the last thing a team needs.

LSU women's b-ball coach Dana "Pokey" Chatman resigned much earlier than expected (as she was giving up the position at year's end). Now, she's out and will not be coaching the program through the tournament, and this is really the last thing necessary for a team that just happened to up-end Pat Summitt and the Lady Volunteers in the SEC tourney.

Chatman's immediate resignation is prodded by allegations of an affair with a former player, and it's a serious matter -- no matter how many jokes I try to keep back right now. (You may crack at will, though.) The whole mess at this point is just that, a mess. Assistant Bob Starkey, who's taking over for now, said this:

"She came in and said for personal reasons some opportunities had come available to her -- that it was something she needed to move on."

Really, I'm not sure if it's the allegations or if there's some truth to them, and I was actually kind of mortified reading the comments attached to the article (some implying that people thought it was okay because it was two women). Let's leave it like this: if she did have a relationship with a former player, it's improper -- position of authority and all that, regardless of gender and orientation. Regardless, it's a bad beat for the team -- you don't want to lose a coach with a 90-14 record.

I feel kind of odd even posting this -- the only time the majority of us pay attention to women's college hoops is when something bizarre happens with the coaches or the players that grabs our attention (unless you are a die hard or dedicated to the school.)

own your words.

Despite the fact that I'm late to the party, I clearly need to opine on Tim Hardaway's nice little radio interview reaction to John Amaechi's coming out, since he decided to lay it all on the line with his homophobia. I don't usually get in a huff about these things; I know there are ignorant assholes in the world, and I expect it. Hell, I cover them every single day.

But what gets me is that, when confronted with his Cro-Magnon line of thinking, he decided that it would work if he apologized.

Hardaway, later saying he regretted the remarks, apologized for the remarks during a telephone interview with Fox affiliate WSVN in Miami.

"Yes, I regret it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that," he said. "That was my mistake."

Note how he said he shouldn't have said it; it doesn't occur to him that it was a questionable line of thought. It was an amazing display of stupidity, ignorance, and top-shelf bigotry; it is the epitome of the word "gaffe." That said, own your words. You had no intention of apologizing for your remarks; otherwise, you wouldn't have said it in the first place. Tim Hardaway doesn't regret saying he hated gay people; he regrets that anyone was paying attention and called him on it. That's all his attempts at apology mean. I have more respect for the person who gets caught saying something idiotic, admits it, and owns up to it than a weasel like Hardaway, who, when confronted with his stupidity, regrets not the thought pattern, but that someone heard it.

Amaechi took the high road:

"Finally, someone who is honest. It is ridiculous, absurb, petty, bigoted and shows a lack of empathy that is gargantuan and unfathomable. But it is honest. And it illustrates the problem better than any of the fuzzy language other people have used so far."

Stop faking for your image, Tim; you are the one who covered the bridge in gasoline and lit the match, and you get to live with the consequences. Just when I thought Amaechi's coming out meant less than what ESPN was hyping, too. I think I was proven wrong.

Other takes: Leave the Man Alone, One More Dying Quail, The Hater Nation, and Just Call Me Juice.

it means a lot, yet not as much as we think.

How do we evaluate John Amaechi's coming out of the closet? He was a workman-like center, whom, when I saw him in games, was always referred to by the announcing team as a hustle guy, someone who did the little things while playing in the NBA. True Hoop, naturally, is all over this and its implications, and he thinks it is a certifiable Big Deal. The WWL got the Round Mound of Blackjack Throwdown to comment, and he said he'd played with gay guys and that the media was overplaying this.

It's definitely important to have this out there (pardon the pun.) Amaechi does not fit the stereotype of homosexual in sport, which leans heavily on machismo and occasionally on homophobia. But while his announcement and specials will probably result in some good debate, I'm not sure we'll see the real impact quite yet.

1) Amaechi's British nationality. There's always a lurking subtext that can influence response, like, "Of course the European is gay." It conflates homophobia and xenophobia.
2) He's retired. It will make more of an impact if someone comes out during their career.

I hope I'm wrong on the limiting factors, though.

An aside: it's very nice to see that an Orlando columnist felt the need to feed the "gay = pedophile" false dichotomy with Amaechi's community work while he played for the Magic.

the wrong type of zero tolerance policy.

Run Up the Score would probably have better insight on this than I would, but I remember hearing about Rene Portland, Penn State's women's b-ball coach, and her problems with alternative lifestyles about a year or so ago, and it's too good to pass up.

Today, former Lady Lion Jennifer Harris and the school settled a discrimination lawsuit against Portland after the coach claimed she had a "no lesbian" policy on the team; of course, the terms of the settlement are undisclosed. The settlement absolves the school and Portland of guilt, and she was fined $10K last year after an internal investigation and threatened with immediate dismissal if another instance came up again.

Having lived through the Gary Barnett era, I don't have a lot of tolerance for this crap from coaches (even if it's been known for a while). I wonder how much more Penn State can let go if she happens to go off the cuff again on something like this -- but given that her team is currently sitting at .500 overall and is worse than that in Big 10 play, her record may get her in more trouble than her mouth.