LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- New Mexico State pulled the rug out from women's basketball coach Nikita Lowry, who has been trying to rebuild the team, her attorney said Wednesday.

"What I see developing is a witchhunt,'' Tim Stoner, a Philadelphia attorney representing Lowry, said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

Lowry was placed on leave Dec. 20 "because of philosophical differences in coaching management issues,'' said NMSU athletics director Brian Faison.

Lowry's three assistant coaches -- Marlene Stollings, Derek Jordan and Josh Pearson -- quit Tuesday night in support of Lowry. Stollings was appointed interim coach after Lowry was placed on leave.

Elmer Chavez, an assistant NMSU men's basketball coach, was appointed interim coach Wednesday. The Aggies (12-8, 6-2 Sun Belt) play Thursday at New Orleans.

"We have been trying in good faith for the past six weeks to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with coach Lowry,'' Faison said. "In fact, on two separate occasions, agreements were reached and she subsequently changed her mind.''

Those agreements contained untenable conditions -- one of them a pre-signed letter of resignation, Stoner said.

"They told her that if you substitute wrong, that would be a basis for terminating you,'' Stoner said. "She said she can't come back under those conditions.''

"All she wants is the opportunity to finish the job she's started,'' he said. "She just wants the opportunity to coach the team that she's developing.''

Lowry, a former star player at Ohio State, was the head coach at Detroit Mercy before joining NMSU as an assistant coach in 2000.

She was fired March 22, 1999, from Detroit Mercy because of philosophical differences with the university, Detroit Mercy athletic director Brad Kinsman said at the time.

Lowry had built a winning program at NMSU, which had five straight losing seasons before she arrived, Stoner said. Her contract runs through 2005, he said.

Lowry had complained the trainer and strength and conditioning coach for the women's team were not on par with the men's team, in violation of Title IX, a federal law designed to give women equal access in sports, Stoner said.

"Those are two areas that were grossly lacking in regards to the women's program,'' he said.

Lowry also incurred the ire of some senior and junior players she inherited from a previous coach because Lowry pushed them hard and tried to instill discipline so freshmen players could look to them for leadership, Stoner said.

"Some of the players had been busy sowing the seeds of dissension,'' he said.

Faison held a meeting with the players -- without Lowry or her assistants -- and then placed her on leave, Stoner said.

Stoner also said Faison had admonished Lowry for giving her players vitamins and telling them they could not contact each other during a road trip.

"She said that other schools give players the same vitamins to help with their nutrition,'' he said. "As far as saying the players couldn't contact each other, she could not turn the phones off in their rooms.''

Faison said he could not respond to specific allegations leveled by Stoner "because we're still in discussions with coach Lowry.''

But those two allegations were not addressed in a Jan. 8 letter that Lowry received from Faison, outlining the reasons for placing her on leave, Stoner said.

Lowry was accused in the letter of working her players so hard that they bent over and suffered cramping, Stoner said.

"Her point is that she is working them, then would back off. She says, 'The bottom line is I'm trying to get these kids in condition,''' Stoner said.

A player also complained that the team was forced to eat inadequate meals during road trips, he said.

"They had $22.50 per day per player, and one player decided that she was not going to eat hamburgers any more,'' Stoner said.

Lowry also was accused of grabbing a player's hair, he said.

Lowry has good rapport with the player, who did not report the incident that occurred on a game day in November, Stoner said. "Somebody else reported it,'' he said.

"She was reaching for a player in jest, and her hand got tangled in her hair,'' Stoner said.

"It was not an issue with the player, it was not an issue with the coach. I think it was made into an issue by the athletic director,'' Stoner said.