After starting their professional careers in separate WNBA markets, they reunited back in Minnesota with the Lynx, winning a championship together in 2013 and hung a banner in the Target Center rafters less than three miles away from their collegiate exploits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s such a great person. She\u2019s doing a heck of a job coaching her high school team. I went to watch her when I was on my sabbatical. That\u2019s what I call my time between [coaching] at the U of M and here,\u201d Whalen said with a smile during this year\u2019s Lynx training camp when asked about being reunited with McCarville yet again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI went and watched her in Stevens Point,\u201d she added. \u201cWe hung out, went to Buffalo Wild Wings after the game and just talked the game. She was so in her skin on the sideline, coaching, coaching them up, [this] is exactly what she should be doing. It\u2019s just really great to see when people have those opportunities because of who they are. I couldn\u2019t be happier for her and for all of us to get to be around her.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCarville returned to her alma mater, Stevens Point Area High School, as the girls JV coach in 2022, after transitioning to coaching during her final years as a player with Alvik Basket in Sweden. Continuing her coaching career in her hometown wasn\u2019t a set plan, but once the opportunity presented itself the most natural next step from Stockholm for McCarville was back home in Stevens Point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really just fell into place that there was an opening on the JV side,\u201d McCarville told The IX Sports. \u201cSo I took the JV spot thinking, \u2018You know I can prep these young kids for what\u2019s needed,\u2019 and then within a year I was promoted to the head job. I loved it. The fact that I\u2019m able to get back to the community, I [get] to walk the halls that I [walked] as a teenager, make jokes, my locker\u2019s still there and everything, it\u2019s just great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Order \u2018Rare Gems\u2019 and save 30% If you enjoy Megdal\u2019s coverage of women\u2019s basketball every Wednesday at The IX Sports, you will love \u201cRare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.\u201d Click the link below to order<\/a> and enter MEGDAL30<\/strong> at checkout to save 30%!<\/p>\n In three years in charge of the Panthers, McCarville has posted an increase in wins year-over-year in consecutive seasons (18-8 in 2024; 22-5 in 2025; and 23-5 in 2026<\/a>). And since Whalen\u2019s visit during her first season on the job, McCarville\u2019s added back-to-back Wisconsin Valley conference titles to her already stacked resume.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe community really rallied around the [team],\u201d McCarville said. \u201cWe have great attendance, great following, and just try to give the girls an opportunity that I don\u2019t think they would all have if I wasn\u2019t there\u2026My mind is different every single day, depending on what\u2019s needed. I rewatch film every single day on what\u2019s needed. Call players out on tendencies, expectations and then challenge them. I enjoy it a lot. I enjoy it more than I thought I would, to be honest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited because J-Mac was not one of our people that we flagged as definitely going to get into coaching,\u201d Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said. \u201cIt may have even surprised herself, I don\u2019t know, but she got into it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n McCarville is one of several players who played for Reeve on the Lynx and now plays their trade in the coaching realm. Whalen and Rebekkah Brunson, of course, are on the staff with McCarville in Minnesota, Sylvia Fowles is an assistant with the expansion Portland Fire, and Seimone Augustus is an assistant at her alma mater, LSU.\u00a0<\/p>\n None of whom totally expressed an itch to coach during their playing days under Reeve, and definitely not McCarville, who will resume her coaching duties at Stevens Point Area after the WNBA season ends.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think she\u2019s got the itch really bad and that\u2019s really fun to be around, because as a player she was pretty much anti-authority of any kind, including her coaches, so it\u2019s really interesting to see her on this side of it,\u201d Reeve said with a laugh. \u201cI think (former Lynx assistant coach) Jim Peterson asked her when he first saw her, \u2018What kind of coach are you?\u2019 And she said, \u2018The kind of coach I hated.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It may not have been the most natural next career step for McCarville the player, but McCarville the coach had too much to give to not keep giving herself to the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTruthfully, I didn\u2019t know, I still don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a natural thing for me,\u201d McCarville said. \u201cI just feel like I\u2019ve got a lot to give and I understand the game, so I feel I have the ability to pass it on to younger players up and coming at the college level, at the high school level, and now with the pros, that\u2019s just kind of how I approached it.