By PATRICK CAHILL
MAHWAH – Katie Sowers will make history Feb. 2, becoming the first ever female and openly gay coach to compete in the Super Bowl.
Sowers was hired by the 49ers in 2017 as a seasonal offensive assistant under the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program that enticed NFL teams to hire more minorities. Prior to the 2019 season, Sowers was promoted to a full-time offensive assistant for the team, and her presence has been felt.
“We kinda shared the same, ‘hey we’re just kinda getting our feet wet, you know, and worked together a little bit here and there,” said 49ers tight end, George Kittle, who joined the 49ers the same season as Sowers. “Coach Sowers is incredible. Her work ethic is incredible.”
The 49ers come into the Super Bowl with the second best scoring offense in the league behind a rushing attack that also ranks second in the league.
The lack of female coaching representation in men’s sports has been an ongoing issue. In 2012, there were zero female coaches in the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB combined. Since then, there has been a small growth of hiring female coaches. The NFL currently has two female assistant coaches employed, including Sowers. Amongst the other leagues, the NBA has four female assistant coaches employed, while the NHL and the MLB each have one apiece.
“There shouldn’t be that big of a gap amongst male and female coaches,” said Bridget Cahill, a student athlete who plays basketball at Ramapo College. “We have a male head coach for the women’s team, so why shouldn’t the men’s teams have female coaches?”
That’s one of the biggest issues with the lack of coaching diversity in sports. Not only are the number of male coaches dominating male sports, but they’re also dominating female sports as well. According to a report from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) in 2019, over 50 percent of head coaches in women’s collegiate sports are men. Sunday’s Super Bowl will bring this issue to the forefront, as one of the biggest storylines will undoubtedly be how Katie Sowers can bring about a change in professional and collegiate sports, proving that female coaches can be just successful as male coaches.
“If someone is knowledgeable enough about the game, they should be given a shot to coach no matter what their gender is,” said Charlie Connell, a student athlete at Salve Regina University who plays football. “We don’t have a female coach on our coaching staff, but I’m sure there are plenty of women out there who can coach, and I think teams need to give them an opportunity. Not just in football, but every sport.”
Katie Sowers’ Inspiration
So far, when given an opportunity, these female coaches have been successful. Aside from Sowers helping to lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl, other female coaches across other sports are experiencing similar success. Becky Hammon, a six-time WNBA all-star, was hired by the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and has risen to the top assistant on the Spurs after helping them reach the playoffs in each of the five seasons she has been there.
Thank you @BeckyHammon .. sometimes all it takes is seeing someone like you take a path you never even knew was possible .. until it was https://t.co/PL4tfuOmsh
— Katie Sowers (@KatieSowers) January 28, 2020
Not only will Sowers be looking forward to potentially winning a Super Bowl championship on Sunday, she’ll also be inspiring numerous females who are passionate and knowledgeable about sports, showing them anything is possible when you’re given an opportunity.
Great article. I really liked the statistics you included as well as the multimedia you embedded, which added another layer to the article.