Coaches: Racial remarks fuel New Mexico basketball spat

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two basketball coaches who are the parents of a popular WNBA player are finding themselves in the middle of a firestorm over race and accusations of unsportsmanlike conduct after they were fired from a New Mexico high school.

Cecilee Moses and Rick Schimmel, the parents of Atlanta Dream guard Shoni Schimmel, were coaching the Santa Fe Indian School boys team against a local rival last week when Rick Schimmel said the athletic director for the other school shoved him in the back and refused his requests to have fans removed for purportedly yelling a racial slur at his players.

The confrontation unfolded at the start of halftime, when the athletic director was apparently clearing the court so the Pony Express dance group could perform, according to a police report.

After the halftime show ended, Manning told police his physical contact with Schimmel amounted to a tap on the shoulder to tell him his players could go back out and warm up.

Schimmel later became a WNBA first-round draft pick out of Louisville, where she re-introduced "rez ball" — a fast-paced, spontaneous style of play on reservations — to the NCAA.