Lez Keep It Real

I hunt for Pokey Chatman updates like a coke addict on the city streets searching for a dealer. I can’t help myself. I want to know what’s going on. I want to know what happened. And I want to know why no one else is talking about this.

The situation appeared to have been resolved, but sometimes appearances can be deceiving. The truth is that there were far too many loose ends left dangling in mid air for anything to be fully resolved.

Therefore, every time I log into ESPN, it’s not because I want to check the latest scores of the WNBA or update myself on what’s going on with the Kansas City Chiefs during preseason. (They’re my favorite team, but I could care less about preseason football.) I log in for one reason and one reason only, to see if there is any breaking news about Pokey.

Ever since she left LSU, she’s been ghost. No one has seen her or heard from her save for her lawyer and the LSU athletic department. Either Pokey is as good as 007 when it comes to disappearing or assuming another identity, or people just don’t care. Well, I happen to care. And I know plenty of others who care as well. We want to know what happened at LSU and why Pokey hasn’t stepped forward to clear her good name.

While on the hunt for Pokey this morning, I unearthed this … and it looks as though we may start getting some of the answers we seek, even if it’s in small doses.

According to ESPN.com, Pokey Chatman did not leave willingly.

That’s what the former LSU women’s basketball coach told reporters recently, in her first public comments since leaving the school under a cloud of allegations in March.

“The best word would be bombarded,” Chatman said, according to Baton Rouge’s The Advocate. “I’m at the hairdresser and I get a call [from associate head coach Bob Starkey saying], ‘They don’t want you to take the practice floor [March 6] at 12 o’clock.’ I have never spoken to a LSU person in position of authority before, during or after. Only my subordinate [Starkey]. That’s it. I couldn’t tell you what the allegations were specifically.”

Carla Berry, Chatman’s former teammate and assistant at LSU, came forward alleging that the coach had sexual relationships with former players. The 37-year-old Chatman resigned with two years remaining on her contract and didn’t coach the team in the NCAA tournament.

Conducting a basketball camp at her alma mater, Hahnville High in Boutte, La., Chatman said she was hurt by the way the school handled the situation.

“I had a 20-year career at LSU, and that didn’t warrant a 20-minute conversation,” she said, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “Would I do things different? That’s difficult to say, because I didn’t get to do anything. And I’ll just leave it at that. I don’t want to wrestle in the mud with the pigs. The bottom line is, I worked 20 years for an institution, and I couldn’t get a 20-minute conversation about what was going on. That told me right then and there that I was not wanted there.”

Chatman said she resigned so that the team would not suffer under a protracted controversy. She has since been consulting with a shoe company and weighing her options.

“Will I coach again? I’m coaching today,” she said from the camp, according to the Times-Picayune. “Will I ever coach another college team? You never rule anything out, but that’s not what I’m looking for today.”

I’m glad Pokey is keeping busy and doing what she needs to do. And maybe she thinks it’s better to just move on, but I think that at some point she should discuss what happened. If nothing happened, if the allegations are false, why wouldn’t she defend herself? Then again, if nothing actually happened and all LSU had to go on were allegations, what does that say about their fear of homosexuals? If Pokey never had the opportunity to speak to anyone, wasn’t even given the chance to explain her side, what does that say about LSU?

Will we ever know the truth? Only Pokey can answer that question.

For past stories on Pokey Chatman, go here.

pokey chatman, lsu, carla berry, bob starkey, times-picayune, coach, women’s basketball