Souhan: Is Whalen's Job Safe?

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Ignatius L Hoops

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www.startribune.com

Is Lindsay Whalen's job safe? Her potential makes success worth the wait

Big Ten record aside, the coach's work ethic and reputation are spurring state's best talent to play at home
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Souhan remembers shadows of greatness and urges four more years.

I went to Williams because this is Whalen's fourth season as Gophers coach, and she hasn't had a winning Big Ten record yet. Of late, I've been asked by a surprising number of people whether her job is safe.

[...]

There's another fact that makes the doubt rather silly:

She's Lindsay Whalen. She is the biggest sporting winner in Minnesota history. She also became a head coach in a difficult league at a young age with zero coaching experience. She had never even been an assistant.

[...]

Whalen and Johnson should both be given the benefit of the doubt until we see how their best recruiting classes play as Big Ten veterans.
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He seemed to have a thoughtful approach and didn't really sugar coat Lindsay's inexperience as a coach.
 

The Gopher Women's and Men's basketball programs have been deteriorating over many years and have reached very low levels. It is difficult to turn the programs around quickly. The programs can't attract big-named coaches with outstanding records. The programs' track records also do not attract high quality recruits; thus, coaches have a big hill to turn things around. In Lindsay's case, she has had the added burden of Covid to contend with, which is something her predecessors did not face. A well-established program with a deep roster will weather Covid better. I have no doubt that Lindsay knows basketball and how to compete. The questions are can Lindsay convey her knowledge, manage people, and recruit some blue chip players. Furthermore, the transfer portal has changed college sports. Programs will lose players and have to land better players than they lose. I think Lindsay will get good results but it is going to take more time.
 

You gotta remember there’s a strong connection between Souhan and Reeve because they do a podcast together. There’s also a strong connection between Reeve and Whalen. Get the picture now?
 



samloupete said:
Whalen isn’t going anywhere not with the best women’s basketball recruited group in the history of the program.
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Yup and remember we just gave Pitino 8 years to be mediocre at best. I remain hopeful she will field a much more competitive team in the next few years. We still need a quality post which she has never had in her first 4 years.
 

The current version of the transfer portal has now changed the way coaches are building their teams. Like many, I'm of the feeling that the Gophers are going to have to nab some experienced players through the transfer portal, while we wait for some of the younger players to develop. And, I personally hope they are selective in the transfer players they sign. I'm hoping that they sign only impact players. Winters has been an impact player, but some of the other transfers they've added to the roster have not been and that seems to just muddy up the roster to the point where younger players don't always get the opportunity to develop.
 


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