Lindsay Whalen has hired her first assistant: former Gophers teammate, and current Macalester head coach, Kelly Roysland.
The final steps of the hiring process were taking place Thursday, multiple sources told the Star Tribune, and the move is expected to be made official this week. Whalen is closing in on a second assistant coach as well, sources said.
Whalen was announced as the Gophers women's basketball head coach last week, about 15 years after starring for the program and leading the team to the Final Four. Whalen will also continue to play for the Minnesota Lynx.
Roysland played one season with Whalen with the Gophers — the team's 2003-04 Final Four season — and wound up making three trips to the NCAA tournament in her career. Roysland was the Gophers' Most Valuable Player as a senior and still ranks 15th on the team's all-time scoring list (1,074 points).
After graduating from the university, Roysland worked as an assistant at North Dakota State and then was an assistant coach with the Gophers under Pam Borton. Roysland also served as the Gophers interim coach after Borton was fired. The Fosston, Minn., native has been the Macalester coach since 2014.
