The Lynx legend and former Washington Mystics head coach join a Minnesota Lynx coaching staff and an organization they are both familiar with and have multiple ties to.
For Lindsay Whalen and Eric Thibault, they are both embarking on a new opportunity in their careers by joining the Minnesota Lynx coaching staff.
But for both coaches, they are actually joining an organization that they have endless ties to.
On Monday, Minnesota officially introduced Whalen and Thibault as new additions to Cheryl Reeve’s coaching staff, with Whalen being hired as assistant coach and Thibault being hired as associate head coach.
And both coaches are ready to hit the ground running while already feeling comfortable about joining — or rejoining — the organization.
Back Home
Whalen’s ties to the state of Minnesota and to the Lynx organization goes without saying. She is one of the best players — if not the best — to come out of the state, having spent nine of her 15 seasons in the WNBA with Minnesota, which included four championships during one of the most dominant dynasty runs in history.
Since her retirement in 2018, Whalen has continued to follow the Lynx closely, doing so even more over the past year-plus following her stint as head women’s basketball coach at the University of Minnesota.
Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images
That interest turned up a notch in 2024, with Whalen attending numerous Lynx regular season games and having a front-row seat for every game in the playoffs. It also made her realize she missed being part of the game, which made this opportunity with the Lynx one that made sense on multiple levels.
“I am so excited. This team was so fun to watch. Just how they played, how you could feel there was this energy and chemistry that was inspiring. They did things the right way,” Whalen said. “When this came up, I was thrilled. I’m excited for the opportunity. I can’t wait to work with all the players and to get to know everybody even better.”
Over the past year, Whalen has been able to take some time away from the game for the first time in her life. When she retired from the WNBA in 2018, Whalen immediately jumped into coaching at the University of Minnesota where she remained until 2023. This past year was a good break from it all for the Hutchinson, Minnesota native, and it also made her realize she did miss being around the game.
“It was a time for me to take a bit of a breath and take a little bit to see what’s next. … I got to just be a fan and watch,” Whalen said. “You take it all in and you just realize that you miss being in the gym. You miss being at practice and at workouts. Just having that time to really miss it.”
Whalen and Reeve have a unique bond that goes back years, and both are grateful for their time they have spent together. But now, the timing is right to take that relationship to another level on the bench together as coaches.
“Whay is a legend for this franchise. What I’m really excited about for Lindsay is that timing is everything. Our time to be together as a coach and to be on the same staff is now,” Reeve said. “You can feel Lindsay’s enthusiasm, it’s palpable. … To have someone that has been there and done this like we have with Rebekkah Brunson I think is going to be invaluable.”
A Fresh Start
After parting ways with the Washington Mystics this offseason after two seasons as head coach and more than a decade as an assistant, Thibault joins Minnesota looking for a fresh start after a disappointing end to his time in the nation’s capital.
For Thibault, he is familiar with many inside of the Lynx organization, including Whalen herself. Not only has Thibault served as a coach in the WNBA since 2013, but as head coach of the Washington Mystics the last two seasons, he became used to seeing Minnesota in preseason practices and scrimmages as well as during the regular season while getting a front row seat to seeing how the Lynx operate.
“You could feel the culture they were building, the connection they had as a team. They really brought the best out in each other,” Thibault said of what he saw in the Lynx. “You know when you were playing against them, you were really going to have to be on point or they would just pick you apart.”
Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images
When it comes to the connection to the connection to Whalen, Thibault and his family have multiple ties to the Minnesota icon. His dad, Mike, drafted Whalen with the Connecticut Sun in 2004 and gave Whalen an introduction to Thibault, who was then in high school. Thibault’s sister, Carly, was also part of Whalen’s coaching staff at the University of Minnesota from 2018-22.
“The personal connection is great, I do look at it as a bonus. I am very familiar with this organization,” Thibault said. “What I’m most excited about is joining a group that has a great team culture, competitive culture. I’m really aligned with what this team and the Lynx organization has been about. That’s what I’m most excited for. … I think our values are very similar. About the game, how it should be played and what it means to be on a team going after a goal together. Those are all the things that sold me on coming here.”
Thibault is a valuable addition to Minnesota’s coaching staff, a young and knowledgeable individual who has head coaching experience in the WNBA. And he is also comfortable with the people he is now working with and the organization he has joined, which will make the coaching staff and the Lynx team even stronger moving forward.
“In terms of the opportunity that we had with Eric’s availability, I thought it was a seamless transition in terms of what Eric brings to the table in terms of basketball knowledge,” Reeve said. “There were a lot of ways where I thought he was a perfect fit. … Eric, as a standalone, was really appealing to us.
“I’m really excited to be able to add both Lindsay and Eric.”