Muffet McGraw talks Hannah Hidalgo off-court controversy ‘it was almost insulting to her teammates’
The legendary Notre Dame coach talked about Hidalgo’s anti-gay social media post from the summer and more.
There’s no denying the skill and ability of Notre Dame sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo on the court. In her first collegiate season, Hidalgo was only the fifth player in the women’s college basketball history to earn First Team All-American honors, lead the nation in scoring and be elevated to a place of leadership in the Fighting Irish program.
Then, in July of 2024, Hidalgo shared a controversial post on social media between CNN anchor Don Lemon and political commentator Candace Owens.
In the snippet of a longer conversation, Lemon, a married gay man, asked Owen what she thinks about same sex marriage.
“It’s a sin,” said Owens.
“You think it’s a sin?” said Lemon. “So you think I’m sinful because I’m married to a man?”
“Yes, you’re sinning. You are in a sinful relationship,” said Owens. “I actually don’t believe marriage can be between two men.”
Soon after sharing the video, Hidalgo deleted the post.Hidalgo hasn’t publicly responded to her social media post.
Hidalgo excels on the big stage, like when Notre Dame defeated the UConn Huskies behind her 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. However, the post she shared in July is still something behind talked about this season.
On Tuesday, former Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw joined the podcast “Good Game with Sarah Spain.” McGraw, who was the head coach at Notre Dame from 1987 to 2020, and also has a statute on the South Bend campus of her, was clear on where she stood on Hidalgo’s post when asked about it by Spain.
“I thought it was a really poor choice on her part,” said McGraw when asked about Hidalgo’s social media post. “First, believing that, I think is a poor choice. And then saying it, as you said, on a stage where women’s basketball there are a number of gay players out there.”
McGraw continued, talking about how it impacts the locker room, saying “I thought that it was almost insulting to her teammates, to everybody in the game of basketball. I was really disappointed that it came out that way. I was happy that she deleted it, but the damage I think was done before she deleted it.”
The two-time National Championship-winning coach knows what it means to build a successful program, explaining how basketball itself is representative of society. Meaning that people have to work alongside people who are different than them, all to achieve a common goal.
“Accountability for me was like, that was the number one thing in having a championship team. Honesty, trust and accountability. It’s hard to trust when you have somebody that believes that what you believe is wrong.”
Neither Hidalgo nor her teammates have mentioned any sort of accountability within the Notre Dame locker room, now six months after the post.
Hidalgo’s ability has her primed as a high draft prospect for WNBA. Should this situation continue to go by quietly, Hidalgo will join a league that has even more openly gay players than college, including married LGBTQIA+ couples.
Hidalgo isn’t the only Notre Dame athlete to come under fire for sharing views against the LGBTQIA+ community. United States women’s national soccer team supporters found posts on former Fighting Irish standout soccer star Korbin Albert’s social media pages. It resulted in boos whenever she stepped onto the field for the USWNT, with Albert later apologizing for the posts, and head coach Emma Hayes discussing how the two have had productive conversation around her views.