Bozeman was a complete disaster as head coach of the Colonials. The team had been to the postseason each of the previous 18 seasons, going to the Sweet 16 the two years prior to his tenure. Bozeman single-handedly destroyed the program, leading them to a combined 25-61 in his final three seasons. In no three seasons did he predecessor, Joe McKeown, have half the number of losses Bozeman’s team suffered.

He also handled the coming-out of Kye Allums horribly. Instead of rallying the team around Allums, he blamed his trans player for his terrible season two years ago. He said this before the season:

Do I think it was a difficult situation? I think so. But I think it was difficult for Kye, too. We’ve moved on, and this season is not about rebounding from that. This season is about displaying the skill and the discipline that’s necessary to be a successful program.

It was not difficult because Allums was transgender or because he came out publicly. It was difficult because I believe Bozeman is married to his transphobic religion, and because he showed no leadership. A good coach rallies his team around diversity; Men like Bozeman use differences to divide their teams.

We’ll have to see where he ends up as a basketball coach, if anywhere. For now, good riddance to a man who couldn’t fully embrace an athlete struggling with his gender identity.

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Congratulations to Baylor (even if they did knock off Stanford along the way).

PHOTO: April 3, 2012; Denver, CO, USA; Baylor Bears players celebrate after the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the finals of the 2012 NCAA women’s basketball Final Four at the Pepsi Center. The Bears defeated the Fighting Irish 80-61. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE

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The court signage at the men’s Final Four had a series of rolling promos for NCAA basketball, and the crack crew at SB Nation found this beaut:

I think it will come as a shock to the folks of Alanta, Lithuania, population 464, that they will be hosting a major American sporting event next spring. Hope they have enough hotel space.

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Photo: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Kentucky won the NCAA men’s basketball title over Kansas, 67-59, in a boring, sloppy game that capped the worst tournament I can remember. The Wildcats were just too good and Monday’s result was not much in doubt despite Kansas making a bit of a late run.

This was a totally unmemorable tournament, virtually devoid of drama or buzzer-beaters. Other than two No. 15 seeds winning their first games, there were no Cinderella stories — like Butler or VCU of recent years — that give the event its juice. Ratings overall are down 5% from last season, though the Final Four was slightly up.

It doesn’t help that with top players leaving after a season, it’s hard for the casual fan to get to know the stars. For example, Kentucky might lose as many as four underclassmen. It’s totally their right to leave but it makes it difficult to sustain interest in any group.

Congratulations to Rebecca for winning the Outsports NCAA pool. She correctly picked Kentucky over Kansas in the final.

With the tournament over for another season, this will be the last time we get to see some of the hotties of the sport. We ran galleries here and here but there was one Kentucky player I missed, backup Jarrod Polson, whom I noticed Monday night:

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Portland State's Sherri Murrell is the only out lesbian coach in Div. 1 basketball

With the NCAA women’s Final Four underway, ESPN has produced an exhaustive story that looks at the dwindling number of women coaching women’s college teams (it’s down from a high of 90% in 1970 to 42.9% now). Sexism plays a huge role in it, with women finding it hard to get second jobs after they’ve lost one (not true of men). So does homophobia, the reporting by Kate Fagan and Luke Cyphers finds, citing Outsports’ 2011 Persons of the Year, Pat Griffin and Helen Carroll.

“When you look at the decline in the percentage of women coaches,” says Helen Carroll, of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, “sexual orientation has a lot to do with it.”

Homophobia has haunted women’s sports throughout the Title IX era, forcing coaches to stay closeted for fear of losing their jobs, or at least recruits. In some quarters, coaches have been known to signal quietly to prospects or their parents that a competing program is run by a lesbian, in an effort to turn the recruit away.

To this day, there is only one out lesbian coach in Division I basketball, Portland State’s Sherri Murrell. In a 2009 paper on negative recruiting, Carroll and Pat Griffin, of the Women’s Sports Foundation, wrote, “The psychological toll of silence, denial and secrecy results in a climate of fear and hostility that many lesbian, gay and bisexual coaches endure in order to pursue their profession. Others simply choose to leave the profession.”

It’s not only established coaches who check out. Former players often decide the hassle isn’t worth it. Two former collegiate stars, Sue Wicks of Rutgers and Abby Conklin of Tennessee, told ESPN The Magazine in 2011 that homophobia still casts a wide shadow over the sidelines. In the same story, former WNBA star Kate Starbird stressed that she wouldn’t consider coaching because she refused to be closeted. “I didn’t want to live my life that way,” she said.

The homophobia angle is just one part of this important and timely story ESPN calls “The Glass Wall.” It refers to the reality that men can get jobs coaching both males and females, while women only land jobs coaching females and can only watch as they have virtually no chance to land a men’s job. It includes this surprising statistic: “Since 2000, NCAA programs have added 1,774 women’s head coaching jobs. Men have filled 1,220 of the openings.” That’s the opposite of progress despite the increased visibility of women in collegiate sports. “Coaching is a man’s world,” the story concludes.

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Aaron Craft (Photo: Richard Mackson/USPRESSWIRE)

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament resumes with the Sweet 16, which will get down to the Final Four by the end of the weekend.

We have selected 15 players and 1 coach representing all 16 teams. Ohio head coach John Groce is hotter than any of the players I was able to see.

Click on image for larger view and on that image for a full-sized view

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Joe Harris (Photo by Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE)

Outsports has set up a pool for the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament. Fill out your bracket and see how you do against other Outsports readers. We are using Yahoo this season.

To play, simply go to our Outsports NCAA Pool link and fill out the sign-up info. You can also log in using your Facebook or Google account. The password for the pool is: outsports2012. Feel free to pass on the link to your friends. Good luck! My goal is to stay off the last page of the rankings this year.

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Oliver McNally Corbin Miller (Photo by Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE)

We asked our readers to select their hottest player of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and you responded. Below are various players who will be in this year’s tournament, which starts with play-in games on Tuesday.

With 68 teams and everyone having different tastes, it’s impossible to list everyone. But if you feel someone deserves to be on the list, let us know in the comments and we can update the gallery. Your picks:

Click on an image for a larger view and on that image for a full-sized view:

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This is Belmont’s starting guard Drew Hanlen, who shot almost 50% for the season from behind the three-point line. He makes the list.

Photo: Tucson, AZ, USA; Belmont Bruins guard Drew Hanlen (1) passes the ball while in the air in the first half of a game against the Wisconsin Badgers in the second round of the 2011 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the McKale Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

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Update: These shirts may have been originally used in 2010. Either way, they’re not available now.

Unidentified Vanderbilt fans, presumably students, had created a T-shirt (right) for the Commodores’ upcoming game against No. 1 Kentucky on Saturday. Creators of the shirt, with the phrase “UK2GAY,” included this disclaimer on the Web site for the shirt:

**These shirts are not meant to be offensive or derogatory. They are only meant to be humorous.**

They caught the attention of Aaron McQuade at GLAAD this week. McQuade contacted the school’s media relations department, who told him they would investigate.

The shirt has since been removed from the online store and is no longer available for sale. McQuade wasn’t sure if the school intervened, or if the creators of the shirt, who said they didn’t mean to be offensive, removed it because that mission was clearly not accomplished.

Hat tip to Ryan V.

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