Ohio Coach Talks with GLBT Mag

Consider this a rather momentous breakthrough for gay athletes: The head coach of Ohio State football, Jim Tressel, has given an interview to Outlook Columbus, a GLBT publication in Ohio. Asked what advice he would have for a gay athlete, Tressel says, “One, we are a family. If you haven’t learned from your family at home that people have differences and those strengthen the whole, then you are hopefully going to learn it as part of the Ohio State football family. … Whatever a young man feels called to express, I hope we will help him do it in a supportive environment. Everybody is important, and maturity is learning to find and appreciate those differences in others.” Asked why he thinks there are so few gay college athletes, Tressel gives a particularly thoughtful answer: "What we have, quite often, with our athletes, and with a number of young people in any sport, is that from the time they were 6 or 7 years old, their identity has been through sports. You’re the tallest, you’re the fastest, you’re the best player. All their feedback has come in terms of their role as a player, and they are often hesitant to go beyond that narrow role. ... The greatest achievement we can have as coaches is that a young man leaves us with a concept of who he is, what he wants from life, and what he can share with others—someone who is 'comfortable in his own skin,' and that identity can go in a number of directions."