Pokey Chapman, LSU’s women’s basketball coach, has suddenly resigned.  Originally she was going to finish out the season, but now she is done for good.  The rumor mill is in full swing and the word on the street is that Pokey was intimate with some of her players.  Putting “####” bashing aside for a minute, I have two problems with this whole scenario.

One, coaches and players should not be sexually intimate be it heterosexually or homosexually.  If this were a professor at the college what would happen to him? Would there be outrage among his peers or from the university? 

Second, if this had been U Conn’s coach, Geno Auriemma, sleeping with his players I think he would be fired and their would be outrage from a vast array of organizations including NOW.  But because this involves a relationship between two women, I believe the GLAD group will take up for her. I also think that you will hear very little about this from the university. 

In my opinion, instead of sweeping this under the rug, LSU should treat this situation the same way they would if it was a male coach sleeping or harassing his secretary.  And make no mistake, this could fall into a sexual harassment situation.  A coach has power of his or her players.  The new definitions of sexual harassment have opened up a whole new arena for lawsuits. 

Remember a few years back when Bob Knight was accused of some sexual harassment and let’s not forget Clem Haskins at University of Minnesota.  Haskins was fired.  LSU does not need a parent of one of these players suing them for misconduct.  They need to fire Pokey Chapman and do so immediately.  Don’t think for one minute that AD Skip Bertman does not already know what has happened.

There is a double standard when men do something wrong with the opposite sex and I for one think it is unfair.  My mom always taught me, “If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander.”  Treat this situation the same.   

SoCalSportsFan