In the January edition of ESPN the Magazine, journalists Luke Cyphers and Kate Fagan take a close look at homophobia in women’s basketball—specifically concerning the program at Iowa State.
The article discusses “negative recruiting,” a practice of assuring parents that “family values” are prevalent on a team. Many see such labels as anti-gay, especially when it comes to women’s sports.
In the story, a former player, who is not identified, talks about Iowa State’s Bill Fennelly, who “ kept drilling that ‘this would be a family.” says the player, who added he told her, “You should come here because we’re family-oriented.”
The article reads: To the recruit, those seemingly comforting words cloaked a deeper meaning. Two of the four schools she was considering were purported to employ lesbians on their staffs. Her stop in Ames, in fact, was on the heels of a trip to one of those allegedly ‘gay programs.’ There, coaches avoided discussing anyone’s off-court lives. Iowa State, in contrast, pushed the personal hard. ‘They threw it out constantly,’ says the player, who became a Cyclone. ‘Iowa has morals, and people who live here have values, wholesome values.’ The implication, to her and to another former Cyclone who confirmed her account, was that at other schools, there’s something going on you don’t know.
The article also quotes Fennelly, who says he and his staff are being penalized because “they’re married and have families.” The coach, one of the few in the women’s game willing to speak on the record about the subject, denies that he or any of his staff has ever used the term “wholesome” to recruit a player. But, Fennelly adds, “if using the word ‘family’ is viewed as negative recruiting, then we’re guilty, because we say that. I don’t think it’s negative. Maybe I’m the only one in America who thinks that’s ridiculous to say.”
The article dealing with homophobia in women’s college basketball is in the issue of ESPN The Magazine on shelves now.
