CLEMSON — Clemson women’s basketball coach Amanda Butler was on vacation when she got an alarming text from graduate assistant Danielle Rauch: “Can you talk?”

It was early April, and the Tigers’ 2022-23 season had recently ended in the the WNIT Super 16. Butler was at the beach with her family when she received Rauch’s cryptic message.

Rauch had joined Clemson the year prior after playing point guard at Michigan for four seasons. She had opted not to use the fifth year of eligibility granted during the pandemic, instead choosing to start down the path to a career in coaching as a graduate assistant.

Butler, fearing something had happened to Rauch or one of the players, took Rauch’s call. She was met with a surprise: Rauch wanted to play for Clemson.

“I could tell she was really nervous,” Butler said. “She went through this whole buildup: ‘I know we need a point guard. … I think this is legal, and I’d really like to be your point guard.’”

Butler’s mind filled with questions: Was Rauch still eligible to play after a year as a GA? What NCAA hoops would she have to jump through to get this cleared? Would Rauch be ready after a year off?

But she didn’t question it for long. Rauch was a veteran. She had started every game at point guard on Michigan’s 2022 Elite Eight team as a senior. Clemson had lost two of its top ball-handlers from the prior season, and no immediate help was coming. The Tigers would certainly benefit from a seasoned point guard, especially one who was already familiar with the team.

Butler said yes.

Butler doesn’t know of anyone to have done what Rauch now has: Transition from graduate assistant to player using a fifth year of eligibility. It wasn’t easy. Rauch had to get back into playing shape. The rest of the team had to accept her as a teammate rather than as a coach. But to Butler, it was a perfect opportunity for Clemson and for Rauch.

“In my mind, there was no risk here,” Butler said. “It was all reward.”

A pull back to basketball

Rauch’s duties were many as a GA last season. She did everything from preparing film for study to playing scout team every day in practice. It gave her a new appreciation for coaching and support staffs.

“When I was a player, food just showed up at my seat on the bus,” she said. “I was like, ‘This is great.’ (As a GA) I’m the person that has to make sure that the food gets in the seats.”

All the while, she never had any intention of returning to the court. She had closed that chapter when she left Michigan, and she hadn’t come to Clemson with the hope of playing again.

After Clemson’s season ended, Rauch had the opportunity to go to the women’s Final Four in Dallas. Coaches around the country go to the Final Four annually, and for a young aspiring coach, it’s a perfect opportunity for networking.

But being at the tournament’s biggest stage made Rauch realize how much she missed playing. She was reminded of her three NCAA Tournament appearances as a player, and she found herself wanting to watch the games up close more than she wanted to listen to speakers and attend conventions.

She started thinking about the extra year of eligibility she had chosen not to use. Would it be possible to use it now, after a year as a graduate assistant?

She asked around and learned that, yes, it was possible. As a GA, she wasn’t a salaried employee. She was essentially like any other graduate student on scholarship, and she was walking around with an unused fifth year of eligibility. She made the call to Butler, and the plan was set in motion.

Getting back in the game

Rauch knew she would have to work to get back into playing shape, but it wasn’t as if she’d spent the past year on the couch. She’d been running scout team in every practice. She’d taken care of herself, and she knew Clemson’s system. Early summer workouts were a breeze, and she felt ready.

But later in the summer, Rauch got a reality check: She failed a conditioning test.

“I had never failed at something like that before,” Rauch said. “That was just super demoralizing. I’m like, ‘Damn, this is going to be a lot harder than I imagined.’”

Suddenly, she was afraid she had made the wrong choice. What if she wasn’t cut out for this? The fears about her performance compounded with the fears she had about the social aspect of joining the team. After all, she’d been supplying their meals just a few months prior. She had asked the team for their blessing to return before she made it official, and they’d been accepting of her. But when things got hard, Rauch started to doubt.

“I just wanted to fit in and for them to see me as their teammate,” Rauch said. “If I had a bad practice, I’d be like, ‘They probably think I suck. They probably think, ‘Why did she come back?’”

She met with Lindsay Shade, Clemson’s director of quality control, and expressed her fears. Shade became Rauch’s support system, reminding her why she came back and encouraging her to keep at it. She helped her set up extra workouts and a meal plan with the strength and conditioning coaches to help her reach her physical goals.

As for the social aspect, that came with time. Rauch made friends, and she started to actually believe she had her new teammates’ respect. She wasn’t alone in being a newcomer: Clemson added six transfers this season. Having been around the team for a season, Rauch had a leg up in terms of familiarity and was able to help other new players adjust.

By the time the season started, Rauch no longer doubted if she’d made the right choice. She was ready to take full advantage of her last season of college basketball. She started at point guard in Clemson’s first game.

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One more year

Rauch’s path from player to GA and back again isn’t likely to happen again. The COVID year that gave her an extra chance will soon be a thing of the past. Plus, the NCAA passed a rule not long after Rauch was deemed eligible — although not in response to her case, Butler said — that effectively prohibits athletes who forfeited eligibility to become graduate assistants from returning to play.

Butler’s expectation for Rauch isn’t that she’ll lead the team in scoring every game. That’s never been the kind of player she is, and it’s not what Clemson needs her to be. The cliché about point guards is they’re “coaches on the floor,” but Rauch believes that’s exactly what she is. Her strength, she said, is actually her voice, something she feels can be an asset to Clemson this season. After all, she still wants to become a coach.

“I want her to feel at the end of this year, ‘Man, that was an awesome choice,’” Butler said. “It was hard. It was weird. There was no case study to go read. There was no friend to go call and get advice because they’ve done it before. I just want her at the end of the year to be like, ‘What a cool part of my story that I’ll tell my kids about.’ Or, when she goes on to coach, tell her players about. It’ll be just a unique part of who she is.”