University of Minnesota women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Whalen announced Tuesday the addition of Rachel Banham to the women’s basketball staff as the Director of Quality Control for the 2022-23 season.
“I am happy and excited to join this incredible staff back at my alma mater,” Banham said. “What Coach Whalen is building at the ‘U’ is special and I’m excited to continue to grow and cultivate the culture. I look forward to being a part of that in this role.”
“Today I am excited to announce Gopher great Rachel Banham as our Director of Quality Control,” Whalen said. “As the top scorer in our conference’s history and seven years of experience in the WNBA, including three in Minnesota, I can’t think of a more perfect match for our staff. Rachel personifies our program standards and I know she is going to be the perfect fit for this role with our team.”
As the Director of Quality Control Banham will provide support to the staff to enhance the quality and efficiency of day-to-day operations, and is responsible for assisting with practice, game preparation, statistical analysis and more.
Banham rejoins the program where she shattered the record books during her playing time from 2011-16. She scored 3,093 points, leaving the college game as the No. 1 scorer in Big Ten history and sixth in NCAA history. She was the 2016 Big Ten Player of the Year and made 354 threes during her career, a program record. She is arguably most known for her then-NCAA record 60-point performance against Northwestern in 2016, a year that ended with her earning a First Team All-American nod. After her stellar college career Banham was selected fourth overall by the Connecticut Sun in the 2016 WNBA Draft and was traded to the Minnesota Lynx in 2020. With the Lynx Banham upped her scoring output, highlighted by a career season in 2022 where she averaged 7.9 points and shot a stellar 38.3 percent from beyond the arc, leading the team with 57 made threes in a career high 17.5 minutes per game.
In her career in the WNBA, Banham has made 191 threes and has made the playoffs five of her seven seasons in the league. Banham will continue to pursue her playing career in professional basketball alongside her role with the University of Minnesota.
