Rachel Whitten, the 2021 Southern Conference Coach of the Year, is in her eighth season at the helm of the Furman women’s lacrosse program in 2022. She was announced as the program’s first head coach on May 30, 2012 by former Furman director of athletics Dr. Gary Clark.
In seven years of NCAA Division I play, Whitten has amassed a 68-49 record and guided Furman to six conference semifinal appearances, while playing in three SoCon Championship games in 2018, 2019 and 2021, as the first head coach in program history.
The Annapolis, Md. native has coached 21 All-Conference performers during her tenure in Greenville and eight who were named to the All-Freshman Team. In 2015, the program’s first in competition, Britt Douglass earned ASUN Freshman of the Year honors. Furman swept the SoCon awards in 2021 as Hannah Demis was named the Offensive Player of the Year, Avery Whitehead the Defensive Player of the Year and Meagan Beal the Freshman of the Year. Whitten was also honored as the SoCon Coach of the Year for the first time in her career.
She previously 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 tenth 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 Final Four. Loyola ranked among the nation's top five teams 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 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.
