UNCASVILLE — When Carl Nassib came out as the first openly gay player in the NFL, Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller understood the significance of the moment.
“This goes so far,” Miller said Tuesday during his pregame Zoom call with reporters. “I’m so proud of him and support him. It’s big news. Hopefully someday this won’t be big news.”
The Raiders defensive end shared the news via an Instagram video Monday, saying he hopes to “cultivate a culture that’s accepting and that’s compassionate.”
Miller, believed to be the only openly gay male head coach in U.S. professional sports, saw Nassib’s announcement as an important step toward equality.
“Visibility, representation matters. We talk about it all the time,” Miller said. “You know there’s a bigger problem. I’m passionate that I’m still the only gay male out head coach — men’s basketball, women’s basketball at the highest levels, Division I college or pro. I know what this means to so many people.”
“So many young gay guys struggle in the locker room, struggle with themselves, struggle with how their friends will treat them,” Miller continued. “There’s that worry, so gay men in team sports unfortunately drop out of sports because there’s not enough of this visibility that there’s people like them and they can look to them.”
As part of his video, Nassib pledged $100,000 to the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to the LGBTQ+ community. The NFL has already promised to match Nassib’s donation.
“I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m really not doing this for attention,” said the 28-year-old Nassib. “I just think that representation and visibility are so important. I actually hope that like one day, videos like this and the whole coming-out process are just not necessary.”
Miller echoed that sentiment, suggesting Nassib’s story will have a “ripple effect for the next generations.”
“Normalize the normal. Normalize the normal,” Miller said.
Miller, 52, has been Connecticut’s head coach since 2016 and also serves as general manager. Prior to that he spent one season with the Los Angeles Sparks as an assistant, his first job in the WNBA after more than two decades coaching in college. He bounced around as an assistant at Cleveland State, Syracuse, and Colorado State before stints as a head coach at Bowling Green (2001-12) and Indiana (2012-14). He was the WNBA’s Coach of the Year in 2017 and has guided Connecticut to the postseason four straight years, including an appearance in the Finals in 2019.
He returned to the bench Tuesday after traveling home to Pennsylvania to care for his mother, who suffered a stroke earlier this month and is recovering in a hospital. The Sun beat the Dallas Wings 80-70 at Mohegan Sun Arena, snapping a three-game losing streak.
“Truly battling,” Miller said of his mother. “Not out of the woods, certainly trying to get her strength back up. Certainly there’s a road ahead of her that’s not easy, but proud that she’s battling. I appreciate all the well wishes and thoughts that have gone out to my family.”
Miller missed two games while he was away — losses to the Chicago Sky on Thursday and Saturday. The Sun own the Eastern Conference’s best record at 9-5 and are third in the league standings.
dbonjour@ctpost.com; @DougBonjour