worst records in program history in his 3rd season? Remember how he sold (some) people that the Gophers would be bad in year 3 and that he told the AD that in advance so it was supposedly ok. Think about how ridiculous that is: take over a program that been to 3 NCAA's in the past 5 years, miss the tournament his first 2 years, then put together a terrible year 3 and it was supposed to be "ok" ? He's acted like he wasn't responsible for the state of the program for a long, long time. If people could look past their affection for his personality, he would have been gone years ago. Whalen is local legend, she should get 20 years for that if Pitino got 7 for being the son of a good coach who never coached for a Minnesota team.
watertown 1987 guy n
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she’ll build a powerhouse here, in time
short ornery norwegian
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FWIW, the Gopher women have a 5-star top-50 recruit for next year and a former 5-star recruit is transferring to MN from Syracuse. at one point, the new recruiting class was ranked 18th in the country by ESPN. Let's see how this plays out.
Gopherlife
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Thanks. If, in two years, the team is playing this poorly and getting blown out by 55 points, then she should absolutely be fired. But, unless they're only winning around 10% of their games in the 3rd season, I believe a college basketball coach deserves at least 4 seasons to prove their worth. It just takes time to mold the program to their preferences.
GringaGopher
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No doubt this year has been brutal for the women's team. Whalen has some taller and talented recruits coming next year and it's too early to know if she will be successful. She has won at every level since high school as a player but we know that does not guarantee success as a coach. Cheryl Reeve talks about mentoring her and IMHO she will be successful here. Go Gophers !
forever a gopher
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Hiring Whalen with zero coaching history was a risk. It also think because of this, it was generally accepted this was a long/slow play with the hope of striking gold. She should have at least 4 years, unless there are extenuating circumstances. Like others have said, there are reinforcements coming next season. They should be showing improvement next year.
Not exactly a weak team. I think they went as high as #12 in the AP rankings last year with Whalen admitting she didn’t know what she was doing. I think that’s talent filling the coaching void. Also, the weak early schedule probably had something to do with fooling the AP.
Whalen has height on the team, some she even recruited herself in Sconiers. She just doesn’t play them.
Ball Like A Boss
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Well that won't be next season. The team will be too young and inexperienced. We also can't forget about the possible transfers from the team.
Ball Like A Boss
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Reinforcements? ?
It's too bad that the wonderful ladies that have committed to the team have to wait for this "long/slow play with the hope of striking gold" or the possible 4 years the coaching staff needs to see "if" they can win. If they're smart they will take their eligibility and run ?
bball_craz_31
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They went 10-1 vs a much stronger RPI/SOS non-conference schedule this year did they not?
Also before this fire Whalen things gets wayyy out of hand. Maybe do research and compare other head coaches first two seasons combined records. If Gophers lose on Wednesday they will be 15-15 and her combined record for 2 seasons will be 36-26. Not great, but now lets compare to some others
Karen Aston at Texas-Combined first two seasons- 34-30
Steph White at Vanderbilt-Combined first two seasons- 21-40
Jonathan Tsipis at Wisconsin-Combined first two seasons- 18-43
Tina Thompson at Virginia-Combined first two seasons- 25-34 (currently)
-Started last year, same year as Whalen, had D1 assistant coaching experience and also took over a team that was an NCAA tournament team the year before she arrived just liked Whalen did.
I'm guessing people are saying those are not strong programs, so lets look at some strong programs.
Dawn Staley at South Carolina-Combined first two seasons- 24-33
Adia Barnes at Arizona-Combined First two seasons- 20-40
but right, we should all judge Whalen off two years correct? WRONG.
Yes she needs to be growing as a coach. I'm not saying some things don't need to change, but get educated before you run your mouth about how "bad" she has been.
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There’s more than one board?
CutDownTheNet
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The men’s team is ranked 12th in the Big Ten. How is that any better than the women’s team that is ranked 11th in the Big Ten (and that due largely to several couple-point losses that would have been wins if the Destiny Pitts fiasco had not thrown the team for a loop). DP is gone now so we have to move on without her and the graduating seniors.
The women shoot threes a ton better than the men do (although you need to discount that a bit due mostly to the smaller ball and partly due to couple-inches shorter three-point line). Certainly though, the women need to learn how to play a faster, more slashing game. A game more like, say, Maryland or Iowa. We’ll see if Whalen can teach that. If I recall, when Whalen played here with McCarville, wasn’t their hallmark “a faster, more slashing game”? Yet, it might be more difficult to teach that, than to do it yourself.
