Minnesota Women’s Basketball: Lindsay Whalen steps down as Gopher head coach

The University of Minnesota announced Thursday afternoon that Lindsay Whalen would be stepping down as the head coach of the Minnesota Gophers women’s basketball program. Whalen had just competed her fifth year as the head coach of the Gophers and ends her tenure with a record of 71-76. Minnesota’s season came to an end in an opening round Big Ten Tournament game to Penn State on Wednesday.

In a press release the U of M stated that Whalen will still be employed at the school as “special assistant to the athletics director” through April 12, 2025.

Mark Coyle, the Gophers athletic director had this quote in the release. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Lindsay,” said Coyle. “I want to thank Lindsay for her hard work and dedication as a player and as the head coach of our women’s basketball program. She is one of the greatest alums and ambassadors this University has ever produced and her legacy of being a Minnesota icon is etched in stone.”

Whalen was quoted in the release as well. “I want to thank Mark and the University for giving me the opportunity to lead this program five years ago,” said Whalen. “It was an honor of a lifetime. I am grateful to my assistant coaches and staff and want to thank them for everything they did for our student-athletes during the last five years. We did things the right way and created a lot of memories, but now is the right time for me to step aside and return to being a proud alum. I look forward to supporting and cheering on the next head coach.”

A press conference is scheduled for 3:00 PM and will be streamed live on the Minnesota Gophers You Tube Page.

The next question besides who Mark Coyle will look to hire will be how many of the players will stick around. All four of the Gophers talented freshmen have said in the last week they had no plans of transferring and had even signed a lease to live together next year. Whether that opinion remains after Whalen’s decision will be a looming question for the next few weeks and months.

We will have more on this after the press conference this afternoon and in the coming days here at TDG.