Why does Penn State's Portland still have a job?

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Rene Portland still has a job. And I am utterly stumped at how.

Portland is Penn State's women's basketball coach. This week, the university told us she has the same Teflon-coating, favored-status formerly bestowed solely upon JoePa. Now, if Portland wasn't so toxic for women's basketball, I might be thrilled a women's basketball coach had such power.

On Monday, Portland settled her case with Jennifer Harris, a former player who had filed suit against her, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and the university. Harris had been Penn State's leading scorer until Portland kicked her off the team two years ago because, Harris said, Portland thought Harris was gay.

Harris alleged discrimination based on race, gender and sexual orientation, and after a year of litigation, both sides agreed not to take the case to trial. Portland, Curley and Penn State got to deny any liability and Harris had to promise she'd cease any legal action. All the other terms of the settlement are sealed. And Portland still has a job.

Five Big Ten titles and one Final Four apparently forgive a heckuva of a lot.

The story starts in 1980, when Portland first got to Penn State, and, in a sport charged by rumors and innuendo, she very quickly, very clearly, let it be known she ran a "straight" program. In 1986, Portland told the Chicago Sun-Times lesbianism is absolutely on her discussion list when she gets into recruits' homes. "I will not have it in my program," she said then. "I bring it up and the kids are so relieved."

Five years later in 1991, a slew of former players told the Philadelphia Inquirer how not in the closet Portland's bigotry was. One-time Olympian Suzie McConnell Serio said, "She does make it known when she's recruiting she doesn't put up with homosexuality," and Patti Longnecker added that Portland routinely said, "I won't have that on my team."

Portland responded that she had her "training rules," and then promised, "I will never have to say what my training rules are."

After the first story, Penn State's faculty senate wrote a resolution asking for homosexuals to be protected under the school's anti-discrimination policy. The president didn't do it and nothing happened to Portland.

After the 1991 story, students protested again, and more stories began trickling out. More players said, in print, Portland's overriding team rules were "no drinking, no drugs, no lesbians." An assistant revealed that the letters Portland's staff sent to prospects boldly promised there were no lesbians on her team.