Shimmy Gray-Miller's goal is for everything to be as seamless as possible.
Gray-Miller is the Gophers women's basketball team's associate head coach. But Thursday, when the Gophers host Eastern Illinois at Williams Arena at 3 p.m., she will be in charge.
Head coach Lindsay Whalen will miss the game due to illness. Recovering at home, Whalen will return when medically cleared. She'll have some time; Minnesota doesn't play again until resuming Big Ten Conference play at Maryland Dec. 30.
"I don't want anybody's life to be disrupted," Gray-Miller said. "Not the players, not the other assistant coaches. My goal is to keep all the other assistants' roles the same."
Gray-Miller has extensive experience coaching in the Power Five conferences in her two-decade career, with stints as an assistant at Arizona, Washington, Nebraska, Florida, Texas Tech and Clemson.
Gray-Miller was head coach at St. Louis University from 2005-12.
Normally Whalen and assistant Kelly Curry primarily run the offense, while Gray-Miller and Marwan Miller run the defense. It turns out Curry was the assistant primarily involved in scouting Eastern Illinois.
"Lindsay prepared us for this," Gray-Miller said. "What she has done better than any other head coach I've worked for is she really involves her assistants in everything day-to-day. So the players have heard my voice a lot, as well as Kelly's and Marwan's. It should minimize the distraction."
