Buffalo Bills Make History With First Female Coach

By ERIC KRALJIC and TOM MOORE

The landscape of athletic coaching changed after the NFL’s Buffalo Bills hired its first female coach.  

The team announced on Jan. 20 that they had hired Kathryn Smith, 30, making her the first woman to ever to coach in the NFL.  Smith’s official title with the team will be the special teams quality control coach. Although not a high profile job, it still signifies the type of

breakthrough this will be for other women in the coaching profession.

Amanda Lax, a 26-year-old high school basketball coach at Ridgefield Park High School in New Jersey was inspired by the hiring of Smith. “As a huge football fan myself, it makes me wonder if I should’ve gone into coaching football. I love basketball, but football is something I wish I could coach” Lax said.

Smith previously interned with the Jets and then worked in an administrative role with them for seven years. She graduated from St.Johns with a degree in sports management and was a team manager there for four years.

Justina Cassavell, the Ramapo College track and field coach, reflects  Smith’s career path. Cassavell was recently promoted to the head coach position for both teams taking over for a former male head coach at Ramapo.

This scenario is not new for Cassavell as she came into this kind of promotion through her high school years of coaching.  While being one of the few female coaches in the sport, Cassavell realized how others reacted to her solely because of her gender.

“I definitely felt sometimes that I kinda got this weird vibe from mostly the male coaches.” said Cassavell.

Cassavell also described the personal struggles of being a mother and coach and how others viewed her coaching. One instance she described was when she took off from coaching for a bit to spend time with her family and a male colleague took over for her. Just before she took the time off, the male coach said that he would “toughen up” the girls, suggesting that Cassavell being a mother meant that she would not be tough on her athletes.

This can be an example of the views that Smith could possibly face being a new female coach in a high intensity sport. The hiring of Smith is significant because of its implications in the sport of football. Football is only played by men, whereas basketball is a sport where both men and women compete professionally.

Smith makes coaching football no longer exclusive to men, women are now seen as a viable option. In a statement issued to The Associated Press, Bills co-owner Kim Pegula defended Smith’s qualifications.

“While we understand the significance of this announcement, it’s important to understand that Kathryn earned this position because she has shown she is qualified, dedicated and puts in the work needed for this role, ” according to the press release.

In an article with USA Today, Ron Linfonte, the head athletic trainer at St.John’s, had to this to say about Smith’s work ethic  “She was very, very organized. She always did the little things. You just knew she was going to have success no matter what career she chose.”