Donahoe, top, and Jordan

The gay porn angle was the secondary focus on ESPN “Outside The Lines” look at the dismissal of Paul Donahoe and Kenny Jordan from the University of Nebraska wrestling team after they posed naked on Fratmen.tv. (Complete video segment below).

It wasn’t as if ESPN was trying to downplay any gay angle, but there really isn’t much of one beyond the type of website the two posed for; both say they are straight and neither feels the need to apologize for showing their wares to a paying audience. We’ll never know if they would have been treated differently had they done porn for a straight site.

ESPN’s focus was on whether Nebraska used a double standard for booting the two wrestlers, when compared to how other athletes at the school have been treated. At one point, Nebraska Athletic Director (and former football coach) Tom Osborne said that had Donahoe and Jordan not had past infractions, their porn appearances might not have led to their dismissal.

I find that hard to believe. This is the same Tom Osborne who kept football stars Lawrence Phillips and Christian Peter on his team when they had done far worse than masturbate on a porn site. Online reporting by ESPN’s Paula Lavigne found that 14 of the 44 Nebraska wrestlers the past few years have faced criminal charges. One wrestler even smashed a beer bottle over another’s head, causing a serious injury and a lawsuit, yet both stayed on the team. Incidentally, this happened at the wedding reception of head coach Mark Manning.

ESPN also documented poker parties that were held at the home of a Nebraska assistant coach. Donahoe and Jordan both said these were high-stakes games (Jordan says he once lost $700 on one hand), but the assistant said the money involved was small. Last week, in anticipation of the ESPN report, the university said an internal review of the wrestling program, including the poker parties, uncovered no NCAA violations.

ESPN makes clear that this is not a model wrestling program, but neither Donahoe nor Jordan were model athletes. Donahoe had been arrested for hosting a loud party and for carrying alcohol in an open container. His former girlfriend also called 911 following two fights she and Donahoe had. Jordan has been convicted twice for misdemeanor assault.

Donahoe was also briefly suspended from the team for selling an Ipod he got at a tournament, in violation of NCAA rules. Donahoe comes across as either a flake or someone in the early stages of Alzheimer’s when on-air he denies accusations about the wrestling program he made to ESPN only weeks before:

“I said that? I must have been on drugs or something. I don’t remember that. I must have been doing some kind of drugs.”

Both wrestlers are non-apologetic about posing for Fratmen, for which each was paid an estimated $2,000 plus expenses. They used fake names (Donahoe was “Nash,” Jordan was “Cal”) and were discovered by gay Nebraskans who frequented the site and recognized them (Donahoe sports a huge “N” tattoo on his thigh, visible on the Fratmen shots).

I loved Jordan’s comment that far from doing something wrong, what he did “put smiles on peoples’ faces,” the most indisputable thing I heard on the show. He said in an accompanying online clip (see below) that his friends and his older brother “just laughed about it.” Donahoe told about the supportive e-mails he received from the gay community via Facebook and My Space after the story first broke last August. Perhaps surprising was the result of an online ESPN poll (admittedly unscientific) that found 60% of respondents saying it was wrong to have kicked the wrestlers off the team for posing naked.

The double standard at work was even evident in what happened to both wrestlers after their dismissal. Nebraska initially gave Donahoe a list of only three wrestling programs he could transfer to without first having to sit out the 2008-2009 season. They relented, he said, after he threatened to expose shenanigans within the program. Whether it was that or the fact that he had won a 2007 national title for Nebraska and had been Manning’s favorite, Donahoe was ultimately allowed to transfer to Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. The school is a wrestling powerhouse and Donahoe finished the regular season unbeaten before losing in the finals of the national tournament at 125 pounds.

Jordan fared worse. Nebraska would not allow him to transfer to a Division I school, without sitting out a year of wrestling. He chose to attend Purdue in the Big Ten, which is Division I, and hopes to make the school’s team next season. Jordan was the only person on the show who came across sympathetically. He says he regrets having posed for Fratmen, not because he did anything wrong but because his life was thrown in turmoil because of it.

