UMass guard Derrick Gordon sits down with Kate Fagan to announce that he is gay, becoming the first openly gay athlete in Division I men's basketball. (8:31)

Derrick Gordon sat waiting outside the film room, his knee bouncing furiously up and down. He had wanted to tell his teammates something for more than a year, and now he was about to say it. And he knew that once he did, a lot of things would be different.

A minute later, the sophomore shooting guard stood and walked into the room, accompanied by University of Massachusetts men's basketball coach Derek Kellogg. Gordon faced his teammates, a group of guys he liked but had always kept at arm's length.

That was about to change.

Kellogg spoke first. "We're all here together, and we need to love each other for who we are," he said. "One of your family members, your brother, wants to let you know something about himself."

There was a pause. And then Kellogg tried breaking the ice. "I wanted to let you all know I'm gay," the coach said. His players all looked at him, stunned. What?

Gordon took his cue and spoke up.

"No, he's not. But I am."

Gordon told his team April 2, a few days after telling his parents and Kellogg. That same week, he sat down to share his story with ESPN and OutSports, becoming the first openly gay male player in Division I basketball. The decision to step forward publicly was a long time in the making for Gordon, a starter who averaged 9.4 points and 3.5 rebounds a game this season.

UMass coach Derek Kellogg says Derrick Gordon's decision to come out has brought the team closer. AP Photo/Steve Helber

He had closely watched the news around NBA veteran Jason Collins and NFL prospect Michael Sam, both of whom are active players and have publicly acknowledged being gay. About a year ago, Gordon befriended former NFL player Wade Davis, who is now the executive director of You Can Play. Davis introduced Gordon to Anthony Nicodemo, the boys' basketball coach at Saunders High School in Yonkers, N.Y., who came out as gay last year. Davis and Nicodemo, along with several others, including Collins, mentored Gordon behind the scenes.

Gordon says that when the Minutemen returned home from their round-of-64 loss in the NCAA tournament, he began seriously considering coming forward publicly. He had accepted his sexuality during his freshman year in college, and in recent months had started checking OutSports to see who would be the first Division I men's basketball player to step forward.

"I was thinking about summer plans and just being around my teammates and how it was going to be," Gordon said. "I just thought, 'Why not now? Why not do it in the offseason when it's the perfect time to let my teammates know and everybody know my sexuality?' "

Once Gordon made that decision, he leaned heavily on his network of mentors.

"It was a rough process, actually, leading up to this. Those guys just helped me get to where I am right now," Gordon said. "If it wasn't for them, I'd be stuck. For this to be happening right now, me coming out, it's an indescribable feeling, honestly. I couldn't be any happier. I feel like I can fly."

Kellogg had called an impromptu team meeting, but no one knew why. "Before DG even said anything, I could sense that a weight was lifted from him," sophomore center Tyler Bergantino said. "He looked like a different person -- happier, stress-free, like that was the real him. Before, when he would walk into the locker room, there was this cloud around him, like you couldn't quite get to him."

Gordon's teammates had felt that distance, a wall they couldn't explain, ever since he transferred from Western Kentucky following his freshman season to be closer to his family in New Jersey. Now, it all made sense.

Inside that film room, only a second or two passed before someone spoke. Richie Hogans, the team's strength and conditioning coach and former linebacker at Memphis in the late 1990s, jumped in first. "You're part of our family," he told Gordon. "We're going to be there for you, and this doesn't change anything."

The first teammate to respond was sophomore guard Trey Davis. "We got you, DG," he said. "You're one of us."

Next up was junior center Cady Lalanne. "You're our family," he said. "We love you."

In quick succession, each of Gordon's teammates offered some version of the same sentiment. Nothing changes. You're our brother. We got this. We got you.