The dark side of women's recruiting

[NYCy]

I respect Bill F. for talking frankly, and I do not see any evidence that ISU plays an anti-gay card here. You can interpret language in many ways, and saying that a phrase like "family atmosphere or family environment" translates as anti-gay code could be seen as suggesting that gays are not family oriented or don't have families, both of which are untrue. Today in our culture the whole notion of what constitutes a family in the first place has been undergoing a broadening of definition: it is no longer limited to husband, wife, and two kids, one girl and one boy. That may have been the societal ideal years ago, but today that ideal is clearly out of date, in my view, and I am speaking as a heterosexual, married male.

Kitkat I agree with you 100%. Just because Coach Fen uses the words "family" in recruiting doesn't automatically mean "anti-gay," since obviously gays and lesbians can and do get married and raise families. I am an openly gay man and have been a dedicated ISU WBB follower since the 1990s, and I have hung out with Coach Fen socially and as part of the alumni association. Frankly, the guy is just NOT homophobic and I will always defend him and his program just as graciously as he has treated me and my boyfriend. I appreciated his honesty and quotes in the ESPN article --- at least he had the cohunes to be interviewed and quoted publicly (not hiding anything) instead of just declining the interview and hiding out in the dark like Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey!

Another perspective to point out is that most 18 year old kids on the recruiting trail who question their sexuality are probably, most likely, painfully, sadly in the closet for reasons most probably related to their home religion or disapproving parents. (There is a good reason why gay and lesbian teenagers have the #1 highest rates of suicide in America today.) To me, hearing a WBB program is like a tight knit supportive family would be music to my ears, because maybe as a scared 18 year old I could finally BELONG to something and have unconditional support from my teammates and coaches. That's a beautiful thing. I was closeted and scared when I came to Iowa State in the 1990s because of my conservative family environment at home, and I would have loved to have such a supportive and forgiving "team" to lift me up.

Coach Fen has said before he has taken heat on the recruiting trail for many years because opposing coaches would say "don't go to Iowa State because their offensive system doesn't reward post players" or "don't go to ISU because if you do you won't make it in the WNBA." Obviously he has refuted those points with hard evidence (Welle, Lacey etc) and brought the program to the elite levels. Opposing coaches will use anything at their disposal to land a top recruit or insult a rival program, and now it appears homophobia has been added to the list.

I will also agree with another poster here that it must be a tough dynamic to deal with players getting involved romantically with other players, when you are trying to create an intense, winning WBB program where interpersonal drama is minimized and excellence and performance execution is revered. You obviously don't EVER hear about such things in men's college sports, which might be one of the most taboo subjects out there. If ESPN wanted to write a truly controversial and ground breaking article maybe they should have chosen to shed light on the unspoken homophobia in MEN's team sports rather than baselessly slandering Iowa State's dedicated, decorated, and celebrated women's BB program.

Long live Coach Fennelly and Long Live ISU WBB! GO CYCLONES!

[bhutch65]

Kitkat I agree with you 100%. Just because Coach Fen uses the words "family" in recruiting doesn't automatically mean "anti-gay," since obviously gays and lesbians can and do get married and raise families. I am an openly gay man and have been a dedicated ISU WBB follower since the 1990s, and I have hung out with Coach Fen socially and as part of the alumni association. Frankly, the guy is just NOT homophobic and I will always defend him and his program just as graciously as he has treated me and my boyfriend. I appreciated his honesty and quotes in the ESPN article --- at least he had the cohunes to be interviewed and quoted publicly (not hiding anything) instead of just declining the interview and hiding out in the dark like Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey!

Another perspective to point out is that most 18 year old kids on the recruiting trail who question their sexuality are probably, most likely, painfully, sadly in the closet for reasons most probably related to their home religion or disapproving parents. (There is a good reason why gay and lesbian teenagers have the #1 highest rates of suicide in America today.) To me, hearing a WBB program is like a tight knit supportive family would be music to my ears, because maybe as a scared 18 year old I could finally BELONG to something and have unconditional support from my teammates and coaches. That's a beautiful thing. I was closeted and scared when I came to Iowa State in the 1990s because of my conservative family environment at home, and I would have loved to have such a supportive and forgiving "team" to lift me up.

Coach Fen has said before he has taken heat on the recruiting trail for many years because opposing coaches would say "don't go to Iowa State because their offensive system doesn't reward post players" or "don't go to ISU because if you do you won't make it in the WNBA." Obviously he has refuted those points with hard evidence (Welle, Lacey etc) and brought the program to the elite levels. Opposing coaches will use anything at their disposal to land a top recruit or insult a rival program, and now it appears homophobia has been added to the list.

I will also agree with another poster here that it must be a tough dynamic to deal with players getting involved romantically with other players, when you are trying to create an intense, winning WBB program where interpersonal drama is minimized and excellence and performance execution is revered. You obviously don't EVER hear about such things in men's college sports, which might be one of the most taboo subjects out there. If ESPN wanted to write a truly controversial and ground breaking article maybe they should have chosen to shed light on the unspoken homophobia in MEN's team sports rather than baselessly slandering Iowa State's dedicated, decorated, and celebrated women's BB program.

Long live Coach Fennelly and Long Live ISU WBB! GO CYCLONES!

Well done!

[Ames]

This has nothing to do with Bill being anti or pro gay. Even if he were pro-gay he is still selling family. He has a long time staff, sons on the staff, and it's all about family with him. Also the Cyclone family. I like Bill, but sometimes the post-game "the fans are so great, yada yada" is like Bill come on I can repeat your post game myself by now.

