Chris Burns becomes first openly gay D-1 mens basketball coach

Chris Burns, the assistant men’s basketball coach at Bryant University, is the nation’s first Division 1 coach to come out as gay when he published a personal essay on OutSports on Monday.

In the essay, Burns talks openly about hiding his sexuality in high school and college during his playing career, and how he focused on being a “good hoops player” to keep the attention away from his sexuality. But as he got older, lying about his sexuality opened doors for him to lie about other aspects of his life, and how those behaviors became “toxic” for his life.

Before his time at Bryant, Burns spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Rhode Island College, a D-III school. 2015-2016 will be Burns’ third season as an assistant coach of the Bulldogs.

Since coming out, Burns talks about the openness of people, and how welcoming they were saying that his “fears are far worse than reality.”

He concluded his essay with words of encouragement for others in the same position.

“But always know this: When the time comes to share your true self, you will feel so much love and relief and hope and freedom.”

Burns also sat down with USA Today, to talk about his decision to come out.

Bravo Burns, bravo.