Leigh Aziz picked up the phone yesterday afternoon to call one of her old Syracuse women’s basketball teammates.

Thinking she’d get a chance to chat with the teammate over lunch, Aziz instead heard the souring message: SU head coach Marianna Freeman had resigned.

“I knew it probably would happen within the next couple of years,” said Aziz, who refused to name the Orangewoman who delivered the news. “But it kind of shocked me that I heard that Coach stepped down.”

Freeman did so in a press conference yesterday afternoon. In her 10-year career, she was 104-174. While her compassion drew compliments from a former player and assistant coach, her methods and losing ways often frustrated others.

Former forward Beth Record, who played for SU from 1997-2001, frequently called her Red Jacket High School coach, Bill Henry, to complain about Freeman, Henry said.

“I’m not sure any player understood the Syracuse system,” Henry said. “Just talking to Beth, I didn’t think there was any rhyme or reason. Sometimes, girls just didn’t understand their roles.”

Record could not be reached for comment.

Henry said when Record reported to training camp with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks in summer 2001, Sparks head coach Michael Cooper asked her, “What system did you play (at SU)?” and later told Record, “You don’t know any system.”

“And it was true,” Henry said.

Record considered transferring after her freshman year and grew frustrated with basketball because of Freeman, Henry said.

“The communication,” he said, “was lacking.”

Aziz sees it differently.

“I didn’t have any animosity,” she said. “If anyone held me back from being a better basketball player, it was me.

“She’s an awesome person.”

Though Aziz said she works out with the Orangewomen about twice a week, she said last night that she had yet to speak to Freeman.

Aziz, who played for SU from 1997-2001, attributed some of the frustration in the Orangewomen’s recently concluded 10-18 season to expectations from last year, in which SU made the NCAA Tournament.

“Once you get up there and do well,” she said, “it’s hard to stay up there.

“She gave it her all. She tried a little bit of everything. Whatever it was, it didn’t work.”

In April 2000, several Orangewomen, including senior Erin Pratt, complained to SU Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel about Freeman’s coaching tactics, according to a published report.

They cited a lack of communication and harsh methods like locking players out of the dressing room.

Pratt, now Erin Schroeder, lives in Manhattan, Kan., where she attends graduate school. She could not be reached for comment last night, but issued the following statement through her mother, Cynthia: “Maybe this would bring on some new and improved women’s basketball for SU. What’s in the past is in the past.”

Apparently, Freeman’s coaching days might not stay in the past.

“Marianna Freeman has a lot of years left in her,” said Felisha Legette-Jack, SU’s all-time leading scorer and a former seven-year assistant under Freeman. “I know her passion. Everybody needs their time off.”

Legette-Jack cited the case of Carol Ross, who resigned last March as Florida’s head coach. Ross took a year off and yesterday was named head coach at Mississippi.

“Marianna’s a prideful woman,” Legette-Jack said. “She’ll do all she can with a situation. But if she feels things were out of her control, she’d put on the brakes and let someone else step in front.”

Legette-Jack, in her first season as Hofstra’s head coach, said last night she had yet to talk to Freeman. When Legette-Jack was asked whether she’d consider taking the SU job if she were asked, she quickly said, “I definitely don’t want to talk about that. My focus is on Hofstra right now.”

As for Freeman, her future is unclear. And with her resignation, she leaves a trail of mixed reactions.

“I’m glad it happened,” said Henry, Record’s high school coach, “but I’m disappointed it didn’t happen sooner.”

Said Aziz: “It’s tough. I feel bad for Coach Freeman.”

Published on March 18, 2003 at 12:00 pm