Barriers to women coaches fall slowly
As gender barriers are starting to fall in the pro coaching ranks, some in the Canadian sport community say there is a bigger issue at play — getting women to consider coaching at all.
“The go- to answer is the environment is not welcoming and it’s pretty lonely,” said Coaching Association of Canada chief executive Lorraine Lafreniere.
“I think until we tackle getting an equitable amount of women’s coaches coaching women’s teams, that’s the starting point as far as I’m concerned ... to me that’s the biggest challenge,” she added.
The NFL now has its first full- time female coach after Kathryn Smith was promoted by the Buffalo Bills this week to take over as special teams quality control coach on Rex Ryan’s staff. A number of women have worked in front- office positions but female coaching hires have been rare in North American men’s professional sport.
Brock University assistant athletic director Chris Critelli, who previously served as a women’s basketball coach at the St. Catharines, Ont., school, said there is cause for optimism when it comes to women’s coaching, but there is much more to be done.
“I see it in the boardroom, I see it on the playing fields, that it is changing,” she said. “But women also have to put themselves out there.”
The coaching lifestyle can be challenging regardless of gender. The workdays are long, it can be tough on family life, the travel can be a grind and getting started at lower levels often means a commensurate salary.
There are many female assistants at the Canadian Intrauniversity Sport level in a variety of sports. But only a handful have served as head coaches and even fewer have coached men’s teams.
Longtime Queen’s University men’s volleyball coach Brenda Willis recalled that when her school was looking for a women’s volleyball head coach two years ago, there were a lot of applications for the posting but only five per cent were from women.
On the professional side, former WNBA player Becky Hammon was hired by the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 to join coach Gregg Popovich’s staff, making her the NBA’s first full- time paid female assistant coach. Last month, Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners hired Amanda Hopkins as an area scout.
“I think in today’s world t he standards or norms are forever changing,” said Wally Buono, head coach and general manager of the Canadian Football League’s B.C. Lions. “The barrier was going to break, most barriers have been broken in sports and obviously this is just another barrier.”