Former Gopher women's basketball coach Lindsay Whalen spoke candidly with WCCO's Chad Hartman Show Wednesday about stepping down from her job before her contract was up last year.
Whalen chose not to take an administrative role with Gopher Athletics, instead accepting a $215,000 buyout.
Whalen says in looking back, she's come to terms with it all.
"I don't think necessarily, like, angry," explains Whalen. "But it's just like introspective. What could I have done different? What could I have done better? I don't know. And I don't think anybody who is a competitor, you want to win and we just didn't win enough."
Whalen hopes young athletes from Minnesota will continue to want to stay here in the state for their college playing careers.
"Regardless of everything that happened, I'm a Gopher for life," she says. "I went to school there and I grew up dreaming of playing there, and hopefully continually we have young men and women from here that want to stay and play."
The Gophers have begun play under new head coach Dawn Plitzuweit. She has been coaching for 17 years, and comes to the Gophers from West Virginia, where she spent just a year. Before that, Plitzuweit led South Dakota to four NCAA Tournament appearances, and also spent time as an assistant at Michigan, which brought her to Minnesota from time to time.
Whalen says she has the utmost respect for Plitzuweit, watches all of the Gopher women's games, and plans to make it back to catch a game or two in person this season.
So far, the Gopher women are 3-1 with the loss coming to UConn and another hometown hero, Paige Bueckers this past Sunday. The play again Wednesday night at The Barn against Cal State Northridge.