[ESPN] Co-owner acted alone in firing female coach

This story sickens me. Anthony's music and lyrics are beyond appalling. Some people are so deluded ...

 

It's pitiful..

First off Freije is by far the best player that team ever could have, even if it was only for two games. He had just gotten out of NBA last week and scored 30 pts the night before after only have one practice with the team.

I saw Ashley was at the Vandy game yesterday afternoon, and I'm sure she will be fine. If it doesn't work out with that team she will probably be better off after what happened. She had them a winning season thus far, and will have opportunities to coach in college etc.

She seems like a smart girl and has coaching ability. Just not sure that team is right for her especially after that mess!

 

Just to add some insight on how bad a move this was.

Ashley and Freije are both big Nashville favorites. I'm sure a lot of the fans that even go to those games are Vandy fans who went to see Ashley. Not a very good way to help your attendance to treat Ashley and the all time leading vandy mens scorer in such ways

 

anthony is just pissed off that freije has overshadowed the great dan langhi and wants him on the team immediately.

 

francis..

lol, I always see the Langhi stuff in Memorial Gym, and think if only he was able to do that for the rockets.

 

Matt was hitting that ass and Sally was jealous.

 

I know it's the ABA, but I can't get over that fact that a person only a year older than me is coaching a pro team.


BTW, what kind of terrible music does this lady sing? Does she really co-own the team as in she paid for part of it, or did she just get a cut from her husband?

 

moe .. lol they both played here at same time so... it might have felt strange being coached by someone he went to school with. then again she is pretty cute.

oski.. yeah she is young. She did have a winning year though despite having to deal with being first woman coach etc. She was a great guard for us and I think she will make a good coach.

She can definitely work her way up the college ranks I believe if she wants to go in that direction.

 

The story just made SportsCenter.

 

Coach reinstated today.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3374104


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Ashley McElhiney is remaining as coach of the Nashville Rhythm, after the ABA team said Thursday that a co-owner didn't have the authority to fire her.

"We understand any disappointment and anger our fans felt from the incident," general manager Daniel Bucher said in a statement. "But we now ask them to please put this in context with the whole season and show their support for our coach and the team. The Rhythm needs our fans to help us finish the season successfully."


McElhiney is the first female to coach a men's professional basketball team.

Co-owner Sally Anthony fired McElhiney Saturday night during the third quarter of the Rhythm's 110-109 victory over Kansas City after the coach ignored demands to bench a player. Security guards had to escort Anthony off the court.

Anthony is one of three owners of Nashville's first-year American Basketball Association franchise. But her husband, Tony Bucher, is replacing her as the Rhythm's chief executive officer.

Daniel Bucher declined to discuss his sister-in-law, who was taken to a hospital hours after the firing for mixing Xanax and alcohol, according to a relative on a tape of the 911 call. He said she would remain part of the ownership group but declined to comment further.


Co-owner and CEO Sally Anthony of the ABA Nashville Rhythm (left) yells at head coach Ashley McElhiney, the first female coach of a men's pro basketball team, on Saturday. McElhiney was fired later Saturday. (The Tennessean, Shelley Mays / AP)


"She gave Ashley a great opportunity and every one of these players to play in the United States. We think that's a very positive thing," the general manager said.

McElhiney, 23, had no coaching experience when hired last May, but she has led the Rhythm to an 18-7 record.

"I am committed to moving forward with the Rhythm and ask our fans and the city of Nashville to continue to support our team," McElhiney said Thursday.

The Rhythm are scheduled to play St. Louis on Saturday night in McElhiney's hometown of Gleason. The game will be at her old high school, where the gym holds 1,450, which would be a good crowd for the ABA team.

Center Adam Sonn, sidelined with a broken foot, said Thursday's decision came as a release.

"I'm glad she's back as the coach for sure," Sonn said. "This is the best answer.

 

And then there is this bizarre twist with the owner. I heard somewhere else that she said she fell and a dog bit her on the wrists when she actually slashed them herself.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3365846

Owner rushed to hospital hours after firing

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Hours after storming the court and firing her coach, Nashville Rhythm co-owner Sally Anthony was rushed to a hospital following a 911 call by a relative who said she had tried to "hurt herself."

A relative called 911 about 6 a.m. Sunday to report that Anthony was hurting herself, according to a 911 tape obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
"My sister-in-law is in her apartment right now, and she has taken some pills and mixed it with alcohol and taken scissors and cut up her arms," said the caller, who identified herself as Susan.


Hours earlier, Anthony marched onto the court in the third quarter of the Rhythm's 110-109 victory over Kansas City and demanded that coach Ashley McElhiney bench a player and then told the coach she was fired. Security guards had to escort Anthony off the court.

Anthony is one of three owners of Nashville's American Basketball Association franchise, which made McElhiney the first female coach of a men's professional team last May.

Anthony, an aspiring pop singer, and her husband and Rhythm co-owner Tony Bucher, did not respond to e-mail and fax messages seeking comment Tuesday.

The 911 caller told a dispatcher that Anthony had taken the anti-depressant Xanax, and was passing out every few seconds. The caller also told the dispatcher that her sister-in-law could become violent.

The dispatcher asked the caller if the she thought it was a suicide attempt.

The caller said, "I don't know if she really meant to kill herself. She definitely meant to hurt herself."

The 30-year-old Anthony was taken by ambulance to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she was treated for cuts on her arm and released Sunday. She was quoted in different reports as saying she fell and also that she was bitten by a dog.

The woman who called 911 did not immediately return a telephone message from the AP on Tuesday. A woman who identified herself as Anthony's mother told The Tennessean on Monday that it was "a total lie" to suggest that her daughter mixed pills with alcohol and tried to cut herself.

In the only official word from the team in the three days since the bizarre episode, the Rhythm owners issued a statement Tuesday apologizing to McElhiney.

"The ownership of the Nashville Rhythm would like to apologize to Ashley McElhiney, our fans, Lipscomb University, the city of Nashville, and our sponsors for the incident," the statement said.

The team said it was reviewing the incident and hoped to have a decision "on a course of action as soon as possible."

McElhiney, who has led the Rhythm to an 18-7 record, declined to comment to the AP Tuesday, but said she plans to issue a statement by Wednesday.

The team's two-sentence release didn't fully satisfy ABA co-founder and chairman Joe Newman, who on Tuesday named McElhiney as an assistant coach for the league's All-Star game Feb. 14 in Las Vegas.

Newman said the league won't step into a personnel issue, even though he has been inundated with complaints. But he is ordering the league and the team to donate basketballs to youth leagues in the city of Nashville.

He said the Rhythm was an excellent ABA franchise that has been embarrassed by one of its owners.

"She's gotten far more negative publicity for a person who's a recording artist in Nashville than she should get in a lifetime. She's gotten every bit that she deserved and more for the outburst," Newman said.

Management met with Rhythm players Monday night to discuss the situation, and the players were waiting for a final decision.

"We're confident things are going to be fine," center Adam Sonn said.

 

This woman is messed up.

I think the message board on her website has been taken down, but it was revealed that the member posting ten topics per day (half of which were "I love Sally Anthony!," the other half were dreck like "what kind of alcoholic drink are you?" quizzes) was Sally herself, just talking to herself about how great she was under different guises online.

Very strange.

 

Ashley and Freije rule

 

Hell yeah. Go DORES!