Prior to a down year in 2018, in which the Paladins still reached the SoCon Championship Tournament championship match, Whitten’s squads posted back-to-back 12-7 win seasons in 2016 and 2017.
In 2015, the program’s first in competition, Britt Douglass earned ASUN Freshman of the Year honors, as Whitten guided the team to a 9-8 overall record, including a 4-3 mark in conference play.
“We are excited to welcome Coach Whitten and her family to Coastal Carolina and look forward to working with her in continuing a well-rounded successful women’s lacrosse program,” said Rosiek.
Before starting the program at Furman, Whitten spent six seasons at the University of Denver, serving as an assistant coach from 2007-11 before being promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2012 season.
During her tenure at Denver, the Pioneers amassed a 71-36 (.664) record, won three Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) regular-season championships, and ranked among the nation’s top 20 teams three times.
In 2012, Denver posted a 12-3 record and 6-1 mark against MPSF opponents, leading the nation with 12.6 caused turnovers per game and ranking 10th nationally in scoring offense (13.93 goals per game), while posting the nation’s 11th-best scoring margin at 4.2. The team’s 12-game winning streak was the longest in Denver women’s lacrosse history.
The Pioneers concluded the 2010 season with a 13-5 record and went a perfect 6-0 in league play. Denver advanced to the finals of the MPSF Tournament but was edged by Stanford, 11-10, in double overtime, to finish the season ranked 20th nationally. Pioneers Ali Flury, Natasha Davies, and Lexi Sanders were named to the IWLCA All-West Region second team, while Flury earned All-American accolades.
The 2008 squad also went undefeated in MPSF play, earning a final ranking of 15th nationally.
In Whitten’s first two seasons at Denver, the Pioneers posted a combined 29-9 record, including a perfect 10-0 slate in regular-season league play.
A two-time All-American at Loyola University in Baltimore, Md., Whitten helped the Greyhounds advance to three straight NCAA Tournaments from 2002-04, including an appearance in the 2003 NCAA Final Four. Loyola ranked among the nation’s top five teams in her first three seasons, finishing the 2003 campaign as the top-ranked team in the country.
Whitten, who is fourth all-time at Loyola with 120 career assists, was nominated as a junior and senior for the Tewaaraton Award, which is presented annually to the NCAA women’s lacrosse player of the year. She currently ranks ninth in program history for assists in a season with 38 in 2003 and is tied for seventh for ground balls in a season with 63 in 2003.
A 2004 graduate of Loyola with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, she is married to Marty Whitten of Verailles, Mo., and the couple has two children, Aleni Lou and James Cole.