Updated at 10:54 a.m., Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Van Chancellor named LSU women's basketball coach
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — Former Olympic and WNBA coach Van Chancellor was hired as the women's basketball coach at LSU today, succeeding Pokey Chatman.He intends to keep the coaching staff left behind when Chatman abruptly resigned last month just before the NCAA tournament. Chancellor singled out for mention assistant Bob Starkey, who took over the team and guided the squad to its fourth consecutive Final Four appearance.
"I wouldn't have taken this job if Bob Starkey wasn't wanting to stay here," Chancellor said at a news conference. "Why would I want to change a Final Four team four years in a row?"
Chancellor was the women's coach at Mississippi from 1978-97 before leading the WNBA Houston Comets to four straight championships (1997-00). He also coached the U.S. team to a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics and has a 38-0 record in international competition.
Chatman resigned March 7 amid allegations of inappropriate conduct with a former LSU player when that player was a member of the women's basketball team.
