Source: Assistant coach reported alleged improper conduct in February
By BRETT MARTEL, AP Sports Writer
March 12, 2007
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Former LSU women's basketball coach Pokey Chatman was not allowed to be alone with her players after an assistant reported alleged improper conduct to the university in February, a school official with direct knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press on Monday.
The university reacted promptly and properly to assistant coach Carla Berry's allegations, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous because it was a personnel matter.
After Chatman abruptly resigned last Wednesday, The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported the school's discovery of alleged inappropriate conduct with one or more players led to her resignation. The LSU official told the AP that it did not appear that Chatman had any improper relations with current players.
Berry and Chatman were teammates at LSU on the 1991 team that won the program's first Southeastern Conference tournament championship. Berry joined former coach Sue Gunter's staff in 2001 and currently coordinates recruiting and oversees squad academics.
Berry, 37, did not return a call to her office. On Monday, ESPN.com, citing unidentified university sources, first reported she had made the report to the school.
Acting coach Bob Starkey said Monday night that Berry's status on the coaching staff was unchanged.
"Coach Berry is very, very well respected by our players, certainly by me, and she'll continue to be a positive part of our program," Starkey said.
LSU made three players available to speak about the Lady Tigers' No. 3 seeding in the Fresno regional of the NCAA tournament. Ashley Thomas and Rashonta LeBlanc declined to comment on reports about Chatman.
Center Sylvia Fowles, however, did not shy away from talking about her former coach.
"Pokey's always been a great person, she's like my mom and it's going to stay that way from here on out," Fowles said. "Things happen, and we know our focus and we know where we're trying to go, so we're going to have to move on regardless and I think we got past that point."
Starkey called the players a close-knit, resilient bunch who've been working hard and demonstrating a lot of energy and focus in recent practices.
The 37-year-old Chatman and athletic director Skip Bertman did not return calls Monday.
Chatman, who had been the coach since 2004, originally said she would remain through the team's NCAA tournament appearances, but decided against that the next day.
Starkey, a longtime assistant, will now lead the team into the NCAA tournament.
Chatman was 90-14 as LSU's head coach. Before that, she was 15-5 as acting head coach during the latter stages of the 2003-04 season, when longtime coach Gunter left the team because of lung disease. That included a trip to the Final Four in New Orleans, where the Lady Tigers fell in the semifinals to Tennessee.
LSU advanced to the Final Four in her first two seasons as head coach in 2005 and 2006, winning the SEC regular-season titles along the way.
Chatman, a Louisiana native, has been at LSU as both a player and coach for nearly 20 years.
A guard, she was one of LSU's career assist and steals leaders. After her playing career ended in 1991, she spent one season as a student assistant coach and then 12 seasons as associate coach under Gunter.
LSU has agreed to pay Chatman according to her current $400,000 per year contract -- including bonuses of as much as $70,000 should LSU advance to the Final Four -- until her resignation becomes official April 30.
This article appeared on the Yahoo Sports website on Monday, March 12, 2007.
![[Image: Pokey_Chatman.jpg]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Pokey_Chatman.jpg)
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