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Georgia Tech women's hoops: Three assistants, one staffer fired after MaChelle Joseph probe

Every player interviewed claimed Joseph, the Yellow Jackets' women's coach of 16 years, was "emotionally, mentally and verbally abusive."

ATLANTA — The major changes surrounding the Georgia Tech women's basketball program didn't end with head coach MaChelle Joseph getting fired.

On Tuesday night, the school also dismissed assistants Mark Simons (acting head coach), Sasha Palmer and Jonneshia Pineda from the program.

For his subsequent teleconference with the media, Georgia Tech athletics director Dr. Todd Stansbury also announced that team psychologist Dr. Belen Gutter had been removed from any future association with the women's team.

Dr. Gutter was prominently mentioned in the release of the independent investigative report on Joseph, which 11Alive News acquired on Tuesday, via the Open Records Act. 

Here are the biggest takeaways from this lengthy report, provided in verbatim excerpts.

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Regarding the Tuesday timeline, Dr. Stansbury met with Coach Joseph at noon Tuesday to inform her of the dismissal. 

Without going into much detail, the AD referred to the encounter as a "short, professional meeting."

At approximately 1:30 p.m., Stansbury met with the women's basketball team. 

It's worth noting that the meeting garnered 100 percent attendance among the players  --  despite whispers of some forthcoming transfers, according to Stansbury.

Regarding the allegation from the Joseph camp (the coach and attorney Lisa Banks) of Tuesday's firing being about gender and equality discrimination, Stansbury said that was "absolutely not true." 

In his final determination, Stansbury said he "had no choice but to dismiss" Joseph, the Yellow Jackets' head coach of the last 16 seasons.

STATEMENT FROM ATTORNEY LISA BANKS

"As parts of this ‘confidential report’ regarding MaChelle Joseph are inevitably leaked, be careful not to believe everything you read or everything the school is saying. We are confident the truth will emerge and Coach Joseph will be fully vindicated."

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