The press release announcing Lindsay Whalen’s departure as University of Minnesota women’s basketball coach noted she and Gopher Athletics Director Mark Coyle would attend a mid-afternoon press conference in the Bierman Athletic Center. That suggested Thursday’s move, the day after the Gophs lost in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, was Whalen’s call, since most coaches don’t show up to answer questions when they’ve been fired.
But five minutes before the press conference started, a U employee removed one of the chairs from the table where Whalen and Coyle were supposed to speak. Then Coyle walked in, alone.
Coyle can be maddeningly vague when the news isn’t good, and after some back and forth with reporters it became abundantly clear Whalen hadn’t resigned, and this decision had been in the works for awhile.
Technically, Whalen wasn’t fired. Coyle just changed her job title, from basketball coach to special assistant to the athletics director. Her contract remains in force through 2025, for the same salary she would have made coaching. Of course, it would have been helpful if Coyle actually explained it that way, but he seemed more intent on protecting Whalen’s feelings than being straight with people.
Asked directly whether Whalen had stepped down, as the release said, or been fired, Coyle said he and Whalen “mutually agreed to step down.” Did the impetus for this come from you, or her? “A combination of both,” he said. (That seemed unlikely, given Whalen’s absence.) Coyle said Whalen was having an emotional day meeting with her staff and would speak publicly in a few days. Whalen later tweeted she was “overcome with emotion” on the elevator heading down from her office to the press conference, adding, “I’m a human being.”
[image_caption]Mark Coyle[/image_caption]
It seems crazy now, but at that time some Gopher fans mused about Whalen taking the Gophs to the 2022 NCAA Women’s Final Four in Minneapolis, its first such trip since Whalen’s playing days. That proved to be spectacularly wishful thinking. In five years under Whalen, the Gophs never made the NCAA Tournament at all (two WNITs) and never finished better than .500 in Big Ten play. After a 21-11 debut, Whalen’s teams went 16-15, 8-13 (the COVID-shortened season), 15-18 and finally 11-19.
This year’s entry, even with a highly-touted freshman class, finished 4-14 in conference. The Gophs averaged 17.7 turnovers per game, second-worst in the Big Ten, while landing dead last in defense, allowing 73.6 points per game.
Young teams usually improve over a long season, but these Gophs didn’t improve enough. Playing Penn State, a team they had beaten twice, on the first day of the conference tournament, the Gophs discombobulated against the Nittany Lions’ pressing defense. Five early turnovers and 1-for-14 shooting put the Gophs behind 21-3. And while Minnesota rallied to tie it in the fourth quarter before losing 72-67, the usual menagerie of careless ball-handling (22 turnovers) ultimately ended their season.
Coyle mentioned ongoing conversations he had with Whalen, beginning last year at the Final Four in New Orleans, that led to this. Another, three or four weeks ago, presaged the final one Thursday morning. Coyle said they discussed ongoing issues with the program as well as the unsettled college landscape.
College athletics has changed dramatically since Coyle hired Whalen five years ago, with the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) issues turning the industry “all upside down,” he said. Coaches now find themselves recruiting their own players to prevent them from transferring, something Whalen struggled with. Standout forward Destiny Pitts transferred to Texas A&M in 2020 after Whalen suspended her, and Sara Scalia, the team’s leading scorer last season, left for Indiana, presumably so she could play on an NCAA Tournament team. It’s not clear where the U stands in the national NIL pantheon, but “not in the forefront” seems likely.
Whalen’s presence was supposed to bring big crowds back to Williams Arena, but that never happened, either. The Gophs averaged 3,130 per game in Stollings’ last season. This season: 3,353. Volleyball, not basketball, remains the main women’s sports draw in Dinkytown.
Still, most of us thought Whalen would get one more season before Coyle made a move. College players generally make the greatest improvement between their freshmen and sophomore years, so why not give Whalen another year? Coyle didn’t exactly answer that question, either. “We’ve had multiple conversations and agreed this is the right time,” Coyle said.
Maybe Whalen didn’t want to coach anymore (unlikely). Maybe Coyle feared losing some or all of those promising freshmen — Mara Braun, Amaya Battle, Mallory Heyer and the injured Nia Holloway (knee) — to the portal in mid-season if things went south again (more likely). The four share an off-campus apartment and told reporters last week they signed leases for next season. With this news, we’ll see if they actually stay.
Coyle also spoke in generalities about what he’s looking for in the next coach, going heavy on buzzwords like “culture” and “the student-athlete experience” and light on specifics. For what it’s worth, Coyle just hired a veteran volleyball coach, Keegan Cook from Washington, to replace the successful Hugh McCutcheon. After the struggles of Whalen and first-time men’s head coach Ben Johnson, he’s likely to favor someone with head coaching experience here.
