NYT Article on Womens Basketball

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These are tough times for the L.S.U. women’s basketball team. The Tigers, a fixture in the N.C.A.A. field for the past 12 years, missed the tournament after a 19-13 season.

Van Chancellor, the team’s coach for the past four years, resigned Wednesday under pressure from the school’s athletic department. He had wanted to serve the last year of his contract as coach, but will now work as a special assistant to Athletic Director Joe Alleva.

Reporters asked for the specific reason why Chancellor, who has a 90-40 record and a Final Four appearance, was forced to step aside.

“This was an agreement we made in the best interest of the program, and that’s that,” Alleva told the Monroe News-Star. “He’s been terrific. He’s a class guy.”

Despite his impressive track record, with four W.N.B.A. titles with the Houston Comets, coaching the U.S. women’s team to the 2004 Olympic gold medal and his 2004 enshrinement in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Chancellor, 67, is out.

“There comes a time in everybody’s life that you need to move on with your life,” Chancellor told the Associated Press. “I’ve got a lot of things I want to do with my four grandchildren. There are a lot of things Betty (his wife) and I want to move and go around this country and do.”

Chancellor’s former players weighed in on this unexpected change.

“He has done a tremendous job for women’s basketball at every level, and he will definitely be missed,” North Carolina-Wilmington Coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, who starred Comets title teams, told ESPN.com. “If he wants to retire right now and not coach women’s basketball again, he has really been pivotal in the growth of women’s basketball in the last 10 to 15 years.”

Chancellor helped steady L.S.U., as the program was reeling after the scandal surrounding Coach Pokey Chatman enveloped the program in March 2007. Chatman resigned as coach on the eve of the N.C.A.A. tournament, after allegations of inappropriate relationship with a former player surfaced.

Chancellor took over and guided the team to the Final Four, losing to eventual champion Tennessee.

Alleva declined to mention possible candidates, but said the Tigers are willing to spend to get the right coach.

“I think this is one of the best jobs in the country so I hope we’re able to attract a top coach,” Alleva said. “There is no timetable, so don’t ask me about a timetable.”

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