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Analysis: NFL moving closer to 1st female head coach

Gildong Sack

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It would be great if it was the Steelers. One of the first teams to start a black QB(Joe Gilliam), one of the first teams to hire a black head coach in the modern era. Now they could actually be THE first in hiring a woman head coach. Make it so!


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The NFL is moving closer to having its first female head coach.

It may take a few more years, perhaps another decade. However, the question is no longer if it’ll happen but when it will happen.


“We asked basically everybody that, including all the head coaches, and I think the general agreement is that it is going to happen,” Jane Skinner Goodell said on the AP Pro Football Podcast. “I think the important thing that everybody seemed to point out was that it has to happen organically and it has to be a good fit, right? It’s going to happen. That job opening is going to have that right candidate who happens to be a woman and hopefully it works. ... I do think it’s in the probably near future. I would never venture a guess as to when, but everybody, including the women, want it to happen in the right way so it’s the right person at the right time.”


Skinner Goodell, a former TV reporter who is married to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, is the executive producer of a new five-part docuseries from NFL Films called “Earnin’ It.” The series highlights the careers of some of the most powerful women working in the league. The first episode premieres Sunday on Peacock.

Last year, Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar became the first female coaches on a team to win the Super Bowl. Sarah Thomas also made history as the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl, working as the down judge.

In 2020, Katie Sowers became the first woman to coach in a Super Bowl. She was an offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers in their loss to Kansas City.

“Earnin’ It” spotlights Locust, Thomas, Washington assistant running backs coach Jennifer King and other trailblazing women. It will feature first-hand accounts from NFL owners, coaches, players, officials, agents and other league insiders.

“The pace of change with bringing smart football minds who happen to be female into the game has been really, really rapid,” Skinner Goodell said. “I’m a former reporter and I just felt like somebody needed to chronicle this because it’s such a great story for the NFL. It’s so different to think about women in such a wildly male-dominated industry. But also, I feel like if you’re in a different industry, you might look at it and say, I would like to make some change and bring more diverse voices, a broader range of voices into our company or our team, or whatever it might be.”

Singer/songwriter Ciara, wife of Seattle Seahawks star quarterback Russell Wilson, narrates the series.

“I am honored to be a part of something so special that will undoubtedly be meaningful to so many people,” Ciara said. “I am awe-inspired by their incredible stories and am grateful to be part of sharing them with the world.”

Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians, Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott, Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders and New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley are among many men who talk about the impact women have had on football.

Arians realized in the early 1990s that women deserved an opportunity to coach in the NFL when he met Dot Murphy, an assistant at Hinds Junior College.

“I used to clinic with them all the time and she was one hell of a coach, so I knew it back then,” Arians said. “It was just who was going to open the door. That was going to be the thing.”

Arians and other prominent coaches helped kick that door down. Washington coach Ron Rivera shares a story in one of the episodes about standing up at a league meeting and telling owners they should consider hiring female coaches.

“You can’t even quantify the impact that has,” Skinner Goodell said about the support from coaches.

It may be more likely an organization hires a woman to run the team's football operations first. The Minnesota Vikings interviewed Philadelphia Eagles vice president of football operations Catherine Raîche for the GM job this week. Before the season, the Denver Broncos hired Kelly Kleine as executive director of football operations and special adviser to the general manager.

Susan Tose Spencer was the NFL’s first and only female general manager, with the Eagles in the 1980s. Her father, Leonard Tose, owned the team back then.

In baseball, Kim Ng is general manager of the Miami Marlins.

“The biggest issue was, as of a few years ago, there was no way for women to get in the league,” Skinner Goodell said. “So the creation of a pipeline that there is a way that a really smart, talented football woman can get an opportunity to meet a Ron Rivera who might take a chance on her or Kevin Stefanski or Sean McDermott, or whoever it may be, the fact that pipeline has been created, I think that probably was the biggest challenge. And now that it’s there and it’s getting more robust, I think we’re going to see this pace of change continue, probably.”

Sam Rapoport, the NFL’s senior director of diversity, equity and inclusion and a former professional quarterback, created that pipeline by establishing the NFL’s Women’s Careers in Football Forum in 2017.

“You know, the face of the NFL is changing and the look of the NFL is changing,” she said. “And there’s no question that there is no slowing down this train. Progress will continue.”

Next stop: a female head coach in the NFL.
 

bkwheat28

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If they are qualified and get hired I have no problem with it.

Bingo…..just like the race issue. I don’t care who they are, what they are, who they ****, or where they’re from. I want a well coached team that competes for championships but does it honestly and in a way we all can be proud of. Black or white, gay or straight, old or young….just help us be winners.
 

FatsHolmes

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How do you get qualified to coach something at the very highest level of competition if you have never played it at that level? To me, that is the issue.
Many coaches never played at a professional level. You build up through the ranks as a coach. You get qualified to be a head coach by being a strong assistant coach. You become an assistant coach by being a good coach in the college environment. You get to the college environment by coaching at the high school level.
 

thesteelcity

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How do you get qualified to coach something at the very highest level of competition if you have never played it at that level? To me, that is the issue.

