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The Only Out Coach in NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball

Sherri Murrell – Interview with Portland State University Basketball Coach

By Kathy Belge | About.com

Sherri Murrell is the head coach of Portland State University. As far as we know, she is the only out lesbian or bisexual coach in NCAA Division One Women’s Basketball. Certainly with more than 350 teams there is more than one lesbian coach. But only one is out about it. I sat down and spoke with Sherri Murrell about why that is, especially since she has received no negative repercussions since deciding to be open about her sexual orientation.

Prior to coaching at Portland State (PSU) Sherri Murrell coached at George Fox University and at Washington State University. Sherri is featured in the documentary film “Training Rules” about coach Rene Portland of Penn State who had a policy of “No Drinking, No Drugs and No Lesbians” on her basketball team. The movie Training Rules explores the impact of homophobia on the lives of players at Penn State over the years.

Lesbian Life: Why do you think you’re the only out coach in the NCAA?

Sherri Murrell: I can’t speak for others, but I can speak for myself. There is a fear of the unknown. A fear of job loss, fear of rejection from players, from parents, from boosters. There’s the fear of many different things. So for me, I had to get past the fear of those unknowns and be true to myself. It really has opened up my eyes to the fact that we underestimate people. There’s just an amazing amount of people who are like, “Whatever, Sherri! You’re a coach, that’s what you’ve been hired to do.” Who you are and being true to yourself has no effect to the way you coach, or the way you recruit.

When did you come out?

Coming out, I don’t know that there’s an actual date to it. At Portland State I made a decision. At Washington State, people knew I started dating my partner. It’s a small town, Pullman. When I dated my partner in Pullman people knew, but they were fearful of asking. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that feeling. When I resigned at Washington State, I took about two months off and actually bought a house here in Portland, not knowing where I was going to be. This is hometown for me. Then Portland State called and said they had a surprise opening. I made a conscious decision with my partner that at my next job I’m going to make sure that they’re okay [with me being out.]

A lot of universities have non-discrimination policies, so you think you would feel somewhat protected, yet, still there are not many coaches out. I’m sure on those same campuses, there are history professors that are out and many other employees that are out, why coaching? Why sports?

Well, one of the unknowns is, you may not be fired from your job, but it may ruin your career. There’s a lot of negative recruiting going on right now. There’s big dollars attached to women’s sports now. Negative recruiting is when a coach can’t say enough good about their program that they have to put down another program. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of young women that believe it. I think the negative recruiting is the strongest fear. You may not lose your job because of discrimination, but you may lose your job because all the sudden people are saying, don’t go to that program because coach is a lesbian and then boom the program goes downhill. You lose your job because the program is not successful.

Could we turn that around into positive recruiting? Kids are coming out a lot younger these days, and I’m sure there are some great out ballplayers. Could this be a positive thing for you as far as recruiting is concerned?

Well, for me, I’m just going to go out and get the best ballplayer that fits our academics and so forth. If that happens to be someone that is out, that’s fine. It’s funny, I have a very heterosexual team. I bet there is a lesbian on every single team in the United States. I think someone that looks at our program will say, wow, that’s a coach that is true to herself that is successful. Her programs are successful. She’s not trying to hide behind some homophobic curtain. I check my politics at the door when I show up to work.
Are there programs out there still that have no lesbian policies?
Yeah. Unfortunately. I do know of programs that say we will not tolerate this in our program.

I know you also coached at George Fox and I only know of George Fox because the Soul Force Equality Ride came through because they have policies against homosexuality in their student code of conduct. What was it like for you to be in an environment like that?

Horrible. Well, at the time when I was at George Fox, I was with a guy and so it was fine to sign that code of ethics. I was young too and I didn’t really put deep thought into it. Well, once I started to have a relationship with a woman, it wasn’t right for me.

Is that where you started to come out?

Well, I didn’t really come out chronologically. I dated men and I’ve dated women. I was trying to figure my own self out. I didn’t feel right about being there, so I did leave. That was a big part of the reason. Did I coach lesbians at George Fox University? Yes, I did. That was a difficult process for me because I really enjoyed George Fox University. It was a great place. I have a lot of religious beliefs that coincided with some of the things that they believe, so it was difficult for me.

In the movie Training Rules the women who is the target of the lawsuit isn’t gay. But she is targeted because she looks gay. Is there subtle discrimination against coaches who look gay on the college level?

I don’t know. I would assume, the same for athletes. Someone may look typically gay, but they’re not. Look at our environment. They’re putting swimsuit models on the cover of Sports Illustrated. They’re not putting an incredible athlete who may not look like that. That’s unfortunate. All that stuff spills into homophobia in sports.

How does homophobia affect, not just the queer kids. How does it affect the team, individuals?

