WSU's Jody Adams-Birch not coaching two games; team boycotted practice, sources say

Jody Adams-Birch has been replaced as Wichita State women’s basketball coach for home games Friday and Sunday while athletic director Darron Boatright reviews “information recently received about the women’s basketball program,” he said in a statement.

The recent decision of sophomore Ellie Lehne to transfer started events that led to the decision, several sources close to the program said.

Lehne met with Boatright to discuss her transfer and her teammates joined her on Tuesday to discuss the overall atmosphere of the team, according to the sources. The players boycotted practice that day, the sources said.

Lehne, from Bryon, Ill., is the second player to leave the team since early December. Sophomore Jyar Francis left the team to transfer closer to her home of Hammond, La., WSU said in a news release on Dec. 8.

Boatright said assistant coach Kirk Crawford would be acting coach for Friday’s game against Bradley and Sunday’s game against Illinois State, both at Koch Arena.

Boatright said he would review the information he received “before I will make any long-term decisions regarding the program’s leadership.”

The statement said there would be no further comment because it is a personnel matter.

Adams-Birch did not return a text message and phone message seeking comment.

Adams-Birch is in her ninth season and took three straight Shocker teams to the NCAA Tournament, winning three Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championships and three postseason tournament championships in those seasons.

But Adams-Birch’s tenure has also been known for complaints of mistreatment from players by Adams-Birch and her coaching staff. Four players quit after the 2014-15 season, WSU’s third straight season in the NCAA Tournament.

In that spring, WSU interviewed 38 people associated with the program. After the investigation, the university and Adams-Birch had agreed on changes within the program. Among those changes, players and coaches were to work with a consultant in sports psychology, and players were to have a more open line of communication with department administrators.

Adams-Birch is in the third year of five-year contract and is making around $260,000.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 9:47 PM with the headline "WSU's Jody Adams-Birch not coaching two games; team boycotted practice, sources say."