Todd Haley was a pretty good coach and never played the game. I think if you are around it enough and know the game, you are qualified.
 

TDX27

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I think playing a sport at that level gives you a head start but isn't a prerequisite. What should be a prerequisite is previous coaching experience. To be a head coach in the NFL should require years at being a coordinator in the NFL or as a head coach in college and preferably both but that is asking a lot. Being a good or even great college coach doesn't mean you will be even a mediocre NFL head coach. That's why I think years in the NFL should be required.
 

Steeltime

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By that logic, a heart surgeon would not be qualified to perform a bypass surgery unless he had the procedure himself?

No. Undergoing heart surgery provides literally no information on how to perform the procedure since the patient is under a general anesthetic, right?

Having played does not mean the person is a good teacher, but almost never reduces the fund of knowledge about the topic. It gives information that cannot be obtained in another fashion regarding overcoming a double-team, or pacing of weightlifting while preparing for game day, or the signs that dehydration may be approaching, or any other of a thousand factors.

People would point out that great hitting instructor Charley Lau never played major league baseball. Okay. But he had PLAYED baseball, right?
 

jitter77

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I don't think you need to be a former player to be a good coach It would help with some things, but i don't think it would be a huge benefit. I would think someone who is very intelligent and likes to study film would be able to come up with some good game plans. Ive seen a chess master play 4 boards at the same time while blindfolded. I think someone with those capabilities would be an asset to a football team.
As for women if they are qualified then i have no issue. I'm not sure how players would respond though. Alot of players are not the most mature or respectful type and i can see problems occurring. How would a female coach act in Bens situation or what if a player had domestic violence history? I can just see a lot of complications
 

SteelBuckeye

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I don't think you need to be a former player to be a good coach It would help with some things, but i don't think it would be a huge benefit. I would think someone who is very intelligent and likes to study film would be able to come up with some good game plans. Ive seen a chess master play 4 boards at the same time while blindfolded. I think someone with those capabilities would be an asset to a football team.
As for women if they are qualified then i have no issue. I'm not sure how players would respond though. Alot of players are not the most mature or respectful type and i can see problems occurring. How would a female coach act in Bens situation or what if a player had domestic violence history? I can just see a lot of complications
How would a straight, evangelical Christian coach act if he knew for a fact he was coaching a gay player? How would a coach with daughters act in Ben's situation? I mean, you better be professional enough to leave those type of biases at home when you come to work. Just like everybody else has to.
 

xjx

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Hot women as NFL head coaches. Viewership would be up.
 

madinsomniac

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How do you get qualified to coach something at the very highest level of competition if you have never played it at that level? To me, that is the issue.
Many head coaches didn’t play in the nfl…

If i owned a team id hire based on organization skills, strategic reasoning, and ability to hire a staff… none of that requires nfl experience… coordinators are probably better having played, but many great ones never had nfl playing experience

The only place its really useful is position coaches…
 

Ike Kelly

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How do you get qualified to coach something at the very highest level of competition if you have never played it at that level? To me, that is the issue.
Probably need to ask guys like Bill Walsh, Bill Parsell, Hank Stram to name a few.
 

SteelerSask2

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If you are qualified I don't care if you are a green skinned pan sexual. I just don'tsee a woman being qualified any time in my lifetime and I'm 50. I got a problem with Tomlin's credentials.
 

SteelerSask2

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I don't have a problem with the play issue. And there are MANY post secondary female leagues now. BUT here is the thing. 10s of thousands of high school coaches distill down to thousands of college coaches which distill to hundreds of NFL coaches which distill to 32 head coaches. How could a woman culled from maybe a hundred other women possibly be more qualified than someone from the 10s of thousands if not hundreds of thousands. I think GM or team president is much more realistic. To me this is like a field commander in the military being female if there were no women in the military. General. Sure ok if someone is smart enough and educated enough. But field commander? Ah no.
 

Omar10213245

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I don't have a problem with the play issue. And there are MANY post secondary female leagues now. BUT here is the thing. 10s of thousands of high school coaches distill down to thousands of college coaches which distill to hundreds of NFL coaches which distill to 32 head coaches. How could a woman culled from maybe a hundred other women possibly be more qualified than someone from the 10s of thousands if not hundreds of thousands. I think GM or team president is much more realistic. To me this is like a field commander in the military being female if there were no women in the military. General. Sure ok if someone is smart enough and educated enough. But field commander? Ah no.
^This is where I'm at.
 

SteelerSask2

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Many head coaches didn’t play in the nfl…

If i owned a team id hire based on organization skills, strategic reasoning, and ability to hire a staff… none of that requires nfl experience… coordinators are probably better having played, but many great ones never had nfl playing experience

The only place its really useful is position coaches…
Maybe many didn't play in the NFL but very few did not play at least in college. I also think the NBA is much more realistic. Think of how many women play and coach basketball in high school, college, internationally.
 
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