How ‘inclusive’ culture brought an All-America pass rusher to Mankato

Marcus Hansen’s world crumbled this past summer, and the 250-pound All-America defensive lineman was ready to walk away from football.

Hansen had been preparing to play for the 2023 NCAA Division II national champions at Harding University in Arkansas, after transferring there in December 2024 with the expectation of winning a national title.

Instead, before the 2025 season even started, he was ousted from the team for being gay.

That led him to Minnesota State University, Mankato, which landed one of the best defensive linemen in the country through a powerful recruiting advantage: a policy of accepting and supporting people.

“It felt really good from, you know, getting completely rejected by one team to being completely accepted by another,” Hansen said.

Hansen learned to thrive in Mankato and gained respect from his peers, teammate Colton Hoffman said.

“He ended up being one of the biggest leaders on our entire team,” Hoffman said.

He didn’t have many schools recruiting him after he graduated from high school in Waseca in 2021. He had been a walk-on athlete at Bemidji State University before becoming a star defensive lineman for the Beavers.

While at Bemidji, Hansen had been named twice to the Associated Press All-America second team and had been a 2023 Cliff Harris Award finalist, which recognizes exceptional defensive players in small-college football.

Harding was “heavily recruiting” him, Hansen said. He entered his name in the transfer portal in December 2024 and then set off for Arkansas, where everyone always greeted him with a smile, he recalled.

And then “it all just ended,” Hansen said.

It was June 2025, after the spring semester, when Hansen said Paul Simmons, the Harding football coach, told him that he was off the team, accused of same-sex relations. “We can’t have that here,” Hansen said he was told.

“When every young man enters into the Harding football program, they agree to operate under a very rigorous code of conduct,” Simmons wrote in an email Dec. 26. “Unfortunately, from time to time, young men fall short of the standards of expectations in our program and sadly, they have to be removed from the Harding football program.”

Harding, a private Christian college, has a religious exemption from certain aspects of the Title IX civil rights laws meant to prohibit sex-based discrimination.

After his meeting with Simmons, Hansen said he drove around and around for about five hours, and then started packing his bags. Later, he saw he had been removed from the team group chat.

At that point, Hansen said, he wanted to quit football.

He spent a lot of energy hiding his true self from people, he said. With each conversation, he gauged whether he was talking to someone who would judge him.

But he said he realized his story needed to end on its own terms.

He transferred to Minnesota State Mankato to play football at a university not far from where he grew up in Waseca.

The staff, led by longtime head coach Todd Hoffner, promised an environment where he wouldn’t be judged for his sexual orientation, Hansen said. The coaches had asked team leaders how players would react, and everyone said they would just be happy to have him aboard.

Many on the roster already knew of Hansen’s reputation as an award-winning and talented football player, said Hoffman, a linebacker from Solon, Iowa.

“A lot of people were pretty surprised to get someone later into the summer with so many accolades,” Hoffman said. “I remember seeing him that first week or two before fall camp, and just thinking like, ‘This guy’s a freaking beast.’”

But these efforts to create a welcoming and supportive team environment for all helped bring in gridiron stars like Hansen, said Kevin Buisman, athletic director at Minnesota State Mankato.

“The expectation of a positive team culture seemed to play a role in recruiting and integrating Marcus Hansen and could be viewed as an example of how an intentionally inclusive environment can help attract and support talented players who might otherwise struggle in less welcoming settings,” Buisman said.

Hansen was quiet when he first got to Mankato, his teammates recalled. But his leadership emerged, Hoffman said.

Hansen had one of the best games of his career during the playoffs at the end of the Mavericks’ season, with eight tackles and three sacks as the Mavericks beat the eighth-ranked team in the nation, the University of Indianapolis, on Nov. 29.

“When people feel loved, seen, safe and accepted,” Hansen said, “they can accomplish whatever they set their minds to.”

After the season, Hansen and his team gathered at a bar in downtown Mankato. Hoffman, who had tried to get Hansen out of his house the whole season to socialize, was there. As the night wound down, he went to the bathroom.

When he came back, Hoffman saw Hansen talking to the team.

“I’m really glad I decided to come out tonight,” Hansen said.

“Wait, I just missed Marcus coming out?” Hoffman interjected.

A pause enveloped the room as Hansen realized the misunderstanding.

Then Hansen smiled.

“But since we’re on the topic,” he said, “yeah, I’m gay.”

Hoffman said it seemed like a weight visibly lifted from his teammate’s shoulders. “All of us were saying [the same] thing to him, like, ‘Dude we’ve known, and none of us cared,’” Hoffman said. “What matters is you are a genuine, kind, caring person. You’re a tremendous teammate.”

Hansen said he often thinks about that moment at the bar.

“I was actually glad it happened because I wanted to tell them,” he said. “Just being able to tell my teammates, you know — my friends.”