Oh wait a minute! Isn’t it equally true that the men need to learn how to play a faster, more slashing game? Without a slashing Amir Coffey, they’re pretty much a guy who can dunk plus 4 guys who can rarely get him the ball, nor shoot threes.
Maybe the men’s team still has a shot at making the NCAAs? At 12th place in the B1G? Perhaps, but if so, that’s only indicative that the NET ranking system is pretty much just as bogus as the RPI, only in a different way.
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Vanderbilt: Stephanie White, experienced WNBA coach and player has been at Vanderbilt for four years with some star players. Their record this year is 4-12 with previous losing seasons. Lindsay needs time and talent.
It’s not about comparing records to other teams and coaches. Each situation is different. It’s about evaluating this team on it’s own merits. It doesn’t matter what’s going on anywhere else.
Has that happened this year?
One thing that definitely needs to change is your spelling of “don’t”.
Well, I’m educated enough to know she hasn’t been good. I’m educated enough to know that the defense has looked horrendous. I’m educated enough to know the ball movement is poor. I’m educated enough to know that the best player left the team, most likely for avoidable reasons. I’m educated enough to know the talent level of players isn’t the main reason why this team turned out as bad as it did.
I know it doesn’t make a difference to you because you’re obsessed with me, but I didn’t start this “Fire Whalen” topic. I know it’s not going to happen, so I wouldn’t bother. I was just pointing out that the team isn’t as untalented or “short” as it seems. I was one of the least negative posters in this topic, and yet you chose me to respond to. What does that mean?
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GringaGopher
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Again, nobody on Gopherhole knows that the reason DP left was avoidable. None of us know the full story on both sides . I agree with your assessment of our poor defense and lack of ball movement. Two years is simply not enough time to know if Whalen will develop into a high quality coach. Go Gophers !
Maryland is coming off a 43 pt win at bubble team Purdue and a 34 pt win against top 20 Iowa. Yes yesterday got out of hand but it really shows us how much better these title contenders are then good teams.
Why does it have to be a long/slow process? Theres a transfer market that the staff will be exploring too, theres a grad transfer center that according to people in the know is gonna be transferring in unless somethings changed. I wouldnt be surprised to see them go after multiple grad transfers.Reinforcements? ?
It's too bad that the wonderful ladies that have committed to the team have to wait for this "long/slow play with the hope of striking gold" or the possible 4 years the coaching staff needs to see "if" they can win. If they're smart they will take their eligibility and run ?
MennoSota
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I read an article about Paige Bueckers going to UConn and critics saying that Geno Auriemma can't win championships without the best players. Geno's response: "No Shit!" You can't win national championships without getting the best players.
Yesterday the only Minnesota player that even came close to competing at Maryland's level was Tai Bello. The rest were out matched by pure talent. However, that is no excuse for 30+ turnovers. Whalen has to own the lack of preparation for yesterday's game.
If yesterday is the snapshot then Whalen should be gone asap. I don't care about her Minnesota pedigree. However, I don't think we have enough data to declare yesterday's embarrassment a norm instead of an outlier.
Yesterday the only Minnesota player that even came close to competing at Maryland's level was Tai Bello. The rest were out matched by pure talent. However, that is no excuse for 30+ turnovers. Whalen has to own the lack of preparation for yesterday's game.
If yesterday is the snapshot then Whalen should be gone asap. I don't care about her Minnesota pedigree. However, I don't think we have enough data to declare yesterday's embarrassment a norm instead of an outlier.
bball_craz_31
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Well she has wins over ranked Syracuse, ranked Arizona State (who beat Oregon and Oregon State this year), the double overtime win over Rutgers, and Notre Dame (who just beat Florida State yesterday) on her resume as wins.
SpaceJunkie
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Any coach given a Top-25 team should be able to at least randomly win one or two games against decent teams a year; only terrible head coaches can take Top-25 teams and not even make the NCAA Tournament. Whalen also has going winless against Illinois (responsible for half of their Big Ten wins in the past two years), zero NCAA Tournament appearances, zero WNIT championships, and the biggest blowout loss in program history on her resume.