BleedGopher
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per Judd:
The University of Minnesota could have gone the safe route in finding a replacement for women’s basketball coach Marlene Stallings after she took the Texas Tech job this week.
There certainly were many qualified head coaching candidates who would have loved the opportunity to make the move to a Big Ten program coming off a second-round appearance in the NCAA tournament. There could have been a lengthy search conducted by athletic director Mark Coyle that would have ended up with the hiring of a candidate with an impressive resume.
Instead, Coyle acted in decisive fashion and made a gutsy decision by hiring former Gophers great and Hutchinson native Lindsay Whalen. Whalen will continue to play for the Lynx as well, joining former WNBA star Dawn Staley as someone who has played in the WNBA and coached collegiately.
The move does come with some risk.
Whalen, who will be introduced as the Gophers coach on Friday, has played in the WNBA since 2004, including the past eight seasons with the Lynx, and thus doesn’t have head coaching experience. She will be competing against coaches who are more familiar with the ins-and-outs of recruiting and who have been honing their craft at multiple levels for many years.
But while Coyle previously has been questioned in this space since taking over as athletic director at Minnesota, he will draw no criticism for hiring Whalen. This move has a chance to be a home run and odds are strong it will be.
http://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/2...otential-home-run-making-unconventional-hire/
Go Gophers!!
The University of Minnesota could have gone the safe route in finding a replacement for women’s basketball coach Marlene Stallings after she took the Texas Tech job this week.
There certainly were many qualified head coaching candidates who would have loved the opportunity to make the move to a Big Ten program coming off a second-round appearance in the NCAA tournament. There could have been a lengthy search conducted by athletic director Mark Coyle that would have ended up with the hiring of a candidate with an impressive resume.
Instead, Coyle acted in decisive fashion and made a gutsy decision by hiring former Gophers great and Hutchinson native Lindsay Whalen. Whalen will continue to play for the Lynx as well, joining former WNBA star Dawn Staley as someone who has played in the WNBA and coached collegiately.
The move does come with some risk.
Whalen, who will be introduced as the Gophers coach on Friday, has played in the WNBA since 2004, including the past eight seasons with the Lynx, and thus doesn’t have head coaching experience. She will be competing against coaches who are more familiar with the ins-and-outs of recruiting and who have been honing their craft at multiple levels for many years.
But while Coyle previously has been questioned in this space since taking over as athletic director at Minnesota, he will draw no criticism for hiring Whalen. This move has a chance to be a home run and odds are strong it will be.
http://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/2...otential-home-run-making-unconventional-hire/
Go Gophers!!