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Northern Basketball Coach Suspended Four Games
 MARQUETTE---Northern Michigan University women's basketball coach Troy Mattson has been suspended for the next four games because of comments he made after the Wildcats' loss to Wayne State University Monday night. In the post-game press conference, Mattson was asked about Wayne State player Shareta Brown, and why she wasn't named the GLIAC Pre-season Player of the Year. "Every coach in our league knows they (Wayne State) cheated to get her," Mattson said. "And we will not vote for her. There you go. There's your answer." Brown transferred to Wayne State from the University of Detroit, which is an NCAA Division One school. Brown is one of seven players who transferred to Wayne State from Divison One universities, and all of them are natives of Lower Michigan. Brown scored 27 points and pulled down 19 rebounds in Wayne State's 69-57 win over Northern on Monday at the Berry Events Center. On Tuesday, Northern Michigan University Athetic Director Forrest Karr punished Mattson for those comments. "A mistake was made and given the circumstances I decided to impose a four-game suspension," Karr said in a written statement. "We have a great deal of respect for Wayne State University's department of athletics." "Their key administrators have strong backgrounds in compliance," Karr continued. "And Rob (Rob Fornier, WSU Director of Athletics) is a consistent advocate for the importance of going above and beyond just following the rules." Mattson issued a written apology to Brown on Tuesday, and to Wayne State University. "I would like to apologize to Wayne State University, their coaching staff, their players, and Shareta Brown for the unwarranted comments I made," Mattson said. "I would also like to apologize to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as my comments were unjustified and should not have been said." Mattson will serve the suspension starting with this Thursday's game at Lewis, Ill. He will also sit out games on January 2 at Tiffin (Ohio), January 4 at Ohio Dominican, and January 8 at home against Ashland (Ohio). |
