Eric Thibault, Lindsay Whalen bring enthusiasm and familiarity to Minnesota Lynx staff

Thibault was named the team’s associate head coach, and Whalen joined as an assistant coach.

“I thought it was a great opportunity,” Reeve said in her opening statement at Monday’s introductory press conference for Thibault and Whalen. “Obviously, Katie Smith was tremendous for us over the years that she was here, and I think in terms of the opportunity 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, his love to be on the court with players, and his overall vision for how the game should be played, I thought that he was a perfect fit.”

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Minnesota’s star backcourt of Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams was seated in the front row alongside the media. The opportunity to pair them with a new assistant coach in Whalen who also happens to have been one of the game’s all-time great guards was a no-brainer. 

“What’s great is, by the end of the season Courtney stopped listening to me, so now we have a coach that you have to listen to her,” Reeve said. “Obviously, [Whalen] 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 be on the same staff is now. …

“To be on the court and to have somebody who has been there and done this, like we have with [assistant coach] Rebekkah Brunson, [now] at the lead guard position, I think is going to be invaluable. So I’m really super excited to add both Lindsay and Eric.” 

When it comes to any coaching career, timing is paramount. Thibault and Whalen come to the Lynx at unique mile markers in their careers.

Thibault had been part of the Washington Mystics organization for over a decade, since he and his father Mike Thibault arrived in the nation’s capital ahead of the 2013 season. He was originally a Mystics assistant coach, then associate head coach, and then he replaced Mike as head coach in November 2022. Mike remained on the staff as general manager, but this October, the Mystics parted ways with both Thibaults.

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Whalen played 339 regular-season and playoff games for Reeve in a Lynx uniform, earning four All-Star selections and four All-WNBA honors. She went into coaching right after retiring, taking over the reins at her alma mater of the University of Minnesota in 2018. 

Whalen guided the Gophers to 21 wins in her first season, but she never reached the 20-win mark in the ensuing four seasons. She was relieved of her duties after Minnesota was eliminated on Day 1 of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament. Eighteen months later, she returns to the bench of the organization she helped lead to four WNBA championships with fresh perspective on top of her winning experience.

“It was a chance to just take a little bit of a breath and kind of see what’s next,” Whalen said. “You know, playing tennis, being with family and being more available to do all those things. Then I got to be like a fan and just watch and really just take it all in and get to the point where you just miss being in the gym. You just miss being at practice and at workouts, just having that time to really, really miss it, so I think that’s been positive.” 

Though Whalen wasn’t part of the 2024 Lynx or their run to the WNBA Finals in an official capacity, she was a constant presence at Target Center during the regular season and the playoffs. She also made the trip to New York to support the team at Barclays Center in the Finals. Whalen has also been on texting terms with current superstar Napheesa Collier for at least two seasons, ensuring the Lynx legends of today and yesteryear already have a connection to build on. 

“It’s exciting because we have a very hooper-oriented locker room already; we love the game,” McBride told reporters following the press conference. “To have somebody else in the locker room that appreciates the game and knows what we go through on a daily basis with Lindsay, and then also Eric, who has been in the league for so long and the Mystics have been a great organization for a really long time with the Thibaults. So just adding both of them and having two other hoop addicts in the locker room is really important and exciting.”

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Eric Thibault is also a familiar face to current Lynx players. The Lynx and the Mystics have held several joint practices in training camp and played against each other in preseason exhibition games over the years. According to McBride, his coaching style and philosophy is already in sync with the Lynx’s culture.

“The X’s and the O’s schematically, like what Coach talked about, [the Mystics] played very similar,” McBride said. “It’s kind of like looking in the mirror. Being on the nail and just a lot of things, the values that they [had] on their team, we see a lot of ourselves in that. So I think he’ll seamlessly fit into that. And that helps us because we’re trying to be the best versions of ourselves as well.”

Reeve mentioned Thibault’s availability as a “great opportunity” in her opening statement. Thibault was a coaching free agent for the first time in his WNBA coaching career after 12 seasons in Washington, where he helped the Mystics to nine postseason appearances, back-to-back Finals appearances and the franchise’s first WNBA championship in 2019. He also nearly led the Mystics to the 2024 WNBA playoffs, an impressive feat after the team’s injury-riddled 0-12 start to the season. 

“Availability is about the nicest way to put that,” Thibault said. “I mean, we were lucky, that long run in D.C. You don’t get that often in this business. Once Cheryl called, it seemed like it was a perfect fit, to the point where you kind of had to question everything because it almost seemed too seamless as a fit.

“It’s the type of basketball I like to be a part of. It’s good people. That was my very short list of criteria: good team, good players, good staff. And there’s actually a lot of Thibaults floating around Minnesota, so this is kind of a pseudo-home as well, so it’s good to be part of it now.”

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Despite the familiarity both Thibault and Whalen have with Reeve and the Lynx, how the new staff will work together and gel remains to be seen. The coaches will spend the rest of the offseason figuring out how to maximize their talented roster and achieve their championship aspirations when training camp comes around.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time together,” Reeve said. “Our head counts have grown in our staff; we have a lot of people who are around the team now. We’re going to put all of our heads together and see the places where we’re strong and see the places where we need to fill and say, ‘OK, Whay, that’s going to be your gig,’ or ‘Eric, it’s going to be your gig.’ Obviously, [Brunson] is the leader of the staff; this is Year 5 [for her] coming up.

“I think we’re excited about opportunities, and we’re always going to be nimble for what the team needs. … This is what we’re excited to do, and I think I have to learn all the strengths and all the ways we can enhance the group that we have.”