Disgruntled Illinois St. coach bars team from locker room

NORMAL, Ill. -- Takeaways are a football statistic, but Illinois State basketball coach Tom Richardson hopes they can revive his struggling 1-8 Redbirds.

Richardson has taken away the team's locker room and stripped his three captains of their titles in an effort to turn around a slow start that included ISU's worst-ever loss at Redbird Arena last Sunday.

"They certainly haven't rallied around each other yet, so maybe now they will rally around each other against me," said Richardson, whose Redbirds were picked fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference in preseason polls.

With the locker room door taped shut and labeled "Do Not Enter," just where are players changing clothes and getting their uniforms washed?

"Their cars, the bathroom, the boiler room, I don't know," the fourth-year coach said. "I guess I'm trying to get them so mad at me that they start rallying around each other.

"I'm trying to make life a little more difficult for them and trying to make them develop a toughness they haven't shown this season."

Richardson demoted his captains after a 76-48 loss to Southwest Missouri State in last Sunday's conference opener.

"Maybe some new leaders will develop or some old leaders will begin to take things more seriously," Richardson said.

Gregg Alexander, one of the demoted captains, said the team knows it's to blame for Richardson's unorthodox punishment.

"Maybe we needed something like this to get us jump started," Alexander said.

While taking away, Richardson has also given -- namely 28 full-court wind sprints, one for every point they lost by to Southwest .

"They ended up running 36 because some of the guys missed their times (required to complete the sprint)," the coach said.

The Redbirds play at Southern Illinois today and can earn back privileges on the court, Richardson said.