Dana "Pokey" Chatman (born June 18, 1969) is currently an assistant coach for the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA). Chatman is the former head coach of the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

and

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

of the WNBA. She is also the former head coach of the

LSU Lady Tigers basketball The LSU Tigers women's basketball team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I women's college basketball. The head coach is Kim Mulkey, the former head coach at Baylor University, who was hired on April 25, 2021 to replace Ni ...

team and the Spartak Moscow women's basketball team. Chatman spent the first 20 years of her adult life at LSU as a player (1987–1991), student assistant (1991–1992), assistant coach (1992–2004) and head coach (2004–2007). After succeeding longtime coach

Sue Gunter Sue Gunter (May 22, 1939 – August 4, 2005) was an American women's college basketball coach. She is best known as the head coach of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Lady Tigers basketball team. Gunter was inducted into the Women's Basketb ...

in 2004, Chatman led the Lady Tigers to three consecutive

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Final Fours in 2004 (as acting head coach for the ailing Gunter), 2005, and 2006. Chatman resigned from her post at LSU on March 7, 2007, amid allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a former player that were alleged to have begun when Chatman was coaching the player.

Biography

High school career

Chatman was born in Ama, Louisiana, played point guard at

Hahnville High School Hahnville High School is a public high school located in Boutte, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the St. Charles Parish Public School System, serving grades 9 through 12. J.B. Martin and R.K. Smith Middle Schools are the feeder schools fo ...

and was a five-time AAU All-American. She is recognized for scoring the first 3-point shot in a high school game for the state of Louisiana.

LSU playing career

The 1991 Kodak

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

played for Gunter from 1987 to 1991, starting all but one game and setting the all-time steals (346) and assists (570) records at

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Her assist record was broken in the 2003–2004 season by

Temeka Johnson Temeka Rochelle Johnson (born September 6, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Her primary position was a point guard. Early life Johnson attended Bonnabel High School in Kenner, Louisiana. College career Johnson played ...

. Chatman played in the NCAA tournament four times and posted a record of 82–38 as a player. She was a three-time

All-SEC The All-SEC football team is an annual Southeastern Conference (SEC) honor bestowed on the best players in the conference following every college football season. Seasons Following is a list of all-conference teams in the history of the SEC: * ...

selection and led the Lady Tigers to their first ever SEC Tournament title in 1991, where she was the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP).

LSU statistics

Source

LSU coaching career

After serving as a student assistant with the Lady Tigers for a season (1991–1992), Chatman was named a full-fledged assistant coach before the 1992–1993 season. She was promoted to associate head coach in 1999. In 2003–2004, head coach Sue Gunter took a medical leave of absence in the middle of the season. Chatman, in her 14th season on the coaching staff, was named interim coach. She led the Tigers to a 15–5 record (27–8 overall) and the first Final Four in school history. However, LSU credits the entire season to Gunter. By the end of the season, it was obvious that Gunter would not be able to return. She announced her retirement on April 27, and Chatman was named the fourth head coach in school history.

Head coach

In Chatman's first season as head coach, she led the Lady Tigers to a 33–3 record, an undefeated SEC regular season title (14–0), and the program's second consecutive Final Four, falling to eventual national champion Baylor in the semifinals. In the 2005–2006 season, the Lady Tigers finished with a 31–4 record, captured their second consecutive SEC regular season title (13–1), and reached their third straight Final Four, this time losing to

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

. Chatman's 47–3 record is the second best record through 50 games in women's basketball history. Only Hall of Fame coach

Leon Barmore William Leon Barmore (born June 3, 1944) is a college women's basketball coach best known for his 35-year association with the Louisiana Tech University Lady Techsters. After five years as an assistant coach, he served as head coach from 1982 t ...

, the former

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

head coach, had a better record (48–2). Chatman won numerous awards, including the Black Coaches Association's Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005; the 2005 USBWA National Coach of the Year, the 2005 Russell/ WBCA National Coach of the Year; the 2005 Naismith National Coach of the Year; the 2005 Victor Award Female Coach of the Year; the 2005 SEC Coach of the Year; and the 2005 Louisiana Coach of the Year. In 2005, Chatman served as the assistant coach for the

USA Women's World University Games Team The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

, which won the gold medal. Chatman also won a medal as a player on the 1990 USA Select Team. Chatman was inducted into the

LSU Hall of Fame The Louisiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame recognizes members of the LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers athletics program that have made a lasting impact on Louisiana State University (LSU). To be eligible for the Hall of Fame in the Athlete ca ...

in 1998.

Resignation as LSU head coach

Chatman resigned as the head women's basketball coach at LSU on March 7, 2007, after school officials became aware of an alleged inappropriate sexual relationship between Chatman and a former player. Former LSU assistant coach Carla Berry, a college teammate of Chatman's, reported the alleged relationship to the university in February. Assistant coach Bob Starkey was named interim coach and led the team during the 2007 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament, in which the Tigers made their fourth consecutive Final Four. Chatman claimed that after LSU learned about the alleged relationship, it conducted a cursory investigation before giving her an ultimatum—resign within two hours or be fired. She initially demanded to be paid the remaining $900,000 on her contract. Ultimately, LSU and Chatman settled out of court for $160,000.

Spartak

In August 2007 she signed as assistant coach of the Women's Basketball Club Spartak Moscow Region (who had just won the 2007 Euroleague Women's Final). Spartak won the next three championships and in 2010, as the head coach, Chatman led the team to a 16–0

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

record and their fourth straight Euroleague Championship.

Chicago Sky

On October 29, 2010, Chatman was named the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

and head coach of the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. She was let go by the Sky in October 2016.

Indiana Fever

On November 18, 2016, Chatman was announced as the new head coach of the

. She assumed the role after

Stephanie White Stephanie Joanne White (formerly Stephanie White-McCarty; born June 20, 1977) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She w ...

left to accept the head coaching job at Vanderbilt. On September 10, 2019, Chatman was fired as

and head coach of the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.

Seattle Storm

On January 21, 2022, Chatman was announced as an assistant coach of the

of the WNBA.

USA Basketball

As player

Chatman was a member of the USA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in

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. The event was known as the Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament at the time. The event was held in August 1988, when the USA team defeated the host team Brazil by a score of 70–68 to win the championship.

As coach

Chatman served as an assistant coach of the

at the World University Games (also known as the

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

) held in Izmir, Turkey in August 2005. The team won their first game against the Czech Republic 88–64; the 24-point margin in that contest would be the closest any team would come to beating the USA until the gold-medal final. After defeating South Africa, China, and Poland to move on to the quarterfinals, they then beat Taiwan and Russia – each by more than 50 points. This set up the championship game with

Serbia & Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

which the USA won 79–63 to complete a 7–0 record and win the gold medal.

Head coaching record

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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References

External links

Profile at LSU Athletic Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatman, Pokey 1969 births Living people African-American basketball coaches All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Russia American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Louisiana Basketball players from Louisiana Chicago Sky coaches LSU Tigers women's basketball coaches LSU Tigers women's basketball players Point guards People from Ama, Louisiana Sportspeople from St. Charles Parish, Louisiana Seattle Storm coaches Basketball players from Baton Rouge, Louisiana 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen Women's National Basketball Association general managers