UCLA women’s basketball assistant coach Trisha Stafford-Odom interviewed Wednesday in Baton Rouge for the assistant coach position that opened April 13 when Carla Berry announced her resignation. Stafford-Odom visited the Lady Tigers’ practice for about 45 minutes Wednesday afternoon. Lady Tigers’ coach Van Chancellor has not yet publicly identified the first candidate who visited campus at the end of last week. The third candidate will visit LSU later this week, Chancellor said. Chancellor declined to comment on any of the candidates, saying he did not want to jeopardize their positions at their respective schools. Stafford-Odom played for the University of California Golden Bears in the early 1990s and led the Pacific-10 Conference in scoring during the 1991-92 season. Stafford-Odom played for Chancellor’s WNBA Houston Comets in 2001. After the Comets released her, she joined the Miami Sol in 2002. She spent three seasons as the head coach at Westchester High School in Los Angeles before joining UCLA’s staff in 2005. Assistant coach Bob Starkey led most of the individual drills during Wednesday’s practice. Starkey said the team will practice until several days before finals. Once classes are over, the coaches can no longer host organized practice until the fall. The players are still allowed to organize their own practices and lift weights, he said. “The kids are wonderful,” Starkey said. “They have a great work ethic and a great desire. The spring practices are a bit more laid back. We’re focusing mainly on shooting.” Starkey said he thinks the team has emotionally recovered from the sudden resignation of former LSU women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman. “The worst of it is way behind them,” Starkey said. “I think they’re relieved to have [Chancellor] here.” Starkey said Chancellor’s transition was aided with his efforts to gain the players’ trust and belief in his goals. “He basically recruited this team,” Starkey said. “He talked to all of the players individually. He talked to the parents. This is a shared philosophy.” Starkey said Chancellor’s personality reminds him of former LSU women’s basketball coach Sue Gunter, who died in 2005 after battling emphysema. “Coach Gunter had the ability to make you feel like the most important person in the world when you were talking to her,” Starkey said. Starkey said he will spend time this summer working on his book about Gunter and her legacy. “The book is about everything Coach Gunter has taught all of us,” he said. Starkey said he interviewed many former players and sent out questionnaires to obtain their favorite memories of Gunter. He said the title of the book will be “No Excuses: Just Get It Done,” which was one of Gunter’s favorite phrases. Starkey said all proceeds will go to the Sue Gunter Fund.
—–Contact Amy Brittain at [email protected]