Gonzaga coach: Racism toward Utah 'terrible situation'

Gonzaga coach: Racism toward Utah ‘terrible situation’

PORTLAND, Ore. — The racial hate the Utah women’s basketball team experienced last week while staying in Idaho before playing at Gonzaga was a “terrible situation,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said Thursday, and the next time the school hosts NCAA tournament games it will work to keep accommodations closer to Spokane.

As a top-16 seed, Gonzaga hosted first- and second-round games with a pod including Utah, South Dakota State and UC Irvine.

Fortier said she had no idea what happened to the Utes until Utah coach Lynne Roberts addressed it in her postgame news conference after the team fell to the Bulldogs in the second round.

“I wish it was something that will never happen again. Hopefully it doesn’t ever,” Fortier said. “Student-athletes who are in this place right now are supposed to be preparing for these great games and enjoying this time. It’s a horrible situation.”

South Dakota State, UC Irvine and Utah were all staying at hotels in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho — about 30 minutes from Spokane, where Gonzaga is located — because of a lack of hotel space in the area.

Far-right extremists have made a presence in the region of Spokane and northern Idaho. In 2018, at least nine hate groups operated in the region, including Identity Evropa, Proud Boys, ACT for America and America’s Promise Ministries, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

According to KSL.com, last Thursday an individual yelled the N-word at the Utah team and traveling party as they were walking to and from a restaurant near their hotel, and the person, who flew a Confederate flag, revved their truck’s engine before speeding off. A similar incident occurred two hours later, KSL.com reported, with two trucks.

Roberts said the NCAA and Gonzaga worked with Utah and UC Irvine, the latter which requested to move as a precaution, to help the teams change hotels in the aftermath of the events.

“We should not have been there,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan told KSL.com. “I do appreciate the NCAA and Gonzaga moving us from that situation, but we should never have been there in the first place. So, a lot of folks need to get home and heal from the whole matter.”

“Racism is real and it happens, and it’s awful,” Roberts said in the news conference. “For our players, whether they are white, black, green, whatever — no one knew how to handle it and it was really upsetting. For our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up.”

Fortier said it was a “unique year” of circumstances that led to visiting teams needing to stay in Coeur d’Alene: Spokane was a host site for first- and second-round men’s NCAA tournament games this past week as well as a large youth volleyball tournament.

Spokane is also set to host one of two women’s NCAA tournament regionals — and thereby eight teams — in 2025.

“Next time we host, we’ll try to keep it tighter towards Spokane a little bit,” Fortier said. “The Coeur D’Alene Resort was a nice hotel. That’s why they were put there by the NCAA. I don’t know about any of the decisions made about it.”

The incident spurred conversation on whether campus sites should meet certain criteria to host games, or if it would be better to move entirely to neutral sites. NCAA vice president for women’s basketball Lynn Holzman told The Associated Press she hopes the selection committee reviews the championship format this year instead of waiting until its current date of 2025. “As far as the placement, I think the committee just chooses what it is. We’ll learn from it,” Fortier said. “Next time we host, hopefully they’re going to be right downtown in the Davenport and have a great experience.”

The 4-seed Zags face 1-seed Texas Friday at 10 p.m. ET in the second Portland 4 regional semifinal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.