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1carol · Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 1043 Location: Phoenix AZ

Quote: http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-32/118736703682110.xml&coll=1

Chatman takes job coaching in Moscow
Augustus and other WNBA stars encouraged her to make move Friday, August 17, 2007

BATON ROUGE -- Ending months of speculation about her future, former LSU women's basketball coach Pokey Chatman said Thursday she has accepted a job as the associate head coach for the Spartak Moscow women's team.

Chatman will move to Moscow in October and live in Russia for approximately six months, guiding a team in a league bursting with WNBA stars that play in Europe during the offseason for considerably more money than they make professionally in the states.

Among those players is former LSU great Seimone Augustus, one of Chatman's recruiting coups at LSU. Augustus does not play for Spartak Moscow, but former Connecticut stars Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird do, and Chatman said the prospect of coaching the finest players in the women's game, several of whom encouraged her to make the move, sealed the deal.

"This all came up in May, and I wasn't exactly certain about it," Chatman said. "But I talked it over with Seimone and some other players, and they all said what an amazing time they had over there and how much they like it."

Chatman conceded the infamous Russian winters gave her a momentary pause, too.

"I figure I won't be going outside much while I'm there," she said.

At first blush the move seems somewhat startling for a coach who was at the peak of her profession in the United States after leading the Lady Tigers to three consecutive Final Four appearances. She left LSU abruptly under a cloud of allegations she had engaged in improper sexual relationships with former players.

For months Chatman simmered over what she considered shabby treatment from her alma mater, although she and several current players, including star center Sylvia Fowles, said they remain in contact. LSU has consistently declined comment on the matter, and the sparring sides reached an out-of-court agreement.

But whatever happened between LSU and Chatman may fade once she is ensconced in what could be deluxe Russian digs. The owner of Spartak Moscow, Shabtai von Kalmanovic, is one of the larger-than-life oligarchs that have sprung up in Russia after the fall of Communism and under the rigid state umbrella erected by President Vladimir Putin.

Friends told ESPN that von Kalmanovic once splurged more than $1 million in a single weekend in France. While playing in Moscow, Bird and Taurasi live in a six-bedroom villa with an indoor pool and sauna, and move from A to B by means of personal drivers or paid-for business class tickets.

The two former Huskies stars make between $500,000 and $3 million a year, according to reports, which indicates Chatman should reap more than her former $400,000 salary at LSU. Chatman declined to comment on her pay from the team, whose head coach doubles as the coach of the Italian national team.

Also in May, Chatman said she entertained another U.S. college coaching offer from a school she declined to identify. She said the fit with Spartak Moscow seemed right after her bitter departure from LSU.

"I can't tell you how excited I am about this," she said. "I still love the players at LSU, but after a lot of discussions with a lot of people, I think it makes the most sense to take this step now."