NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen’s Women’s Basketball Worldwide) – If you believe what you read, you will seemingly struggle to find a more unpopular player in women’s basketball right now than USA Olympic champion, WNBA and EuroLeague Women star Angel McCoughtry.

Cast in a role decidedly more grotesque than mere pantomime villain for her part in the disintegration of the status-quo at Atlanta Dream where head coach Marynell Meadors was recently fired and the player given a suspension; the intensity of vitriol hurled towards McCoughtry has been unpalatable to say the least.

From ‘dislikeable diva’ to ‘disruptive’, ‘pouting’, ‘glaring’, ‘selfish’, ‘high-maintenance’ ‘highly strung’, you can take your pick from an array of insults and insinuations because, believe me, they have all been thrown at the player of late by fans and basketball writers / bloggers.

Even Olympic gold medal winning USA head coach Geno Auriemma somewhat surprisingly weighed into the controversy at the Dream by tweeting “@marynellmeaders gets fired atlanta owners cave in inmate in charge.” (sic)

As many people viewed this (rightly or wrongly) as potentially contributing to the public assassination of McCoughtry, Auriemma then hurriedly tweeted, “by the way..... i never mentioned any names #guiltyconscience”

But, he didn’t stop there, arguably reverting to his original stance with a further tweet stating,  “BTW i never said i had a guilty conscience the people who cost a good person their job certainly do #FACT” (sic)

But, I guess if you’re McCoughtry, you reap what you sow, right? Well, maybe, or maybe not.

With such an overwhelming number of anti-McCoughtry placards being waved, it was bound to have an effect on the player although speaking to her over the weekend, she seemed reasonably contrite about the entire situation.

"I do feel I'm a good person who is very misunderstood. I just like to win and sometimes too bad,” she said.

“I'm always going to give 100 percent, even though it comes across wrong sometimes.

“At the end of the day, I'm still 25 years old and learning about life’s experiences and lessons.

“This is one of many that has helped me grow as a person and become closer to God”
 
She added: “I thank all my fans for always supporting me and having my back.”

McCoughtry may well be unequivocally culpable when it comes to what has happened at the Dream. I really don’t know. Her words certainly don’t smack of someone who believes she hasn’t played her part. I guess only the player, the management, her team-mates and Marynell Meadors truly know what happened.

The real story for me in the past week or so hasn’t been a coach losing their job after a ‘bust-up’ with a star player who is accused by all and sundry of behaving like a ‘spoiled brat’ and committing the heinous crime of perpetuating ‘player power’.

Because, let’s face it, this scenario happens in just about every league and in just about every team sport all over the globe. It's what coaches and general managers the world over are paid to handle and deal with.

In modern day sport, the reality is that talent almost always out-trumps attitude with morality and good old-fashioned manners left on the side-lines. Some of the best teams in the world were packed with bad attitude where coaches and star players had the most fractious and volatile relationships possible.

The sad and equally unpalatable situation is that coaches sometimes do indeed ultimately become the losers in such scenarios, although occasionally, the players are shipped out instead. That’s always a tough decision for the owners of clubs. And hey, I am happy to be part of the coaching union, I appreciate it can be difficult.

The most intriguing element to this particular saga isn’t the alleged clash between player and coach, but those who have gleefully seized their chance to put the boot in and milk the saga by really twisting the knife.

Believe me, I am no apologist for Angel McCoughtry. By her own admission, there have, and probably always will be moments when things blow up and the toys are thrown from the pram/stroller.

But, whether she deserves criticism thrown at her or not, it has been the ‘baying mob mentality’ and determination of many to publicly hang McCoughtry since this issue blew up which has been a real eye-opener.

With outstanding talent often comes ego and attitude – it’s hardly a rare scenario. Although admittedly, McCoughtry has probably placed further pressure on herself to deliver now she is back on the floor again.

She returned to top score in the win against Connecticut with 24 points in just 19 minutes and, as the dark clouds slowly begin to blow away we can expect it probably won’t be the last storm involving the player during her career.

But, if you completely take away the drive, the apparent ego, the hatred of losing, the attitude issues and anything else noted during the last week, would McCoughtry still be the outstanding player she is?

I somehow doubt it.

Although don’t get me wrong, I do hope that she does sincerely learn from this episode and with age, experience and responsibility, comes a slightly more mature approach.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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