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Nashville Rhythm

The Nashville Rhythm was an expansion franchise in the American Basketball Association which played in the 2004-05 season. It was one of the first teams comprised of male athletes ever to compete at such a high level with a female head coach, former Vanderbilt University star Ashley McElhiney .

The Rhythm faced a unique challenge in that their home court, Allen Arena, is located on the campus of a Church of Christ-related school, Lipscomb University, and as such they were not allowed to sell alcoholic beverages at their home games, which are a particularly important revenue source for many minor league professional sports teams.

On the January 29, 2005, while coaching a one point comeback win over Kansas City, McElhiney was fired by co-owner Sally Anthony after an on-court dispute between the two women. Apparently, the dispute began over McElhiney's decision to play Matt Freije , another former Vanderbilt star. As an attempt to gain publicity, the Rhythm (reportedly with Anthony's blessing) signed Freije to a two-game, $10,000 dollar contract. Anthony claimed to have disapproved of the deal, and demanded that McElhiney bench Freije. The coach refused, not wishing to play without what she considered the best player on the team.

During the third quarter of the game, Anthony became incensed with McElhiney's decision, and charged onto the court to confront her coach. Reportedly, the co-owner loudly used profanity and obscene gestures before being escorted out of the building by a security guard. The Rhythm managed to come back and win the game, but McElhiney was again fired by Anthony shortly afterwards. In addition, she threatened to fold the team if the players took McElhiney's side against her and the other co-owners, one of whom is Anthony's husband.

The next morning, paramedics were called to Anthony's residence to treat her after either a fall down the stairs or a dog bite or mixing alcohol with the anxiety-relieving drug Xanax, depending on the story she gave at the time. Police were reported to have believed her injuries to be self-inflicted.

McElhiney's firing was overturned and she returned to coach on February 5 for a game with the St. Louis Flight in her hometown of Gleason, Tennessee which was lost 130-114.

The team disbanded at the end of February 2005 when it was announced that it would not be contesting the playoffs despite qualfying for participation with an overall 21-10 record, which would have qualified them for an eight seed and to host a first-round game. The dissolution was considered to have been due to inadequate financing to continue operations; however, all players were reported to have been paid what they were entitled to up to that point. McElhiney, frustrated, subsequently resigned.

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Last updated: 05-21-2005 01:27:30