The OTL feature on Rene Portland aired Sunday. The local papers -- Centre Daily, Altoona Mirror, and the Collegian -- get around to covering it today. The papers' coverage of the story is fascinating in its own right. The Collegian's report is downright bizarre.

On the show, Jen Harris repeated her claims that Portland hounded her about whether she was gay before kicking her off the team. Jen's mother recounted how Rene had used anti-gay recruiting tactics.

Courtney Wicks, who played at Penn State in the late 90s before transferring, also attested to Portland's anti-gay stance. She described an incident where the team attended a pro game. Portland made remarks about the lesbian fans, and after the game, launched into a "full-fledged gay-bashing." Wicks's older sister Nichole is gay.

Wicks had previously described her reasons for leaving Penn State this way:

My problems with (Portland) started in October of my freshman year. I kind of saw a different person than the one who came into my home. It's not the stuff on the court that gets you. Everything that is totally irrelevant to basketball is what gets you. She makes the irrelevant stuff relevant.

Wicks told the Centre Daily yesterday that Portland's anti-gay policy was a "firm" and "public stance." On OTL, she criticized Penn State for failing to protect its student-athletes.

The core of the OTL feature was an interview with Cindy Davies, a stand-out high school player who arrived at Penn State around the same time Portland did.

At some point, Rene learned that Davies was dating a female student manager. She called Davies in for a meeting and threatened to out Davies to her parents and the media. (Liz McGovern was a grad assistant at the time and was part of the meeting; she confirmed Davies's account.) Davies quit the team rather than face the humiliation Portland had threatened.

Davies tearfully described how she had struggled with depression following her experiences with Portland.

Davies, or at least someone purporting to be Davies, has been posting on the Penn State board under the monikers KDW35 and CLD35. (Warning: that board is a fucked up place. Enter at your own risk.)

The university responded to the new information yesterday. "[T]he policy is very clear, and we can't do anything about students who choose not to come forward with complaints, said spokesman Tysen Kendig. "If they don't come forward to file a formal complaint, I'm not sure what specific action the university could initiate." (Yes, God forbid that in the course of a neutral investigation pursuing the truth, the school would actually pick up the phone and call former players.)

In the Centre Daily today, two former players defended Portland. "When I played there from 1990 to 1995 I never heard those comments," said Carla Coleman "It was never directed to me. It was never said in my presence." (Perhaps she was sleeping during the entire month of March 1991).

Said Jess Strom: "A lot of stuff is being said about her, but she really did anything for us and she still would."

Two short clips of the OTL feature can be viewed in the Motion Video box on the ESPN page. A shortened version of the show will be aired tonight and tomorrow night at 12:40 eastern on ESPN, and tomorrow morning 7:40 eastern on ESPN2.