Student Denies Blackmailing Coach

The student whose affair with former Memphis basketball coach Tic Price cost him his job says she did not try to blackmail him.

At a news conference Tuesday, Price acknowledged having an affair with Chenoa Douglass, 23, a student at the university.

He said public knowledge of the affair led to his resignation Nov. 14. He said she asked for and received $17,000 from him. Questioned by reporters in the parking lot of her apartment building, Douglass refused to talk about her relationship with Price.

“I’m not upset about anything,” she said. “I’m just ready for it to be over.”

Later, her attorney, Stephen Sauer, issued a comment on her behalf.

“As a result of [Price’s] statement, inferences have arisen that Chenoa was involved in extortion or blackmail of Mr. Price,” Sauer said. “Chenoa Douglass emphatically denies that she was involved in any form of blackmail or extortion.”