Neither Nebraska, its wrestling program, Donahoe nor Jordan came across with their reputations intact. The only clear winner was Fratmen. They got tons of publicity any business would kill for, worth far more than the $4,000 they shelled out for the services of Nash and Cal.

I would love to hear what others thought of the segment and the issues it raised.

Related: Our archive on the gay porn wrestlers.

The complete “Outside the Lines” report:

Donahoe and Jordan discuss how they came to do porn:

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Paul Donahoe as "Nash" on Fratmen.

The porn career of Paul Donahoe, the star collegiate wrestler kicked off his team for appearing on a gay porn site, looks like it’s not over.  He is scheduled once again to bare all for the same site, Fratmen.tv. Donahoe appeared on Fratmen as “Nash,” shown solo naked and masturbating last summer. When his identity was discovered, he was kicked off the University of Nebraska team.

“We are planning on featuring ‘Nash’ after the debut of ‘Outside the Lines’ on ESPN,” a Fratmen spokesman told Outsports, confirming what I have been hearing for weeks. ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” on Sunday will look into the dismissal of Donahoe and fellow wrestler and Fratmen model Kenny ‘Cal” Jordan, and issues surrounding the Nebraska wrestling program. (See video preview and details here).

Donahoe as “Nash” was set to appear in a live show on Fratmen on May 13. The show was canceled over what Fratmen said was an equipment failure — no, not Nash’s “equipment,” but what was called a balky webcam. He was rescheduled for May 20, but that was postponed until after the ESPN show aired, a Fratmen spokesman wrote on the Just Us Boys wesbite:

Paul is indeed being featured on the ESPN show “Outside the Lines” that was originally postponed from early May and is currently scheduled to air June 14th. He feels (and I agree) that it would be better to postpone his return Fratmen.TV LIVE! show until after the ESPN story airs to see how it all plays out.

Their is still no guarantee that Donahoe will show his goods again. He got $2,000 last year and I would guess the notoriety drove his price up, so it’s pretty easy money (he is also being wooed by other porn sites). Donahoe has never felt the need to apologize for appearing naked in the first place and said he did it for the money. His collegiate wrestling career (where he won one national title and was runneup once) is over, so he has no fear of athletic repercussions.

But I was told by a writer for one porn site that Donahoe has repeatedly made appointments with Fratmen, then canceled, so he’s either flaky, getting cold feet, holding out for a better deal or looking for a fluffer.

Related: ESPN.com’s article on Donahoe, Jordan and Nebraska wrestling.

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EPSN’s “Outside the Lines” show addresses the dismissal of former Nebraska wrestlers Kenny Jordan and Paul Donahoe after they appeared nude on Fratmen.tv, a gay porn site (see our archive here). The show airs Sunday June 14 at 9 a.m. EDT on ESPN and noon EDT on ESPN News (see video preview above).

The program “investigates the dismissal of the Nebraska wrestlers for posing on a porn website, and the coaching staff’s own cover-ups.” The wrestlers had some past incidents prior to their dismissal, but ESPN also found a “pattern of leniency” in the wrestling program.

I was told that Donahoe continues to be very gay friendly, while Jordan says on air that his posing nude while in top physical condition “put smiles on people’s faces,” adding that “we’re not bad kids. We did some porn — get over it.” I’ll do a larger recap once the full episode is available (update: my recap).

Update: Donahoe scheduled to pose naked again for Fratmen.

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Some of his semifinal match against one-legged Anthony Robles of Arizona State, including his moment of victory:

On his semifinal win and wrestling against someone with one leg:

Hat tip to Markus.

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Paul Donahoe lost, 2-1, in the final.

Paul Donahoe, the Edinboro University wrestler we have been following this year, lost in the final of the 125-pound class of the NCAA’s wrestling championships, 2-1 in triple overtime, to Troy Nickerson of Cornell in St. Louis. It was Donahoe’s first loss this season.

The winning point was awarded to Nickerson on a technical violation in the second OT, when Donahoe (35-1) clasped his hands illegally in trying to prevent Nickerson (25-0) from escaping. The ESPN announcers, who did a lousy job of explaining the violation to a non-wrestling audience, made it sound like the equivalent of missing a chip-shot field goal in a football game.

