The players themselves added to this unfortunate atmosphere. Although they justifiably felt that a change was necessary, they often treated Kleinfelder with disrespect and cruelty for much the season.

Carole Kleinfelder--if not a good basketball coach--is a nice, friendly person, and did not deserve the treatment which many of the team members inflicted on her.

Granted, the stress of playing for a 4-21 team makes it easier to designate a scapegoat. Frustration puts people on edge. But still, frustrations should never have allowed the players to nickname their coach "Sybil--women of 16 different responsibilities." No one sat or talked with her on the bus. She was ignored and scorned behind her back, laughed at.

At times it seemed that the only cohesive force keeping the players together was born of petty maliciousness towards Carole Kleinfelder.

"Carole made mistakes, and her coaching lacked a lot, especially in crucial parts of the game," one player reflects. "But, at the same time she wasn't given [any] encouragement or respect."

On the court, the team ignored her directions. No matter what individually players think of a coach, her strategy or her personality, during gametime her word must be followed with the same respect shipmates accord their captain.

In addition to Kleinfelder's being personally insulted and the team's ignoring her instructions, the leaders of the team-co-Captains Martin and pat Horne-made little attempt communicate with Kleinfelder about the team's low morale and its complaints. By not confronting Kleinfelder, the co-captains further deepened the player-coach right, instead of alleviating it.

Martin looks back on the situation with regret, saying. "It's very unfair to Carole that it was dragged on for so long and [that] it made such a messy situation. I respect Carole very much as a very classy person, and I don't think that it was right that it was right that she had to go through such an emotional situation."

She adds, "I don't want to lose her as a friend over this, and I hope that I'm not alone in this opinion."

In the game and in the locker room, the team went off in several directions, severed from the coach. If players are going to disregard a coach's strategy, they had better have a game plan of their own, but in this case they didn't. Five players on the court, each playing her own game, amounted to a confused and messy circus.

"The team wasn't strong enough in rallying together to merit going off on their own tangent," says one player. "It was counter productive to ignore her."

Kleinfelder did, however, make efforts to maintain any dregs of the alliance which she and the team had. One time, she lent a player the keys to her car. She never stopped smiling sometimes rather pathetically to the eager. Friendliness in the wake of a team's bitterness towards its coach, did not appear to evade her.

These are reasons to blame the players for a miserable season.

Kleinfelder cannot be scorned for coaching a losing team. She couldn't produce a winner. That's not why she is to be criticized for the role that she played in Reardon's decision to replace her.

But Kleinfelder probably knew that every one from Reardon to her players wanted her gone. It would be hard to ignore the disrespect of her team, and how it reflects what the players feel about her staying in control of the program. People have speculated that Reardon in the past discussed with Kleinfelder that he would prefer that she resign. At that point, perhaps she should have packed her bags and said "to hell with it."

She stayed though And, like Reardon, she let a no-win situation persist. Tension concern and anger mounted during that time.

There's no denying that it's easy to sit and write that Kleinfelder should have called it quits earlier. It's hard to say what emotions dictated her actions. Kleinfelder herself refuses to comment on her dismissal.

But no matter where the balance lies, it can be safely said that the situation could have been handled a lot better. As it turned out the whole thing was a bloody mess.