Amazing Coach or Demeaning Monster

After watching the video “Training Rules” in class I am mortified at the behavior of the Penn State basketball coach Rene Portland. Unfortunately, however, I am not surprised that this issue was made to be less than it was and that the process of making things right became a long and dragged out process. Rene Portland’s corrupt behavior towards her players was disgusting. She let it be known that she would not accept lesbians on her team and she threatened her players to the point that those who were gay felt forced into leading a double life just to keep their scholarship. She made most of the players extremely uncomfortable. She even went as far as changing the medical records of students who decided to leave her team so that they would not be able to transfer. She also participated in negative recruiting, which means that she suggested to potential recruits that competing schools were full of lesbians and that her team was “lesbian-free”.

In my opinion, her negative recruiting practices were the most disgusting and demeaning. She not only implied that competing schools were full of lesbians but that lesbianism was wrong and because of this, that her school was better. Who is she to say what is wrong and what is right, and how dare she act as though her school is superior. Is it really superior if she has to forcefully repress the homosexuality of her own players so that they must act as though they are heterosexual? One of her own players had to pretend she had a boyfriend at another school just to keep up appearances with Rene. The entire situation ties perfectly into our panel debate about whether or not coaches and players should come out to their teammates. One of the pros of “coming out” was that the team had the potential to experience a stronger bond with their teammates and there would be a greater sense of unity amongst the players. Coach Portland, however, created a completely different set of surroundings for her players. She created an uncomfortable and passively hostile environment for her team which in turn caused tension and a great deal of anxiety. Rene Portland should have put her own feelings aside and allowed her players to be themselves; they would have felt better and therefore they would have played better and maybe then she would’ve actually won some championships.

-Erin Osborne