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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - MARCH 22: Members of the Michigan Wolverines Women's Basketball team celebrate winning their NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament second round game against the NC State Wolfpack at Crisler Arena on March 22, 2026 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Michigan Wolverines won the game 92-63. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
This was always the plan for Danielle Rauch. After graduating from Michigan as senior point guard of the 2022 history-making Elite Eight team, Rauch knew she would be back one day.
She and former teammate Naz Hillmon — the two-time All-American forward whose 00 jersey hangs from the rafters of Crisler Center — have a scheme years in the making. When head coach Kim Barnes Arico retires, they will be taking over the program. Which of them would do it and the specific details have yet to be ironed out, but the topic was heavily discussed during their four years at Michigan and is still ongoing.
Hillmon was drafted No. 15 overall to the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA, the highest draft slot ever for the Wolverines, and won the 2025 Sixth Player of the Year award. With a long, thriving career in the WNBA ahead of Hillmon, Rauch argued she’d be coaching and ready to take the reins before Hillmon’s playing days were done.
That banter is ongoing, lasting over four years and some details to be ironed out. Barnes Arico is aware she has a spot on staff if she wants it, and there’s no rush there. But when Barnes Arico is “on the beach, drinking coffee, playing pickleball,” Rauch and Hillmon will be at the helm, with Hillmon as the front-facing head coach and Rauch as the associate head coach, at least for the time being.
But now, Rauch is back as an assistant coach, guiding the Wolverines back to their — and her — third Sweet 16.
“This is like, the most full circle moment of my life,” Rauch said Sunday following Michigan’s second-round win. “I’ve never felt this much at peace of, this is exactly how God intended it, exactly how he wrote it up. And I’m just so happy for this team, because they deserve it all.”
Returning to the same court she clinched Michigan’s last Sweet 16 berth on, part of the program for both of the record-setting seasons in which the Wolverines have hosted the first two rounds of March Madness, it’s hard to imagine a more full-circle moment for a part of the program who was away from Ann Arbor just three seasons.
In those years, Rauch served as a graduate assistant at Clemson, used her COVID-19 year of eligibility in 2023-24 for the Tigers and was an assistant coach at Western Carolina in 2024-25.
In Barnes Arico’s phone call recruiting Rauch back to coach, Rauch wasn’t confident she was ready for the leap back to the Big Ten. She needed more time with the Catamounts, developing and learning before she could even imagine coaching back at Michigan. Barnes Arico was adamant, though, reminding Rauch about the experience of people on staff and that she would be surrounded by that strong support system.
But coaching was always her plan and always part of her demeanor on the court.
Backing up teammate Amy Dilk at point guard for three seasons, Rauch didn’t get much playing time. She was still in the film room, studying the point guard position and helping Dilk earn the plays. According to assistant coach Melanie Moore, who coached Rauch and is now coaching alongside her, Rauch was the definition of “staying ready so you don’t have to get ready.” Known by her coaches as the hardest-working player and most committed player, Rauch showed up to practice and worked. Her extra effort and underdog mentality aligned perfectly with Michigan’s “hardest working team in America” mantra.
One of Barnes Arico’s favorite stories is from Rauch’s junior season, when the Wolverines’ starting point guard got hurt barely before the team’s scheduled travel for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Despite playing in about 10 minutes the five games prior, Rauch led Michigan to a Sweet 16. Her senior season, Rauch led the Wolverines to the Elite Eight — a fact she doesn’t let the current team forget, albeit from a place of encouragement, not just rubbing it in.
“She’s always talking about like, ‘We went to the Elite Eight,’ like, ‘You guys got to get there,’ and she’s always pushing us to beat her record,” freshman guard McKenzie Mathurin said. “And so that’s kind of what sets a fire under us, is to just beat her.”
Few know Rauch’s competitive fire better than her fellow coaches, but this season’s Michigan team is close. Being just a few years older than the current roster, Rauch laces her shoes back up with the red squad. She’s earned the compliment of best shooter on red squad, with a quick release that mimics other top perimeter threats, no matter how close the close-out is. She’s the one defending the guards again, a pesky force pestering the ball-handler.
This time, though, her goal isn’t to prove herself and earn playing time on the court while pushing her teammates to be better. It’s from a coach’s perspective, trying to make her players better in every facet.
Whether that’s bringing her experience and leadership to the young, talented roster to balance out their strengths, or sharing her story of years of hard work and struggles behind the scenes, Rauch is there for her players. She’s learned from her fellow coaches to relate to the team in different ways than as a player, communicating differently to meet each individual’s needs and meet them where they’re at.
With the basketball minds in Michigan’s locker room, from Barnes Arico to five-time Olympian Natalie Achonwa, Justine Raterman, Jordan Reese and Moore, Rauch is developing her own coaching skills while showing up for her players, from 6 a.m. workouts to extra film sessions. That dedication and passion has led to her players dubbing her a “player’s coach,” something senior guard Brooke Quarles Daniels says is missing from the sport right now. Rauch is described as fiery, a combination of intense and positive.
“I feel like the proud mama, just knowing her when she was a high school 16, 17 years old, to now a young adult thriving,” Moore said. “No doubt, her energy’s infectious and contagious, and she eats, breathes and sleeps Michigan women’s basketball. So I think it helps our program, helps our girls. She lived in their shoes. She knows coach Arico, I think it helps when you have a player that played for her, so she can give advice and do things that some of us coaches can’t because she’s worn that uniform before and was in those shoes.”
Even in the years where Rauch was away from the program, Barnes Arico pointed to her hard work trajectory as an example of what it means to buy into the player development process. Rauch is representative of that pillar of the Wolverines’ success, the foundation of player development that resonates throughout each practice and game predicated on consistent hard work and competitive drive.
“I think when you face that type of adversity as a player, any type of adversity in your life like that, you just persevere and overcome,” Barnes Arico said Saturday. “Like what an incredible role model for our players to have, what a difference maker she could be in their life. …I think for them, Danielle is that person that’s been through all of those situations. She really connects with our team. She really helps make us a better program. She really understands what it takes to be successful and to pour in when you’re not seeing results.”
For players progressing through that process, Rauch is an example of finding success in that system outside of stardom. To Rauch, it’s about wanting it more than the opponent, no matter what the talent distribution is. It’s always about wanting it more, outworking and out-hustling others. Her energy is palpable, and sometimes, bench celebrations carry her a footstep from reclaiming her spot on the court.
Just in her first season, Rauch is still a few years away from taking the mantle from Barnes Arico. But in the Wolverines’ return to the second weekend — matching up tomorrow against No. 3-seed Louisville, the very same team which ended Rauch’s 2022 run — she’s still making an impact.
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