The former volleyball coach at Grambling State University is speaking out in order to clear her name, she says, amid an internal investigation sparked by her July 5 termination.
Chelsey Lucas recently had made headlines for a controversial decision to cut her entire team, which led to the termination of her newly-appointed role.
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In a video interview with 247Sports, Lucas detailed what she believed to be the reason behind the series of events that led to her termination.
"When it first was announced that I got the job, there were previous athletes that I had coached that came together with student-athletes that were on the (Grambling State) volleyball team, and they, I would say, got together and had a plan (to get me fired)," she told 247Sports.
Lucas said a current member of the Grambling State team told her about the plot.
Before being hired at Grambling State, Lucas coached at Alcorn State from 2016-18 and at Arkansas-Pine Bluff from 2019-2021, the News Star reported.
Lucas also denied reports that she released every player on the team from their scholarship, claiming she received direction from vice president for intercollegiate athletics Trayvean Scott to do so. Lucas said she actually chose to keep several players who then left the team voluntarily.
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In its statement announcing her firing, the university said all current volleyball scholarships will be honored for the 2022-23 academic year, but it's unclear how many of the former players will be included.
Once the program was put under investigation, Lucas said she was not allowed to speak publicly about the situation.
"I was looking for the university to make a statement and say that this did not happen," she said. "I was looking for (Scott), I was looking for my student information director (Taylor Jeanlewis), I was looking for anyone besides me to say this did not happen.
Lucas was the 2006 SWAC Defensive Player of the Year at GSU, the News Star reported.
