Tulane women’s basketball head coach wore Kamala shirt to kick off season, team loses

Kamala karma hit a women’s college basketball coach as sideline attire to kick off the season drew an Election Night comparison.

Thursday, New Orleans’ Tulane University welcomed fellow Louisianans from Nicholls State University for the start of the women’s basketball season. Like many unable to cope with the red wave that saw once and future President Donald Trump take each of the swing states along with a projected popular vote victory, the Green Waves’ head coach Ashley Langford’s visible favor for Vice President Kamala Harris accompanied a loss of her own.

A viral image shared by Hoop Herald on X featured the former player on the sidelines adorned with a t-shirt that had a montage of images of the vice president displayed beneath her name with the caption, “Tulane women’s Basketball Head Coach, Ashley Langford, makes a political statement in her opening game as Head Coach of the Green Wave, a tight loss to Nicholls State.

The game ultimately ended in favor of the visitors, 65-63, and prompted the coach, who’d previously led Stony Brook University in New York with a 69-24 record over three seasons, to issue a statement.

“It was not intentional on my part to offend anyone with my attire last night. My intent was to show appreciation for a woman I admire beyond a political stance or party. I understand and respect university policy and I will strictly adhere to it in the future,” said Langford, according to WDSU.

Likewise, the university released their own statement of the player turned coach who had led their team to four consecutive winning seasons when she played from 2005 through 2009.

“Tulane fully supports personal freedom of speech and expression for individual members of its community,” said the school. “However, we have a policy of principled institutional neutrality regarding political and other divisive issues. We underscore the importance of following this policy to all staff when serving in their official capacity at the university. This is critical to fostering a campus environment where all political views are protected and respected.”

Tulane’s commitment to “personal freedom of speech and expression” had previously made the university one of the numerous hotbeds for antisemitic behavior following Hamas’ terror attack on Israel that included one Jewish student suffering a broken nose from a terrorist sympathizer.

Similarly, it had been reported that the school had invited Hunter Biden to be a guest speaker in Fall 2021 to participate in a 10-week course called “Media Polarization and Public Policy Impacts,” despite the controversies surrounding the son of President Joe Biden.

Reactions to Langford’s attire were not only critical but snarky as well considering, like Harris two days earlier, the coach had walked away without a win.

“At least her loss was a little closer!” said one as another suggested, “Looks like she lost this one too.”

Kevin Haggerty

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