Photo graphic by Kyle Neal

When college basketball coach Matt Lynch installed a new full-court pressing system for his players, he knew it would work when he saw their reaction during a timeout in a preseason game.

“I looked in the guys’ eyes and I could see the belief they had,” Lynch told Outsports. “They had bought in.”

As he begins his second year at the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie, the only out gay head coach in men’s college basketball has made a believer out of anyone who wondered how he would do in his first job of running a program.

His first season was a spectacular success: Coach of the year in NJCAA Division 1 Atlantic District; a conference title after starting the tournament as the seventh seed; a Page 1 feature in the New York Times that chronicled his unlikely journey.

His accomplishments as an out coach made him an easy choice for this year’s Outsports Power 100.

Lynch, while remembering last season warmly, is not dwelling in the past or taking anything for granted this season.

“It’s a new chapter of the same story,” Lynch said. “I think this time around the destination remains the same [the national Division I junior college tournament in Kansas], but how we get there needs to be different. We don’t want us to be the seventh seed in the conference tournament. We don’t want to win games and be a Cinderella story. We want to be playing our best basketball in March, and we are preparing to win games in Kansas.”

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Lynch, 33, came out as gay in April 2020 and was an assistant coach at several programs until he was hired by Salkehatchie last season. He had to build the program from scratch after it was disbanded, recruiting new players (some from as far away as Australia); raising money; upgrading the facilities (literally ripping out carpeting and painting himself) and then having to coach. The New York Times called it the “worst college coaching job in the country.”

Lynch took Salkehatchie from worst to first and he did it his way. His being gay was a non-issue, which is just what he wanted.

“I was very blessed to not have my sexuality come up very often last year,” he said. “I hope that continues. I hope to be judged by my character and my ability to lead a group of young men towards a collective goal. I pray that in time this becomes a non-factor, and I can just be an old ball coach.”

Winning his conference along with the positive media attention has opened doors for Lynch. For example, this week he is speaking at a conference in Las Vegas on Name, Image, Likeness, where he was expected to share his journey as an out coach.

Matt Lynch stands on a basketball court with a player
Matt Lynch, right, with player Makhi Rivers. Lynch won his conference title in his first season as coach. | Skyler Davies

His players, though, remain his priority as they gear up for their Nov. 1 opener, and a different roster from a season ago means a different style of basketball.

“We are trying to change with the times and stay ahead of the curve,” he said. “Our play style will be completely different from last season, because our roster is completely different. Last year I think we were the biggest team in the league height-wise. This year I bet we will be one of the smallest.

“We have to be different, you can’t hit what you can’t catch, so we are working on a style that will make you play our way. Outside of that I think I am doing a lot the same way, focus on things that effect winning, show patience as much as possible, and keep the main thing the main thing.”

Lynch should certainly move up the coaching ranks, as all successful coaches do, and the lessons of perseverance, patience, resolve and believing in oneself will endure.

You can follow Matt Lynch on Instagram.

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