Ignatius L Hoops
Well-known member
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- Sep 9, 2015
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First appearance since the departure
Whalen has been, is, and will always be classy.Good interview. She seems classy - coulda dropped some blah about another program but didn’t
She said Clark was "best player Big Ten women's [basketball] has ever seen." Also said she would take Bueckers over Clark, but admitted she was a "homer."Lindsay Whalen in awe of Caitlin Clark: "I've never seen a player play at the pace she plays at...said that last year...we played them in Iowa. There's nobody I've ever seen and for sure in college at that point...play at the pace she played at last year. It's unbelievable! ...she's unbelievable...best player...she is a transcendent player."
Well said. The only thing that I would add is that I doubt that Whalen would have come across so well had she chosen to grant any of the interview requests that came in the immediate aftermath of her separation from the U. Credit to her for resisting the temptation to speak out of anger (or sadness or whatever else she was feeling at the time). Whalen and the University have both benefited from her exercise of restraint.I thought she was great. The couple things I came away with . 1- The decision by Coyle to move on was the right one. Whalen said in her conversations with Coyle she expressed to him that she was struggling she had doubts.. that’s a red flag IMO.. Whalen admits doubting herself as a coach… 2- I appreciate how humble she was and how she came to the decision she needed to separate herself from the program and not stay on as an ambassador.. she said that decision was best for everyone especially best for her.
The only other thing KFAN played back some audio from Coyle the day she was let go… she listened to it and didn’t disagree with anything that was said regarding her departure sounds like Coyle’s statements were accurate.. thus I think IMO Coyle was not as much the bad guy as people think..
On the court the teams play made it obvious a change was needed and now hearing some of the struggles and doubts she had behind the scenes further confirmed it..
I disagree. The doubt was when all the people transferred and NIL became prominent between seasons last year. She was all in at this seasons end, excited about the freshmen and expecting to be back. If that was not the case her reaction would have been very different to getting fired.I wonder how much of this truly was a surprise to the players in the end. Also wonder what weight they felt lifted from her being let go. Players had to know she was struggling.