“It will take Paul Donahoe a long time to forget about the fact that he lost an NCAA championship because of a technical violation against him,” one of the ESPN commentators said.

“I got lucky he had that lock-and-hand call,” Nickerson said after. Nickerson was very gutty, wrestling with a bad shoulder that popped out at one point and temporarily stopped the match.

Donahoe, who came to prominence after being caught posing nude on a gay porn site, looked stunned after, offering Nickerson perfunctory congratulations before running into the tunnel and the locker room. I imagine losing this way has to be more disappointing than being dominated. To my untrained eye, both wrestlers looked evenly matched and the bout could have gone longer if not for the violation.

I know a lot of our readers were rooting for Donahoe since many thought he got a raw deal being kicked off the Nebraska team (for which he won the national title in 2007) after his nude photos were discovered. Donahoe, who is straight, further endeared himself this week with his very gay-friendly comments to the Boston Globe.

ESPN made reference Saturday to Donahoe being kicked off the Nebraska team for an “improper photo shoot,” but did not go beyond that. However, during Friday’s semifinals, the ESPN team did mention that it was a photo shoot for a site frequented by gay men, which probably had viewers running to the Web to search “Paul Donahoe” and “gay porn.”

I would love to hear from wrestling experts on the nature of the violation, how common it is and what you thought overall of the match. Or simply if you thought Donahoe looked terrific wearing white.

Update: Fleshbot has its take (they also have the pics that got Donahoe in trouble) along with the video of the final.

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Donahoe’s semifinal match Friday night was unusual in that he defeated a one-legged opponent. Anthony Robles from Arizona State was born with one leg, but has become one of the top 125-pounders in the country. Donahoe beat Robles, 5-2.

You can watch Donahoe wrestle for the title on ESPN, Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. Short video of Donahoe earlier this week:

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Paul Donahoe

Collegiate wrestler Paul Donahoe, kicked off the University of Nebraska team after posing nude on a gay porn site, was unapologetic about what he did and also is totally cool with gay people. Donahoe gave an extensive interview to the Boston Globe, where he discussed posing nude, being booted from Nebraska and his rebirth at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. Donahoe is favored to win the 125-pound class at the NCAA wrestling finals this weekend.

“I am straight, but on the forums people make a lot of gay jokes about me,” he says. “I’m not too concerned. They can talk about me all they want, it doesn’t matter. If a guy wants to be with a guy, who cares? … “Obviously, I did it for the money. We kept thinking no one would ever find out because it was a gay website and we really wanted that money.”

Donahoe’s troubles started when he was paid several thousands dollars and flown to Los Angeles to appear naked solo on Fratmen.tv. He was contacted several times through his MySpace page before he agreed to pose (“They left me a lot of messages, so I thought, ‘What the heck?’ People do worse for money, so . . .”). In some of his images, an “N wrestling” tattoo (standing for Nebraska) was visible, on his left thigh. This is when his identity became known and his troubles began.

“They were supposed to cover it up but obviously they left it,” he says. “Gay kids in Lincoln [Neb.] wrote, ‘Hey, nice website. I saw you.’ I wrote back, ‘Don’t tell anyone,’ but with word of mouth, people found out.”

Donahoe was tossed off the team but not out of the university. Nebraska self-reported the violation to the NCAA.

“They said I promoted my image,” says Donahoe. “That’s illegal in the NCAA rules. I had to pay all the money back, a couple of thousand, to a nonprofit.

“I believe it was unfair for Nebraska to dismiss me from the team. For one, there’s plenty of athletes throughout the University of Nebraska who have had DUIs and who have been in fights and are still playing. But I guess that’s OK. Posing nude, I guess, is worse than someone drinking and driving and risking someone’s life, in their eyes.”

Donahoe is unapologetic about posing for Fratmen as “Nash” (along with fellow Husker wrestler Kenny Jordan, also kicked off the team), though he did describe the whole experience as weird. He comes from a family torn apart by his parent’s divorce and economically described his upbringing as lower middle class.  He wound up at Edinboro University, but fell behind academically being 24 credits short, but is set to graduate in July. Initially, his Edinboro teammates were a bit leery, but Donahoe won them over.

