Wichita State athletic director Darron Boatright declined comment on stories and videos regarding Lynn Marshall, wife of Shocker basketball coach Gregg Marshall, at Sunday’s NCAA Tournament game in Indianapolis.
Lou Heldman, the university’s vice president for strategic communications, referred questions to the athletic department.
On Sunday, the Associated Press reported that a security guard asked Lynn Marshall to leave the lower bowl of Bankers Life Fieldhouse after she started loudly cursing shortly after the game.
A police officer was eventually called and followed her up the steps. She later was taken back to the playing level on an elevator so she could attend her husband’s news conference. According to Pat Forde of Yahoo.com, she complained about fouls not called in the final seconds during the news conference.
Lynn Marshall remained in the stands about 10 minutes after the final buzzer. She at first consoled fans and family members of the team’s players. But then she started shouting loudly about the calls made during the game. Eventually, the people around coaxed her to leave and the police officer followed.
Stories and videos, largely generated by Kentucky media outlets, pushed the story to national websites such as USA Today and Sports Illustrated on Sunday and Monday.
Basketball fan Steve Broniarczyk called Wichita State’s athletic department on Monday to stick up for Lynn Marshall. Broniarczyk, from Indianapolis, told The Eagle he did not see all of the events. He did see enough to motivate him to offer an alternate view of the story.
After Sunday’s game, he said he walked around the lower bowl and witnessed security ask Lynn Marshall and other Shocker fans to exit the arena.
“I saw her conduct herself in a respectful manner,” he said. “What I observed, it didn’t seem like anything out of line.”
Broniarczyk sat in the upper deck during the game.
Paul Suellentrop: 316-269-6760, @paulsuellentrop
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