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Three of the women’s Elite 8 teams — Iowa, Maryland and Miami — have publicly out coaches

Not so long ago, it was hard to find any out LGBT coaches in NCAA college basketball.

Syndication: HawkCentral
Raina Harmon is an assistant coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team.
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball tournament enters the Elite Eight, and there are some LGBT people to celebrate.

Specifically, almost half of the teams left in the tournament has someone on the coaching staff who is LGBT. And one of those teams — 2-seed Iowa — is now favored to win its matchup and advance to the women’s Final Four.

The number of publicly out coaches and players in college basketball has never been higher.

Regardless of who’s favored or not, we’ll be cheering for these out coaches as they aim for a spot in Dallas:

Raina Harmon, Iowa

Assistant Coach
Coach Harmon has shared messages about her marriage to her wife and their honeymoon in California.

Jan Jansen, Iowa

Associate Head Coach
Jansen and her partner, Julie Fitzpatrick, have been together for multiple decades!

Kaitlynn Fratz, Maryland

Assistant Coach
Fratz shared her pride in being supported as Maryland celebrated the LGBT community.

Katie Meier, Miami

Head coach
Meier is a longstanding Hurricanes head coach and publicly loves her wife.