The obvious home run candidate is Florida’s Kelly Rae Finley, an Edina native and Breck School graduate who led the Gators to 21 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth last year as interim head coach. That won her the permanent job. But even if she’s interested, the finances likely put this out of reach. Finley is one year into a five-year contract worth $740,000 annually, much more than Whalen is making ($547,000). And if Finley bolts Florida, she owes the school $1 million — $250,000 for each year remaining on the deal. That’s couch cushion change at Kentucky and Alabama, but real money here.
The U has never had a man coach women’s basketball, but Aaron Johnston of South Dakota State might be an intriguing choice. A Pine Island native and Gustavus Adolphus College alumnus, he’s built a mid-major juggernaut in Brookings, S.D., with lots of Minnesota kids, guiding the Jackrabbits to 19 NCAA Tournaments in 22 years. Coyle wouldn’t rule out hiring a man. Another possible woman candidate is Carly Thibault-DuDonis, the former Whalen assistant finishing her first head coaching season at Fairfield (15-13).
“I don’t think we’re starting over,” Coyle said. “I think we have a really great core group of people here who have made progress throughout this past year. It’s our job to go out and find a coach that can continue to build upon their success.”
It’s easy to fall back on the cliché that superstar former players don’t always make the best coaches, but that doesn’t explain why Dawn Staley and Kim Mulkey succeeded while Whalen didn’t. Here’s the right reason: Staley and Mulkey were much better prepared. Staley, a savvy Philadelphia point guard, had eight years at Temple to learn and make her mistakes before moving on to South Carolina and winning a national championship. Mulkey, another savvy point guard, spent 15 seasons as an assistant at Louisiana Tech before finding head coaching success at Baylor and LSU.
Coyle did Whalen no favors by hiring her with no experience, but Whalen knew the risks when she accepted the job. It’s a shame it ended this way. Whalen’s class and panache won her lots of friends in Minnesota over the years, all of whom wished the best for her. That made it a tough day all around.
You get FIVE YEARS of gainful employment to turn around a sub-par product, fail to do that and you refuse the face the music before the media? Accountability please?
Such cowardice. Shameful.
Emotions are emotions …. sometimes they are very strong emotions of grief and loss because of a strong loyalty to her home state of Minnesota. I believe this is what Coach Whalen felt and caused her absence from the press conference. And, you fault her for feeling, and not being able to control, that intense sense of grief and loss in her life? I can only shake my head. Sometimes, sports fans sicken me. She stated that she would, at a slightly later date, face the media. Part of the reason for all of our many problems in society is a lack of respect. Your comment is a good example of that.
Whalen has demonstrated to all Minnesotans her grit, determination and fearlessness. It is shameful for commenters who know nothing about what transpired – and who have never demonstrated any of these qualities to Minnesotans – to slander this state icon.
You think the greatest sports winner Minnesota produced is a coward who’d isn’t facing the music and won’t as she goes about her life in this state?
Your comment is what’s shameful.
She is a human being. Kicking people when they are down shows your nature.
Sadly that is Yates stock in trade, as is far to many comments.
This is hardly the first time a great player didn’t become a great coach. Hiw often to we see a less talented player become a great coach?
Another fence crow continually squawking his ignorance of any and all subjects. Another liberal continually pontificating his worthless opinion.
Accountability?? They fired her/forced her to resign. She owes no explanation. The only cowards are those making comments like yours.
She was hired, didn’t meet goals, and was ultimately fired. She is still the same young lady that inspired thousands of MN girls to excel.
Yeah, I love these “mutual agreements” in these sort of situations.
Mark Coyle : “Yeah we both agreed that if she didn’t resign, I was going to fire her!”
Being an AD at a major university is a difficult job. More than you or I or the vast majority of people can ever imagine. Making a decision to ‘fire’ Coach Whalen, an icon in Minnesota, is extremely difficult and will draw the ire of many people. He did the right thing in handling it the way he did and with a positive spin and respect for Coach Whalen and for her supporters and for whatever is the future of Women’s Gophers BB …. you would choose that he have done it the inhumane way with disrespect and a negative spin for everyone? I just shake my head.
We love Lindsey and wish her only the best!
If it’s any consolation, Whalen was paid $2.75 million for her five years as coach and another $1.1 million for two years as special assistant to the AD.
Gotta hunch Coyle asked Whelan to do a few unsavory things to keep her job one more year – like fire an assistant or two and/or hand over day-to-day reins to a more experienced assistant – that Whelan would not do. That’s how you spin something into a “mutual decision” framework. Happens that way all the time.
Well written Pat.
My understanding is that college athletics these days are all about the endorsement money. How much endorsement money is in the Twin Cities?
More endorsement money in the Twin Cities than there is at some of the other schools in the conference. This is a big media market compared to Nebraska or Indiana.
Excellent analysis. My only concern is about considerations for the next coach. What is it that makes people want a coach with MN roots? Whalen had the deepest roots and look what that achieved. I would feel better seeking a coach who wins and developed a team from being a loser, like MN, to being ranked and invited to the tournament.