Sports is a unique situation. For us, we have 15 ladies on the team that are all going for one goal. They all want to win. You have to check your politics at the door. I don’t care if you’re gay. I don’t care if you’re Black. I don’t care if you’re this or that. We have a common goal and we have to get after it. We’ve all got to come together. Maybe straight players wonder why is this such an issue? It separates. It divides. You hear about programs where there is a division between white players and black players, even today. If you accept and tolerate those kind of things, you’ve going to have divisions. And you’ve got to come together to win ballgames. It’s real important. That’s what all these coaching books are about, team unity. You can’t promote divisions. And homophobia is s divider.

This is your first time being out as a coach, right?

Yeah, publically. We were on Comcast Sports (TV) for our Big Sky Championships. I have four month old twins. The announcer was on and asking me questions and she said, “I understand you just had twins.” I said, “Yeah, my partner just had them.” She asked, “Is this okay to talk about on the television?” And I said yes! It’s no big deal. It’s such a non-issue for me and it’s such a non-issue for the people around me.

What kind of reactions have you gotten from administration, players, parents?

Administration: Athletic Directors are risk management people who want to see the program succeed. I’ve had nothing but support. I did speak to my AD and my president and vice provost of my school when I was deciding to go and speak to Dee on this DVD. The president emailed and he said, Sherri strives to be what Portland State is, which is acceptance of all diverse backgrounds. I mean wow! I printed it out. How amazing did that make me feel! It’s so amazing to have that kind of support.

Players: Like I said it’s such a non-issue. They don’t look at me as the lesbian coach, they look at me as Coach Murrell is THE coach. They’ve been awesome. They babysit my children.

Parents: Unbelievable. They showered us with baby gifts. Parents have come into my home. We have dinners. It hasn’t been an issue with recruiting.

I think the bottom line is being are true to yourself. Honesty is lost virtue. I have not had one negative response. Now, are coaches in the stands buzzing around and saying things about me? I don’t know. But the coaches in my conference have been very supportive.

Again, if people start negative recruiting towards me, then they don’t really have enough good things to say about their program.

As it should be, but here you are the first, ground breaking… it’s kind of crazy isn’t it?

Every time you say that I just crack up. It’s all over our sport.

And then the only time you hear about it is like Pokey Chapman having inappropriate relationships with players.

Right. And that’s why I’m okay with this right now. Because it is so positive. Unfortunately it’s the controversial things that make the mainstream media.

What is your hope that you will accomplish by being out?

There’s a lot of young coaches that I talk to. I look to the older generation of coaches and they just couldn’t come out. I don’t think there was non-discrimination laws out back then. I see myself as the middle generation of coaches. (She’s 41)

There’s the younger generation of coaches that come up to me and say, you’re my role model. You give us hope. I hope to do that. They can see the positive effects of this.

I also hope that through this DVD we can get to Athletic Directors. I’m sure they have a convention. Maybe I can speak at a forum there and just say here’s what my A.D. and what my president has done for me and here is the positive effect to my program. We’ve had nothing but incredible positive experiences. I don’t look at myself as a pioneer or an advocate, but hopefully the success story of my career and the success here at Portland State can be its own advocate.

When Rene Portland was a coach, did you know of her policy?

I didn’t know it was a policy, but there was rumblings that she was very vocal about not wanting lesbians on her team. I didn’t know that she actually had it written. Unbelievable.

Are there coaches out there now with those policies?

Not that I know of, but I do know there are coaches that say I do not want that on my team. The only thing that I don’t wish is that we don’t have relationships on the team.

I was just going to ask you about that. It affects the whole dynamic of the team. How do you deal with that when you’re trying to be supportive of someone being gay and yet you don’t want to sacrifice the team?

It’s tough. It’s all over the country. Coaches gay and straight are dealing with this topic. The girls on my team know that I discourage it. But at the same time, love is love. If someone falls in love, who am I? I’m not going to be out there saying you can’t love this person. But the thing that I can do is manage. If I find out two players are together on my same team, I’m going to let them know this causes problems. This is another divider. So when we’re on a road trip, everyone has to be professional. Don’t spend 100% of your time with just that person. Don’t divide your self from the team. Be appropriate. Just as if a girl on my team that has a boyfriend. She’s not going bring him on that trip and be with him the whole time. I’d tell her, this is the possible negative effects it can have on you and your team. You’ve got to decide what you’re going to do. But I’m not going to kick her off my team. Straight coaches are dealing with the same thing I’m dealing with.

Maybe it’s easy to hear it coming from you.

Yeah, I think it is. But I have kids in my office talking to me about their boyfriends too. Like I said, it’s just a non-issue.

What about the fans? What can the average sports fan do to combat homophobia in sports?

Obviously support programs that don’t have discrimination. I have never even thought of it from a fan’s perspective. I would hope that anybody that walks through our gym doors, gay or straight that they feel welcome, period.