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By ANTONYA ENGLISH, Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 2, 2001
Male coaches gather, raise issues
ST. LOUIS -- The weeklong gathering was for the women's Final Four, but a large group of male coaches took the opportunity to meet and voice concerns about what they see as reverse discrimination in the coaching ranks.
About 150 men who coach women's basketball teams met to discuss life as a minority coach in the business.
The committee, which called itself the "Male Coaches of the Women's Basketball Association," said it will become more vocal in demanding a fair shot in the business.
Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore was among the participants. He and several other coaches during the post-season accused the tournament selection committee of pitting male coaches against each other to ensure the fewest number reach the Final Four. Louisiana Tech lost to Connecticut (coached by Geno Auriemma) in the Elite Eight.
"It's no accident," Barmore said. "I've been around too long and seen too much. A few years ago, Andy (Landers of Georgia) and I were ranked one and two and they placed us in the same region."
Of the 317 Division I women's basketball programs, approximately 100 are coached by men, said Ed Baldwin, chairman of the men's coaching group.
The coaches said they weren't looking for WBCA legislation, but were looking for ideas on how to better promote themselves and make their concerns heard.
FANS CREATE DISTURBANCES: Students lighted fires around the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, Ind., on Sunday after the game.
No injuries were reported, and Purdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said five people had been arrested.
State police used tear gas to break up crowds of students who also threw rocks and launched bottle rockets at officers, a police spokeswoman told WRTV in Indianapolis.
"It's just trying to put one fire out after another," said Sgt. Shana Kennedy.
The largest group of students numbered about 1,000, she said.
Norberg said there about 200 police officers from local, county and state agencies on the scene.
TAKE MY TICKETS, PLEASE: The Final Four has been sold out for months, but that doesn't mean there were no tickets available.
Southwest Missouri State's loss in the semifinals provided a few extras. SMS is 31/2 hours from St. Louis, and after having been on the road for two weeks during the tournament, many SMS fans wanted to go home.
So they stood on street corners and other gathering places downtown trying to get rid of their tickets for Sunday's title game.
One Final Four volunteer said she purchased two tickets on Row 6 of the Savvis Center for $40. The woman she bought them from purchased the tickets from a scalper for $600 to see SMS star Jackie Stiles.
INDIANA, SO WHAT?: Purdue freshman Shereka Wright said she wasn't getting carried away with the hype surrounding the all-Indiana final. When the recruiting process began, Wright, who is from Copperas Cove, Texas, didn't even know she might be living in Indiana.
"At first, I didn't know where Purdue was until coach (Kristy) Curry called me and told me she had got the head-coaching job at Purdue," said Wright, whose family moved to St. Louis in September. "I asked where it was. For me, it was all about being close to family. I don't get caught up in all the Indiana stuff."