LaVoi and Glassford publish on coach family narratives in Journal of Homosexuality

Sophie Glassford and Nicole LaVoi
Sophie Glassford and Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi

Sophie Glassford, MS student in Kinesiology, sport sociology, and Tucker Center director and School of Kinesiology senior lecturer Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD, have authored an article, “‘This is Our Family’: LGBTQ Family Narratives in Online NCAA D-I Coaching Biographies,” in the Journal of Homosexuality (5 May 2021). Intercollegiate sport in the US is known to be heteronormative, heterosexist, and often an unwelcoming space for LGBTQ individuals, including coaches. Since Austin Stair Calhoun, PhD, et al.’s 2011 research documenting the scarcity of LGBTQ family narratives in online coaching biographies on athletics Web sites a decade ago, a sociocultural and legal shift has occurred in LGBTQ rights and visibility in the US. LaVoi and Glassford’s research replicates and extends Calhoun by examining current family narratives of a sample of all NCAA Division-I head coaches of women’s teams.