There are other NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball coaches who are gay. The odds make it impossible for that to be untrue, and a good hoops coach knows it because he’s also a data/stats hound. But so far there is only one Division 1 men’s basketball coach who is “out” as gay. Chris Burns of Bryant University declared his sexual orientation in an article in Outsports.
Burns, now an assistant at Bryant College where he also played for the team as a collegian, titled his first-person account “Why It’s Finally Time for Me to Come Out as a Gay D1 Coach.” In his secretive years, he grew accustomed, he writes, “to a lot of lying and deceiving.” That’s what being in the closet requires. But sports are changing: Burns was encouraged after attending a LGBT sports conference sponsored by Nike. There are 347 schools competing in 32 Division 1 NCAA conferences in men’s basketball. Teams have four or more coaches each. Chris Burns may be first, but he’s not alone.