“He’s really cool,” says Gillespie. “Before the season, a lot of people were talking bad about him. Like, ‘We don’t want him at our school.’ Right now, he’s proving people wrong. He’s had to switch coaches, schools, friends, that had to be a pain. He’s heard people yelling stuff like ‘homo,’ but none of that bothers him, he just brushes that all off.”

Fortunately, the public was more understanding and forgiving than Nebraska officials. Donahoe says the reaction is more positive than negative and he has more than 1,400 friends on Facebook.

“I’ve had a ton of people Myspace me and say, ‘I hope everything works out,’ ” he says. “I read them all. I’m thankful for people supporting me. The plan is to win this weekend. Watch ESPN. I’m pretty tough. Just say I’m a survivor.”

Donahoe, 5-5 and 125 pounds, has used his dismissal as motivation, which helped him go 31-0 this season. If you want to watch him go for the title, tune into ESPN, Saturday at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Donahoe will face Cornell’s Troy Nickerson in the finals.

I was so impressed by his answers to the Globe and his flatly not feeling at all sorry for posing nude. He did nothing wrong and brought a lot of smiles to gay men everywhere, and I’m not being snarky when I say that. He has zero to apologize for and I imagine no wrestler this weekend will have such an extended rooting section.

Read the entire Globe piece.
Check out the Globe’s photo gallery of Donahoe.

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Donahoe, who now wrestles for powerhouse Edinboro in northwestern Pennsylvania, breezed to the title with a 17-7 win the semifinals and a technical fall 24-9 in the final. He finished the conference season at 31-0 and was ranked as the top 125-pounder in the nation.

Donahoe will wrestle for the national title at the NCAA tournament in St. Louis March 19-21. In 2007, while at Nebraska, he won the 125-pound national title. By all accounts, he has fit in well at Edinboro and I am rooting for him to take another title.

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Paul Donahoe transferred to Edinboro College in northwestern Pennsylvania, a wrestling powerhouse, and he is currently unbeaten (27-0 following his Feb. 14 victory) and the top-ranked 125-pounder in the country. Donahoe won the national title at 125 pounds in 2007 at Nebraska, is 113-18 in his collegiate career and he has helped Edinboro to a current Top 12 national team ranking.

Donahoe and fellow Nebraska wrestler Kenny Jordan made the news last August after it was revealed that they appeared on the porn website Fratmen.tv. The athletes were shown solo “undressing, showering and masturbating.” Fratmen bills its models as “college jocks and naked straight men.” The wrestlers appeared under the names Nash (Donahoe) and Cal (Jordan); they were paid an undisclosed amount for their work. A week after the news surfaced on a University of Nebraska gossip site, they were kicked off the Nebraska team.

When Donahoe enrolled at Edinboro (nicknamed the “Fighting Scots”) last August, he said he had two goals:

“I want to become the first two-time NCAA champ from two different schools. And I want to help the team get a trophy.”

While not answering questions at the time about the Fratmen incident, Donahoe was grateful to Edinboro, saying, “I’m just really thankful they have given me this opportunity to come here and finish my career.” The school’s athletic director, Bruce Baumgartner, a former Olympic wrestler, defended his decision to enroll Donahoe, saying, “I’m sure we’ll get some (criticism). People make mistakes all the time, and I think he deserves a second chance.”

While Donahoe has been able to resume his career, I have been unable to find anything about what has happened to Jordan (one commenter below says he transferred to Purdue but is not wrestling). In the aftermath of the Fratmen incident, both wrestlers said they wanted to be reinstated to wrestle again.

I am glad that Donahoe landed on his feet. In my ranking of crimes against humanity, posing nude (especially when you look like Donahoe) falls well below the NFL’s overtime rule, any kind of meat on a pizza, people who don’t use their turn signal and dog owners who don’t clean up after their pooch takes a dump on my flag football field.

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“The history of behavior of these men, including the current matter, does not reflect the standard of excellence we aspire to on and off the mat,” coach Mark Manning said in a statement. “We have outstanding student-athletes in our program and we will move forward in a positive manner toward our goals.”

–Matt Hennie

Matt Hennie blogs on Atlanta’s sports scene at Gaytlsports.com.

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