Coach Asks NFL Hopeful, ‘So, Do You Like Men?’

Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn, pictured on November 1, 2015, has apologized to college s
AFP

Appearing on Comcast SportsNet’s Breakfast On Broad, former Ohio State defensive back Eli Apple said that the strangest question ever asked him by a coach at a football combine concerned his sexual preference.

“I’ve been asked a lot of weird questions. I don’t know if I could say on TV,” Apple said. The 20-year-old DB then recounted a question asked of him by one NFL coach: “The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, ‘So do you like men?’ It was like the first thing he asked me. It was weird. I was just like, ‘No.’ He was like, ‘if you’re going to come to Atlanta, sometimes that’s how it is around here, you’re going to have to get used to it.’ I guess he was joking but they just ask most of these questions to see how you’re going to react.”

Falcons Head Coach, Dan Quinn, in a statement delivered after the show’s broadcast, asserted his disappointment in hearing that one of his coaches made such an inquiry.

“I have spoken to the coach that interviewed Eli Apple and explained to him how inappropriate and unprofessional this was. I have reiterated this to the entire coaching staff and I want to apologize to Eli for this even coming up. This is not what the Atlanta Falcons are about and it is not how we are going to conduct ourselves,” Quinn stated.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy contacted CSNPhilly with an email stating: “This is disappointing and clearly inappropriate as the Falcons acknowledged. We will look into it.”

PFT-NBC Sports reported last month strange questions are par for the course at the combines. One NFL team asked tight end Nick Kasa at the Scouting Combine if he liked girls. They also report that Jeff Ireland once asked Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute. According to Dane Brugler of CBSSports.com, one team asked an aspiring NFL player if he found his mother attractive.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.