Gopher Sports: Whalen Names First Two Members of Coaching Staff

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Ignatius L Hoops

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http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/042318aac.html


Minnesota women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Whalen has announced the first two members of her staff in Kelly Roysland and Carly Thibault-DuDonis as assistant coaches.

“Being a first-time head coach I needed people that are familiar with this territory and know what it’s all about right off the bat,” Whalen said. “Kelly has been a head coach and Carly has been a recruiting coordinator so I felt like we needed people in here as soon as possible with those backgrounds to help get things going. I feel like those two really wanted to be here and were passionate about what we were thinking about for this program’s future.

“I think that they are going to do great and will complement each other well and work really well together. They’re both just great people and they’re going to be great representatives of the university.”
 


Is this considered a lateral move for Thibault? I assume she got a big enough increase in salary to make it worth her while.
 

Shades said:
Is this considered a lateral move for Thibault? I assume she got a big enough increase in salary to make it worth her while.
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I like these two hires. I think somebody posted Whalen had around 750 K for her 3 assistants but I do not know how the amounts are usually divided among the assistants.
 

I have not seen a $ allowance for Whalen's assistants or staff. Stollings, on the other hand, received a $750,000 staff salary allowance. I assume that helped Marlene convince Larry Tidwell (chief of staff) to join her and Nikki at Texas Tech.

Thus far, I assume, Lindsay's staff wouldn't be bumping up against any kind of salary cap.
 


She has 2 hires left:

Director of Basketball Operations & Strength & Conditioning Coach.
 






bball_craz_26 said:
You cant be serious about Pam Borton?
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Not really, but it would fit the trend of keeping things in the “family”.

Director of Basketball Operations sounds like a powerful position, but exactly do they do?
 

Shades said:
Not really, but it would fit the trend of keeping things in the “family”.

Director of Basketball Operations sounds like a powerful position, but exactly do they do?
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I think I answered my own question. Borton is probably well-suited to do this kind of thing, but isn’t her plate kinda full anyway?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.te...ctor-of-basketball-operations-job-description


A large amount of the job is administrative work -- making sure the budget is in order, maintaining the daily schedule, working with Under Armour to order equiment and really anything else the head coach needs to help make the program run smoothly. The director of operations also helps maintain the academic side of things, and makes sure everything is a-okay on the compliance side of things.

Recruiting plays a big role, as well. While NCAA regulations prohibit the director of operations to recruit off-campus, they are allowed to recruit on-campus and are responsible for daily recruiting operations -- planning and coordinating visits (including how the prospect gets there and what they do when they arrive) and keeps a list of potential prospects.

There is one other notable restriction on the position -- they're not allowed to actively coach on the court during pre-season or post-season workouts or regular season practices. The director of operations can teach players through film study and learning the playbook, however, so they're not completely hands off with the players.
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<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

On the job.
 

She looks young enough to be a player herself.
 




http://www.cdispatch.com/sports/article.asp?aid=65443

Carly Thibault in the Columbus and Starkville Dispatch:


"I looked at it as an opportunity to do something really, really special and prove people wrong and build a program up the same way Johnnie (Harris) and Vic (Schaefer) have done at Mississippi State," Thibault-DuDonis said Wednesday.

It didn't take long for Whalen to reach out to see if her longtime family friend would join her at Minnesota. On Monday, Whalen announced the hiring of Thibault-DuDonis and Kelly Roysland as the first members of her coaching staff.

Thibault-DuDonis spent most of Tuesday traveling from Mississippi to Minnesota. She will work as Minnesota's recruiting coordinator and be involved in numerous facets of the program much like she was in her two seasons under Schaefer at MSU.

"It is an important step in my growth as a coach to be a part of something like that," Thibault-DuDonis said of Whalen's coaching staff...


...As for basketball, Thibault-DuDonis is confident Whalen will be able to help Minnesota reclaim its position among the nation's elite teams.


..."The exciting part about it is she has seen what it looks like to get Minnesota to the Final Four, and she led that charge as a player," Thibault-DuDonis said. "Maybe she hasn't been a head coach, but she has plenty of leadership qualities that will really translate in her new coaching role."

Schaefer praised Thibault-DuDonis for her work in all facets of the program.

"We really appreciate her two years here and all her hard work and due diligence, and we wish her the very best," Schaefer said. "If you have good people, there's always going to be a demand, and obviously we have got good people, so that is the tradeoff. I would rather have it that way than the other way."

Thibault-DuDonis believes the relationship she has with Whalen will allow her to play a similar role to the one she performed the last two seasons in MSU's runs to back-to-back NCAA title games.

"Coach Schaefer has really led me and guided me in recruiting and given me a lot of experience in recruiting to take a position that I can help somebody else now," Thibault-DuDonis said.
 

It sounds like a couple of winner hires under Coach Whalen. Gotta get used to calling her "coach".
 

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