Head coach Tom Izzo yells to his players on the court April 4, 2015, during the semi-final game of the NCAA Tournament in the Final Four round at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Spartans were defeated by the Blue Devils, 81-61. Erin Hampton/The State News
In a recent article in USA Today entitled 'Coaches and Coming Out,' men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo made his opinions on gay players clear.
“It’s not my job to judge one of my athletes,” he said in the article. “Everybody is different. Some are the partying type, some are the studying type, some are ultra-religious, some might be gay. Put it this way: If you can play ball, that’s all I care about.”
An international study on homophobia in sports quoted in the story stated that 84 percent of gay men and 82 percent of lesbians have heard homophobic slurs in locker rooms.
Former NBA player Jason Collins and U.S. Soceer Womens National Team stars Megan Rapinoe and Abby Wambach are some of the more notable openly gay athletes.
But, there are no openly gay athletes currently playing in any of the four major professional sports leagues in America— the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.
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