ESPN’s Outside The Lines Talks To Former Belmont University Women’s Soccer Coach Lisa Howe And Her Players

Former Belmont University women’s soccer coach Lisa Howe is profiled by ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Howe stating that on November 18th, she called a team meeting and at that meeting told the members of the team she was a lesbian, that she had been in a partner with Wendy Holleman for over eight years, and that the couple was having a baby. The following Tuesday, she was called into a meeting with Belmont administrators, and that meeting ended her tenure at the Nashville, Tennessee-based Christian school. While neither Howe (bound by a confidentiality agreement) nor Belmont University officials (bound by fear) will explicitly state the reason Howe no longer has a job, Erica Carter, a player, tells ESPN that prior to signing that confidentiality clause, Howe called her, telling her that she no longer held the position as head women’s soccer coach, and that at the meeting Howe was told that “her morals and values conflicted with Belmont’s mission statement, she could no longer be an employee at the university.” Carter says Howe told her she was informed by administrators that she could either resign or she would lose her job. Belmont, however, denies that. Why did Howe lose her job? The university will only continue to say it was a mutual agreement, which loosely translates to anti-gay discrimination.