On Thursday, the University of Minnesota announced that Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen was named the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ women’s basketball head coach. And on Friday, the University introduced her. You can watch the press conference above on YouTube.
In her introductory remarks, Whalen said that she wanted to bring what she learned from many of her coaches during her pro career. She mentioned Mike Thibault of the Connecticut Sun from 2004-09 (he is now the Mystics’ head coach) and Cheryl Reeve from 2010 on as two of the coache who played a major part in her career. Whalen also mentioned Geno Auriemma, who coached her in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics for Team USA and Pam Borton, the Golden Gophers’ head coach during her playing days.
One of the biggest questions Whalen was asked was whether she would retire after the 2018 WNBA season. Whalen answered that she will take things on a year to year basis and reached out to South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley regarding it. Staley continued to play in the WNBA from 2000-06 while also being the head coach of the Temple women’s basketball team.