The first openly gay player in NCAA Division I men's basketball is leaving Massachusetts and is transferring to Seton Hall.
Derrick Gordon confirmed his decision to USA Today on Sunday. A six-foot-three guard, Gordon started his journey at Western Kentucky before transferring to Massachusetts and is now eligible to transfer without penalty under the NCAA's rule for graduates.
Seton Hall is losing its leading scorer, guard Sterling Gibbs, via a transfer to UConn, so Gordon's transfer is conveniently timed for the Pirates.
"I'm walking into a great situation," Gordon told USA Today. "This gives me a chance to showcase what I can really do in one of the best conferences (the Big East) in the country, in the national spotlight."
Gordon averaged just under 10 points per game in two consecutive seasons at Massachusetts, showing slight improvement from his sophomore to junior season.
Gordon revealed his sexual orientation last April in interviews with Outsports.com and ESPN. When he announced in March he would seek a transfer from Massachusetts via the NCAA's rule for graduates, he told USA Today he experienced "blatant homophobia."
"During the recruiting process, a number of schools didn't want me because I'm gay," he said. "To me, that's blatant homophobia. At the end of the day, no coaches will ever admit that they don't want me because I'm gay and there's baggage that comes with the attention.
"Honestly, it caught me off-guard. It really hurt. It had me stressing, crying."
Gordon said he experienced support at Massachusetts when he came out to his teammates and coaches, dispelling any notion of locker room conflict driving him from the program. He said his transfer is not different than a number of other graduates doing the same.
"I wasn't happy with my role there," Gordon told USA Today. "It really had nothing to do with my sexuality or anything like that. Everything was great at UMass. There were no issues. We showered together and I don't look at my teammates like that.
"At the beginning were they uncomfortable? Yeah. But they were real with me, expressed concern and we dealt with it. That made us better friends, better teammates."
