Marynell Meadors, the Dream's head coach and general manager since they began play in 2007, was fired Monday after losing an apparent power struggle with star forward Angel McCoughtry.
The Dream announced that assistant coach Fred Williams will replace Meadors as both coach and GM. With less than a month until the start of the WNBA playoffs, the Dream (12-12) are third in the Eastern Conference, in position for one of four playoff berths.
Meadors, the 2009 WNBA coach of the year, guided Atlanta to the finals in the past two seasons. The Dream signed her to a contract extension in January.
Dream co-owners Mary Brock and Kelly Loeffler gave no reason for making the change in a news release and declined an interview request through a team spokesman. Meadors did not return a message left on her cell phone.
The Dream fired Meadors after of McCoughtry sat out two games for what the player and coach said were unspecified personal reasons.
McCoughtry was not in uniform for Atlanta's victory against Chicago on Wednesday at Philips Arena but was honored before the game for winning the gold medal with the U.S. women's team at the London Olympics. McCoughtry watched the game from a front row seat opposite the Chicago bench near the team's co-owners, who chatted with her during the game.
After not traveling with the Dream for their game at Washington Friday, McCoughtry came off the bench to play in Atlanta's loss to Minnesota Saturday. Meadors bristled when asked after the game if McCoughtry was back to full status with the team.
"All I can tell you is she played tonight," Meadors said.
McCoughtry, who was drafted by Meadors in 2009, said she requested the time off.
"I asked Coach to give me a few days to get myself together and she let me do that," McCoughtry said.
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who had Meadors on his staff at the London Games, alluded to a conflict between Meadors and McCoughtry in a post on his Twitter account Monday.
"[Meadors] gets fired atlanta owners cave in inmate in charge," Auriemma wrote.
Meadors coached for 20 years at Tennessee Tech and 10 at Florida State. She held positions with three other WNBA teams and the University of Pittsburgh before former Dream owner Ron Terwilliger hired her as coach and GM of the expansion franchise in 2007.
The Dream posted a 4-30 record in their first season but improved to 18-16 in 2009, earning Meadors the coach of the year award. The Dream were swept by Seattle in the 2010 finals and by Minnesota in 2011.
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