Jacksonville Jaguars' Kevin Maxen Becomes First Male Coach to Come Out as Gay in Major U.S. Sports

“I don’t want to feel like I have to lie about who I am seeing, or why I am living with someone else," the Jaguars' strength coach said in a recent interview

The NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars strength coach, Kevin Maxen, has come out as gay — making him the first male coach in a U.S. professional league to do so.

Maxen, who joined the Jaguars last season after working with the Baylor Bears' and Vanderbilt Commodores' teams, revealed the news in an interview with Outsports on Thursday, saying that he wanted to be honest with who he was in the hopes that others will do the same.

"I don’t want to feel like I have to think about it anymore,” Maxen told the outlet. “I don’t want to feel like I have to lie about who I am seeing, or why I am living with someone else."

He continued, “I want to be vocal in support of people living how they want to live, but I also want to just live and not feel fear about how people will react.”

Maxen also said he felt “guilty” at being unable to share his love for his partner of over two years, Nick, with other members of the Jaguars coaching staff, who had often talked about their own relationships.

Related: Buccaneers' Carl Nassib, First Openly Gay NFL Star, Says 'I'm Not Hiding'

“You have other coaches who have significant others, and they’re talking about their significant others,” Maxen said. “And I felt guilty that I couldn’t do the same thing, that I was letting myself down.

“I want the person I’m with to be able to share that with me,” he added.

However, it wasn’t easy for him to open up at first, and he told Outsports he had experienced a lot of negative feelings about what he thought others might think of him.

“For a while I had such an anger for myself and hatred that I thought was from a fear of what others might think about who I am,” Maxen said. “But that wasn’t it. It was an anger and hatred of myself because I put myself in a life where I was living by other people’s rules and not by my own.”

Related: 49ers' Katie Sowers Will Be the First Female, Openly Gay Coach at the Super Bowl

The coach, who primarily works with the Jaguars’ offensive and defensive linemen to create a work out regime for the team, said a surge of recent support from those close to him gave him the courage he needed to make the revelation.

“It wasn’t until recently – and with the immense love and support of my family, my friends, colleagues and peers, and the courage and sacrifice from my partner – that I realized I have the right and responsibility to love and be loved, and that maybe sharing this will hopefully give someone else the strength to accept their own life and take control of their own story.”

Several people in the NFL community have also publicly voiced their support for Maxen, including Jaguars owner Shad Khan, who said he "appreciated reading Kevin's story."

"Kevin is a Jacksonville Jaguar through and through, and a key member of our football team and community," Khan said in a statement to ESPN. "I look forward to seeing Kevin next week at training camp, and hope that he comes to work each day during camp and through the season feeling confident, free and at peace. I know our players and staff feel the same."

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While Maxen is believed to be the first male coach to have come out publicly as gay, there have been a few female coaches in U.S.-based sports leagues who have also come out. This includes Katie Sowers, who had been an assistant with the San Francisco 49ers during their 2020 run in the Super Bowl.

When it comes to players, there have only been 16 in the history of the NFL to come out as gay or bisexual as of September 2022, per Outsports. Carl Nassib became the first active player in the league to come out in 2021.

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