BATON ROUGE (AP) — LSU women's basketball coach Pokey Chatman, who
on Wednesday announced she would step down from her position after
the season had concluded, has since decided not to lead the Tigers
into next week's NCAA Tournament.

"My resignation yesterday has prompted speculation and rumors that
far exceeded my expectations and it is clear that my presence would
be a great distraction during the NCAA Tournament," said Chatman in
a statement from the school. "I believe it is in the best interests
of the team that I step away from my coaching duties immediately. I
want the players and staff to have the best chance to maximize the
opportunities we've earned. I have every confidence in the young
ladies and the remaining coaches that they will have success in the
NCAA Tournament."

LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman said that assistant coach Bob
Starkey will act as the head coach during the NCAA Tournament

On Wednesday, Chatman released a statment that said, "I have
notified the university today that I will step down as head coach of
the women's basketball program in order to allow me to pursue other
career opportunities."

Michael Bonnette, a sports information director at the school,
confirmed the resignation and said it was unexpected. "I was
stunned," Bonnette said.

"We respect the decision that Pokey Chatman has made regarding her
future career opportunities," Athletic Director Skip Bertman said in
a news release. "On behalf of LSU, I thank her for her athletic
accomplishments as a player and as a coach, and for the community
service work she has performed for Baton Rouge and Louisiana."

The Lady Tigers, currently ranked 10th in the nation, are 26-7 this
season after losing to Vanderbilt on Sunday night in the
Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.

Chatman is 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 Sue Gunter left the team because of lung cancer.
That included a trip to the Final Four in New Orleans, where the
Lady Tigers fell in the semifinals to Tennessee.

Her decision to leave came as a surprise in light of her long ties
to LSU and her never before indicating publicly that she was
dissatisfied with her job.

Chatman, a Louisiana native, has been at LSU as both a player and
coach for nearly 18 years.

Playing 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 won SEC regular-season titles in her first two seasons as a head
coach and made it to the Final Four last season.

In 2005, Chatman received a four-year contract extension that pays
her close to $400,000 a year plus postseason bonuses ranging from
$15,000 for making the NCAA tournament to $70,000 for winning a
national title. The highest-paid coaches in women's college
basketball, Pat Summitt of Tennessee and Geno Auriemma of
Connecticut, both earn more than $1 million per year.

Kim Mulkey, who coached Baylor to the 2005 national championship, is
a Louisiana native who played and served as an assistant coach at
Louisiana Tech. After Baylor won its Big 12 Conference quarterfinal
game in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night against Kansas, Mulkey
didn't want to talk about the possibility of coaching at LSU.

"I just don't even think making a comment about any of the job
openings is appropriate," Mulkey said. "Baylor treats me great. We
are a Top 25 team. I get paid great at Baylor. It's nothing more
than another job that is open, just like the Florida job, just like
the Michigan job, just like the Arkansas job.

"You hear it (speculation). You hear it all the time. Anybody who is
young and has built a program, it goes without saying that any job
opening your name is somehow going to be attached to it. When job
openings come up, there's speculation and things to write about. ...
It's just part of it. It's part of the profession."

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