BATON ROUGE, LA. — Late-morning sunlight slips through the giant oaks on the quad of Louisiana State University. A woman is poring over the pages of a book, undisturbed by the babbling fountain nearby. A handful of students on bicycles lazily crisscross the area, maneuvering through a series of pebble-covered benches as they head toward class.
It is the veritable picture of calm. Across campus at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, home of the Lady Tigers, it is a far different story.
The LSU women's basketball team, known for an unyielding defense, is in its fourth consecutive Final Four and faces Rutgers today. But the players have been living with turmoil, a remnant of March 7, the day their well-liked head coach abruptly resigned.
Pokey Chatman, 37, a former LSU All-American point guard who went on to coach the Lady Tigers to a jaw-dropping 90-14 record in just under three seasons, is accused of having "improper contact" with a former player.
The stinging allegation also has shock force: her accuser, the one who went to university officials and whose timing has been questioned while triggering ugly whispers, is assistant coach Carla Berry, a longtime close friend.
The cost to Chatman, if not the team, is gut wrenching.
"Her great career has been reduced to one thing people will remember about her," said Craig Guidry, a 20-year-old student here. "It's been reduced to a pile of rubble."
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Chatman has kept her personal life private. Now, however, there is talk, the usual talk in a case like this -- that she is a lesbian, a sensitive issue not only in this strongly Catholic city but also in sports. That Chatman allegedly had a relationship with a former player has triggered even stronger reactions.
"We still aren't knowing everything that went on, but if the allegations are true, it is a terrible abuse of power and a bad mark on the women's game," said Kara Lawson, a guard for the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs who was an All-American at Tennessee and is an ESPN analyst for this Final Four.
Although an LSU official said the resignation is "not a lesbian issue" but rather a "coaching behavior" situation, the case has drawn attention to that very issue.
"It's a loaded issue; certainly there are a lot of stereotypes out there about women's basketball -- a pervasive stereotype," Lawson said.
