NCAA president addresses parents' concerns about trans athlete inclusion: 'It's a small community'

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., responds to the NCAA’s policy of allowing transgender female athletes to compete in women’s sports, during an appearance on ‘The Faulkner Focus.’ 

NCAA president Charlie Baker was the subject of harsh scrutiny after defending the organization's current policies that have allowed trans athletes to compete against women during a senate hearing on Tuesday. 

Baker addressed the issue again during an interview on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" Thursday. When McAfee asked Baker how the parents of daughters should feel about trans athletes in women's sports and the NCAA's record on it, the president made it a point to minimize the impact of the issue.

"There are 510,000 college athletes playing in the NCAA, there are less than 10 transgender athletes, so it's a small community to begin with," Baker said. 

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President of the NCAA Charlie Baker speaks during a press conference celebrating the 25-year anniversary of the NCAA moving its national office to Indianapolis on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, at the NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis. (Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar / USA Today Network)

It was the same statistic that Baker offered in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday when asked about the specific numbers. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. faced backlash as well when he posted a clip of Baker providing the stat with a caption that read, "Let’s focus on ways to actually improve women’s sports."

At that hearing, Baker also suggested that women athletes who feel alienated by sharing a locker room with trans athletes "should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so." 

On Thursday Baker repeated the same justification for the NCAA's policies during