Is Lindsay Whalen's job safe? Her potential makes success worth the wait

After scoring 24 points to lead the Gophers to a 71-60 victory over Michigan State on Sunday at Williams Arena, Sara Scalia of Stillwater was interviewed on court, then she stopped to sign autographs and take photos with fans.

It was one of those sweet moments that make college sports worthwhile, and it hasn't happened as often as Scalia or her coach, Lindsay Whalen, would have imagined.

I covered the Gophers women's basketball game on Sunday not because of the quality of the opponent — although beating a first-division team in the Big Ten is a step in the right direction for the program.

I went to Williams because this is Whalen's fourth season as Gophers coach, and she hasn't had a winning Big Ten record yet. Of late, I've been asked by a surprising number of people whether her job is safe.

Toward the end of January, the Gophers had lost four games in a row, and starting point guard Jasmine Powell had decided to transfer after she was benched in the middle of a game.

Powell was friends with Destiny Pitts, another quality player who transferred from Minnesota in the middle of a season, two years ago.

You could have painted this as a program in crisis.

Then the Gophers have won two of their past three games, and the loss was at No. 5 Indiana, in a game the Gophers led late.

Whalen is 11-13 overall and 4-8 in the Big Ten this season. Her career marks are 56-52 and 25-45.

So the questions about her future are mathematically logical.

They are also undeniably goofy.

It's fair to say Whalen's tenure hasn't begun or progressed as well as expected, but pretending her job is in jeopardy when she has the best recruiting class in the history of the program on the way is rather silly.

There's another fact that makes the doubt rather silly:

She's Lindsay Whalen. She is the biggest sporting winner in Minnesota history. She also became a head coach in a difficult league at a young age with zero coaching experience. She had never even been an assistant.

If you're going to hire Whalen to be a Big Ten head coach with no experience, you're going to want to be patient, and you're going to hope that her reputation and work ethic will lead to the best Minnesota players staying home instead of traipsing off to UConn.

Big Ten women's basketball standings

That's what is happening. The Gophers' 2022 class was ranked seventh in the country. Mara Braun of Wayzata and Amaya Battle of Hopkins could be next year's starting backcourt, although sophomore Alexia Smith was a game-best plus-19 with 13 points while running the point off the bench on Sunday.

Those three will enjoy dishing to Scalia, who will enjoy getting to shoot off the catch instead of playing hybrid point and shooting guard, as she did too often on Sunday.

Scalia made four of her nine three-point attempts, and two were spectacular — a 30ish-foot shot from the wing and a dribble step-back from just behind the line.

The entire team could be spectacular by next season, and it could still salvage a strong finish to this season.

The Gophers women haven't advanced past the second round of the NCAA tournament since 2005, a year after Whalen, as a player, led them to the Final Four. The men's team hasn't advanced past the second round since the 1997 Final Four.

What's new about Minnesota is that since these programs' glory days, basketball talent in the state has exploded. Neither program was likely to hire a desirable big-name coach from another program, so athletic director Mark Coyle chose two coaches with local ties who could recruit locally and grow into Big Ten coaches.

Ben Johnson is 2-9 in his first season in the conference.

Should his job be in jeopardy?

Of course not.

Whalen and Johnson should both be given the benefit of the doubt until we see how their best recruiting classes play as Big Ten veterans.

Maybe we'll see more scenes like Scalia signing autographs for fellow Minnesotans.

"I have a good support system," Scalia said.

Because of who they are and how they have recruited, Whalen and Johnson deserve one, too.