\u201d<\/p>\n Now back in Minnesota, McCarville helps bolster a staff rich in championship experience that sets championship-level expectations for rookies and veterans alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGreat energy,\u201d Kayla McBride<\/a> said on media day when asked about her earliest impressions of McCarville. \u201cA quieter demeanor than maybe a Whalen or BB, but I mean, I remember playing against her, watching her play. She\u2019s very Minnesotan, everybody loves her. She\u2019s finding her way and her energy\u2019s been great. I\u2019m excited to get to know her too off the court, like I did with Whay and BB, and all [the coaches]. You can definitely tell they have such a great connection just from their time together, and that\u2019s contagious too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Primarily working with Minnesota\u2019s post players, McCarville and Brunson, affectionately known within the team facility at Mayo Clinic Square as \u2018BB,\u2019 form a formidable coaching tandem. Providing crucial expertise to a group featuring Nia Coffey<\/a> and Natasha Howard<\/a> while awaiting the returns of Napheesa Collier<\/a> and Dorka Juh\u00e1sz<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s been great. You could tell that she is excited to be back here and be able to lend to the post group as much as she can,\u201d Brunson told The IX Sports. \u201cShe has had a lot of success coaching high school in Wisconsin, overseas and I know that she\u2019s learned a lot along the way. It\u2019s fun to have her back here, being part of the Lynx again and just sharing everything that she\u2019s learned since she\u2019s been away as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women\u2019s Sports Daily<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity,\u201d Coffey said on media day when asked about their approach to coaching the post group. \u201cI ask them all the questions and I\u2019m always asking for feedback. Just taking advantage of the opportunity because, I mean this coaching staff is legendary. I get to be around them every day, so it\u2019s cool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Her bond with Whalen, or \u2018Whay,\u2019 dates back 25 years now and has long been part of Minnesota basketball lore. Chapter one featured a historic Final Four run with the Gophers. Chapter two, a WNBA championship playing for the Lynx. Chapter three as coaches for the Lynx is still being written, whether there are more historic wins in store for the longtime friends will unfold in due time, but one thing\u2019s for sure, they couldn\u2019t be happier to be on the same team once again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love her,\u201d Whalen said. \u201cShe\u2019s like a sister so it\u2019s definitely a lot of fun to get back to work with her. It\u2019s like we\u2019re back playing again almost, just in different roles. It\u2019s just like having another family member be a part of the group.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s easy because as players we\u2019ve been together since we were teenagers,\u201d McCarville said. \u201cI think she would have been 19, I was 18 coming in as a freshman. Just having the understanding and camaraderie to be able to bounce things off each other, ask for feedback, ask for help\u2026We played the game at the highest level for the longest time, so now to combine that as coaches and give back to players, it\u2019s rewarding and super fun to do that with BB and Whay, and Cheryl.\u201d<\/p>\n The feeling is mutual with the head coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt brings me joy when players dive into this profession and just love it,\u201d Reeve said. \u201cIt brings me great joy and we\u2019re happy to have J-Mac back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS\u2014After a high school basketball game in central Wisconsin in 2024, a pair of old friends sat down…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":812376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[2207,330067,5614,330068,9444,2336,19150,2603,175485,51375,62,23135,67,132,68,232],"class_list":["post-812375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-cheryl-reeve","tag-janel-mccarville","tag-kayla-mcbride","tag-lindsay-whalen","tag-minnesota-golden-gophers","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-natasha-howard","tag-nia-coffey","tag-rebekkah-brunson","tag-seimone-augustus","tag-sports","tag-sylvia-fowles","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wnba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116613043502213308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/strong>
Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, wrote this deeply reported book. \u201cRare Gems\u201d follows four connected generations of women\u2019s basketball pioneers, from Elvera \u201cPeps\u201d Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.<\/p>\n![\"Basketball](\"https:\/\/www.theixsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/55217681702_5d3c648692_o-1024x683.jpg\")
McCarville instructing post players through a drill with fellow coach Rebekkah Brunson on the first day of Lynx training camp. (Photo credit: John McClellan | The IX Sports)<\/p>\n
<\/strong>
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women\u2019s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women\u2019s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!<\/p>\n![\"Janel](\"https:\/\/www.theixsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/51961280755_26f1d8aa75_o-1024x683.jpg\")
Janel McCarville and Lindsay Whalen sharing a ride in Minnesota\u2019s 2013 championship parade. (Photo credit: John McClellan | The IX Sports)<\/p>\n