Scott Frantz has played his last football game.
The Kansas State offensive tackle who came out publicly as gay in 2017 is leaving behind the sport that brought him to the highest levels of college athletics.
Frantz’s agent, Brett Tessler, told Outsports that multiple Canadian Football League teams were interested in Frantz, but he simply wants to focus on the next stages of his life. So far, Frantz has not been signed by an NFL team, while the door remains open.
“After talking things over with him he’s decided to turn the page and is looking forward to the next chapter outside of football,” Tessler said in a text message.
It seems that next chapter will take Frantz to Austin, Texas.
“As of now it looks like I’m going to go to Austin, Texas,” Frantz told Ryan Wallace of GoPowerCat a few weeks ago. ”I plan to find a special education job where hopefully I can also be a high school offensive line coach.”
Frankly, it’s a great landing spot for a guy like Frantz. While he’s spent five years in Manhattan, Kansas, he’s not a Manhattan, New York, kind of guy. He grew up in Kansas, played football in Kansas, and the third-largest city in Texas should give him some room to grow, coming from the eighth largest city in Kansas.
Plus, Austin has a thriving gay scene. It may not be circuit-party-central, but that’s unlikely somewhere Frantz wants to be right now anyway.
While fans may be disappointed that Frantz is walking away from football with doors potentially open, it’s important to understand how difficult the sport of football is. Diet, workouts, and all of that hitting. Many people with bright futures have walked away from the sport.
We should be so grateful to Frantz for showing every other gay athlete that it’s possible to be out and proud, even in a major football program in Kansas.
His legacy on the gridiron will not be forgotten. Frantz is the rare player who started every single game of his four-year career. He was a rock for the Wildcats at offensive tackle, at times besting the likes of Myles Garrett.
To do almost all of that while being out to his team and to the public is eye-opening. Frantz being gay in the locker room of a major Big 12 team — the Wildcats went to a bowl game three of his four years starting — speaks volumes. He played for two different head coaches, one of whom — legend Bill Snyder — was 78 when he retired.
“What impressed me so much,” Snyder said of Frantz when he came out in 2017, “was the fact that he wanted to do it for the right reasons — and it wasn’t about exposing him to the media or making himself a national figure.
“What he wanted to do was to help others; that was important to me. No. 2, he wanted the opportunity to feel free to live his life as he would like to do so, and he felt hindered prior to that.”
For people clinging to the argument that gay acceptance is a generational issue, Snyder’s support of Frantz should speak volumes.
We at Outsports wish Frantz much success in the future, no matter where he lands. And we stand to support every LGBTQ athlete who wants to be their true self, no matter where they are in life.
You can follow Scott Frantz on Twitter @ScottFrantz74.
For more Kansas State Wildcats news and updates, visit BringOnTheCats.com.
If you’re a current or former LGBTQ high school or collegiate student-athlete, visit GO!SPACE.
