Georgia Tech women’s basketball coach MaChelle Joseph’s suspended employment status may be closer to being resolved.
“Right now, there have been no changes and we have no more information, but we do expect to hear something soon,” Joseph’s attorney, Lisa Banks, wrote in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday.
Joseph was put on leave by the school Feb. 27, calling it a “pending personnel matter.” The athletic department appointed assistant coach Mark Simons as the acting head coach.
Simons served as head coach for the final two regular-season games and Tech’s ACC tournament game against North Carolina. The Yellow Jackets lost all three games.
After returning from the tournament, the team met with athletic department administrators, and the decision was made to turn down an opportunity to play in the WNIT, ending the season. Two starters, Francesca Pan and Kierra Fletcher, did not play in the final three games for what were described as personal reasons.
In a Feb. 28 statement, Banks asserted that Joseph was not given a reason for being placed on leave and said that “we are left to conclude” that it was retaliation for raising concerns about gender-equity issues in the athletic department.”
An athletic department spokesman had no comment Wednesday, as has been the school’s protocol, on the basis of the situation being an ongoing personnel matter.
