PROVO, Utah – BYU head women’s basketball coach Amber Whiting named Natalie Lainhart the director of operations Thursday to round out her new staff.
“Natalie is an amazing addition to our staff,” Whiting said. “She is incredibly hardworking and loyal. She is the kind of person that emulates what we stand for. Her mantra is lift and bless and she does just that. She takes my vision and makes it come to life in all of her creative ways. She has incredible ideas and I am so excited for the future and seeing everything come to life.”
Lainhart joins Lee Cummard, Morgan Bailey and Aaron Kallhoff on the bench to complete Whiting’s first staff as the new head coach of the Cougars. The Las Vegas native moves over from BYU men’s basketball where she served as the executive assistant to head coach Mark Pope.
“It is a great honor to have an opportunity to work with this excellent coaching staff and the women on this team,” Lainhart said. “I am grateful to Coach Whiting for the trust she has placed in me and the great vision she has for this program. It has been a pleasure working with Coach Pope and I am thankful for the numerous things I have learned from him and the men’s basketball staff during the last two and a half years. I am excited about the future of BYU women’s basketball and ready to go to work.”
Lainhart will be responsible to direct logistics for the women’s team, including creating culture, organization, scheduling, recruiting, team travel, basketball activities, service, budgets, team communication and coordination with other campus and external groups.
Lainhart played college basketball at the University of Idaho, BYU-Hawaii and Salt Lake Community College.
A Nevada 4A All-State and first-team all-region selection, Lainhart averaged 16.6 points and 13.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.8 steals per game her senior year in 2010-11 at Silverado High School where she earned Southern Nevada Female Athlete of the Year honors from the Las Vegas Review Journal.
She served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Anaheim, California, speaking Spanish.
Lainhart is the daughter of Allen and Kristy Lainhart. She has one brother, Aaron and a nephew, Tai.