An assistant coach for the Ball State women's basketball team, Rachel Galligan played four years under head coach Brady Sallee during her time at Eastern Illinois.
Now, she has the opportunity to work alongside the man who helped teach her the game.
“[Sallee] was demanding, but yet he cared," Galligan said. "I always knew that he saw something in me, and I always knew that he wanted me to be my best ... It's a huge reason I am the person that I am today.”
Becoming a coach was always something that Galligan wanted. Her opportunity came a few years after graduation.
“I had an assistant, Jackie Moore, that, at the age of 24, passed away of heart failure unexpectedly about a week before our season started," Sallee said. “[Galligan] and I had a conversation about if she wanted to start her coaching career.”
Galligan, while saddened with the death of her former assistant coach, saw this as an opportunity to lay the groundwork for her coaching career.
This year is Galligan's third season as an assistant coach under Sallee and works predominately with the post players, though she has taken to recruiting quite quickly and easily.
While neither Sallee nor Galligan are certain as to what her future holds, Sallee expects nothing but greatness.
“I think the sky is the limit for her career," Sallee said. "I think it could go wherever she wants it to go. My hope is that one day when I'm hanging the whistle up and I'm calling it quits that she's still my right hand man, so to speak.”
However, in the end, Sallee wants what is best for Galligan.
“I would love nothing more than to finish my career with her still as my assistant," he said. "But ultimately what I want is what is best for her, and that may not be staying with me for the long haul. It's hard for me to think about doing this without her.”
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