Women’s volleyball coach Chelsey Lucas was fired by Grambling State University after she dropped all nineteen players on her team from the roster.
She was hired three months ago, when the previous coach Demetria Keys-Johnson stepped down to take the position of head coach for women’s volleyball at the university. Her relationship with her team members has been tense from the beginning due to an incident last season when her previous team, Arkansas Pine Bluff, played Grambling State.
“When we played them at home and we beat them, our school has like this chant, but at the end of the chant you say, like, the B-word,” senior Sheila Borders said. “I guess she thought I was calling them B-words, but, like, the whole school says it. They say it at basketball games and football games. It’s nothing personal.”
Lucas had a foul relationship with her students from the beginning. During her first meeting with the team members, she reportedly said: “I bet you didn’t expect to see me again. I bet y’all will think twice about who y’all call a b—-.” The practice sessions after she was appointed “consisted of very few volleyball-related drills and a lot of punishment-related running,” according to the Monroe News-Star.
Lucas called individual meetings with twelve scholarship players, saying that their scholarships would not be renewed, and the seven walk-ons were told that their spots would not be renewed. Four former scholarship players had the opportunity to remain on the team as walk-ons, but they all declined.
The Grambling State University administration formerly supported her decision, saying that “our coaches are empowered to make the decisions they deem necessary to advance their programs.”
“[Lucas] said that we weren’t able to practice much, which we weren’t, and she said based off of that she was not able to renew my scholarship, so I didn’t really get any time to show what I could do,” junior Maurisa Harris told KSLA News 12. “When I was in there and she told me, my heart completely broke. … I didn’t cry in there, but I did when I left, and it just hurts really bad, the fact that it was snatched away so fast.”
Students who lose their scholarship will also lose all financial aid from the school immediately. This will leave the students scrambling to find a way to pay their tuition for the rest of the school year.
Lucas, who was ordered not to speak to the media about the situation, disputed details about the allegations against her after she was fired. She said that the school’s administration supported her decision, suggesting that she “get rid of ‘em all.” She claims that she only met with 14 players and offered some the chance to stay.
“There were girls that … I gave them reasons of why that you would no longer be a part of Grambling State University program, and there were young ladies, there were student-athletes, that I asked, ‘I want you to be a part of this program,’” she said. “The narrative of this team, even when I came in, from the administration, [was] that this was a bad character team. That’s what I was getting, but at the same time I wanted my administration to give me a fair chance to make sure I go in and be able to be the coach for them and evaluate and assess these young ladies on and off the court.”
The university claimed that the student athletes were a priority but refrained from making other comments. In their statement, the school said that the students who received a scholarship will keep their scholarships and remain on the team, and walk-ons will continue to hold their roster spots.
She was hired three months ago, when the previous coach Demetria Keys-Johnson stepped down to take the position of head coach for women’s volleyball at the university. Her relationship with her team members has been tense from the beginning due to an incident last season when her previous team, Arkansas Pine Bluff, played Grambling State.
“When we played them at home and we beat them, our school has like this chant, but at the end of the chant you say, like, the B-word,” senior Sheila Borders said. “I guess she thought I was calling them B-words, but, like, the whole school says it. They say it at basketball games and football games. It’s nothing personal.”
Lucas had a foul relationship with her students from the beginning. During her first meeting with the team members, she reportedly said: “I bet you didn’t expect to see me again. I bet y’all will think twice about who y’all call a b—-.” The practice sessions after she was appointed “consisted of very few volleyball-related drills and a lot of punishment-related running,” according to the Monroe News-Star.
Lucas called individual meetings with twelve scholarship players, saying that their scholarships would not be renewed, and the seven walk-ons were told that their spots would not be renewed. Four former scholarship players had the opportunity to remain on the team as walk-ons, but they all declined.
The Grambling State University administration formerly supported her decision, saying that “our coaches are empowered to make the decisions they deem necessary to advance their programs.”
“[Lucas] said that we weren’t able to practice much, which we weren’t, and she said based off of that she was not able to renew my scholarship, so I didn’t really get any time to show what I could do,” junior Maurisa Harris told KSLA News 12. “When I was in there and she told me, my heart completely broke. … I didn’t cry in there, but I did when I left, and it just hurts really bad, the fact that it was snatched away so fast.”
Students who lose their scholarship will also lose all financial aid from the school immediately. This will leave the students scrambling to find a way to pay their tuition for the rest of the school year.
Lucas, who was ordered not to speak to the media about the situation, disputed details about the allegations against her after she was fired. She said that the school’s administration supported her decision, suggesting that she “get rid of ‘em all.” She claims that she only met with 14 players and offered some the chance to stay.
“There were girls that … I gave them reasons of why that you would no longer be a part of Grambling State University program, and there were young ladies, there were student-athletes, that I asked, ‘I want you to be a part of this program,’” she said. “The narrative of this team, even when I came in, from the administration, [was] that this was a bad character team. That’s what I was getting, but at the same time I wanted my administration to give me a fair chance to make sure I go in and be able to be the coach for them and evaluate and assess these young ladies on and off the court.”
The university claimed that the student athletes were a priority but refrained from making other comments. In their statement, the school said that the students who received a scholarship will keep their scholarships and remain on the team, and walk-ons will continue to hold their roster spots.