[ThatllDoCy]

I can understand how the Gay/Lesbian population is sensitive to the term family values, because a lot of fundamentalist Christian groups wrap up hate, anti-semitism, homophobia and anything else they want in that phrase. From listening to Bill's post games and interviews I don't think that is the case at all. It is a family to him which means he cares and develops his players as people and BB players. If I had a daughter and she were going to play College Ball I would want her to play for Bill. I'm not Churchy and I don't care if he is Gay or not. He would help her become a successful person that could fight through adversity. We should all approach life like BF. Hard work, humility and appreciation.

[cyfanatic]

This is a very complex issue and I applaud ESPN for taking it on. But it deserves more study and reporting than one article. WBB at the college level has many issues in terms of culture other than the one this article addresses. One is the number (fewer than in the past) of male coaches in WBB programs which of itself seems to be no big deal until you try to comprehend how it would play if the same number of female coaches tried to break in to the MBB programs. I am one that says "hire the best coach" but what would be the perception of a MBB program if there were 2 females on staff? Different issue than this article/thread addresses...maybe for a different day.

[cyfanatic]

I can understand how the Gay/Lesbian population is sensitive to the term family values, because a lot of fundamentalist Christian groups wrap up hate, anti-semitism, homophobia and anything else they want in that phrase.

THIS! Good point.

[CloneIce]

I can understand how the Gay/Lesbian population is sensitive to the term family values, because a lot of fundamentalist Christian groups wrap up hate, anti-semitism, homophobia and anything else they want in that phrase. From listening to Bill's post games and interviews I don't think that is the case at all. It is a family to him which means he cares and develops his players as people and BB players. If I had a daughter and she were going to play College Ball I would want her to play for Bill. I'm not Churchy and I don't care if he is Gay or not. He would help her become a successful person that could fight through adversity. We should all approach life like BF. Hard work, humility and appreciation.

I agree with this completely. Honestly it is sad that some groups have hijacked the meaning of the phrase "family values" in to a phrase that denotes discrimination or hate.

[dbqhawk]

Good that BF was very upfront about it as there is nothing to hide. Some idiots will always find the ways to twist other people's words. Recruiting is a jungle.
BF was right in emphasizing family: especially when it comes to WBB recruiting. He needs to sell his program and family-oriented team is a great selling point.
Married head coach: why not ? There's nothing wrong with that.
Straight assistants: what's wrong with that ? Some people have concerns that people with authority will take advantage of the players: it could happen. This helps alleviate parents' concerns.

I wonder who the former player was. It'll be interesting whether she was a starter, squad rotation or ended up transferring.

I respect your coach but if he is talking about a married head coach and straight assistants, thats wrong. A fallacy of your statement is you seem to assume that a gay coach will take advantage of a player. While that might happen, I think its more likely that a straight coach will take advantage of a player.

[cysocool]

straight heterosexual- the new alternative lifestyle?

I prefer hanging out with straight people... Is there something wrong with that?

[dbqhawk]

Good that BF was very upfront about it as there is nothing to hide. Some idiots will always find the ways to twist other people's words. Recruiting is a jungle.
BF was right in emphasizing family: especially when it comes to WBB recruiting. He needs to sell his program and family-oriented team is a great selling point.
Married head coach: why not ? There's nothing wrong with that.
Straight assistants: what's wrong with that ? Some people have concerns that people with authority will take advantage of the players: it could happen. This helps alleviate parents' concerns.

I wonder who the former player was. It'll be interesting whether she was a starter, squad rotation or ended up transferring.

I respect your coach a lot and do not think he does but if he is talking about a married head coach and straight assistants, thats wrong. A fallacy of your statement is you seem to assume that a gay coach will take advantage of a player. While that might happen, I think its more likely that a straight coach will take advantage of a player.

[ThatllDoCy]

I think this is an interesting premise for a story. Honestly, to really cover it you would need a series of article to cover each facet. Was it about discrimination or negative recruiting? I don't think it really did justice to either. I like ESPN because it is informative and fun, but I think they are a little out of their depth trying to tackle societal issues like discrimination. Leave it to The Economist, Time, Newsweek, NY Times, The Atlantic, Harpers, and the big boys that are used to handling tough issues.

[RoseClone]

I agree with this completely. Honestly it is sad that some groups have hijacked the meaning of the phrase "family values" in to a phrase that denotes discrimination or hate.

You mean like Homophobic?

[cysocool]

I think this is an interesting premise for a story. Honestly, to really cover it you would need a series of article to cover each facet. Was it about discrimination or negative recruiting? I don't think it really did justice to either. I like ESPN because it is informative and fun, but I think they are a little out of their depth trying to tackle societal issues like discrimination. Leave it to The Economist, Time, Newsweek, NY Times, The Atlantic, Harpers, and the big boys that are used to handling tough issues.

Is this a joke? I'd take a sports writer talking about these social issues over the elite writers from those publications. Coaches and Athletes are way ahead of any of us when it comes to understanding diversity...

[ThatllDoCy]

[/B]

Is this a joke? I'd take a sports writer talking about these social issues over the elite writers from those publications. Coaches and Athletes are way ahead of any of us when it comes to understanding diversity...

That is your preference and that is fine. But it's no joke that an issue like this has to be covered in a manner that shows both sides of the issue and when you are going to make accusations and innuendo it has to be put through a very fine filter to ensure the info is accurate.

No doubt that Coaches and Athletes are ahead of us, and deserve to be portrayed that way. I didn't major in Journalism, but they deserve a higher standard than what I believe was shown in this article.

[clonestar12]

I respect your coach but if he is talking about a married head coach and straight assistants, thats wrong. A fallacy of your statement is you seem to assume that a gay coach will take advantage of a player. While that might happen, I think its more likely that a straight coach will take advantage of a player.

Great publicity for ISU. Brilliant move by BF to go on the record!