Kleine, Doepner bring female perspective to Vikings
Female presence growing in NFL
The Minnesota Vikings’ new college scouting director still occasionally catches scouts, executives and coaches apologizing for swearing in a meeting.
“I have to swear back and say I swear the same as you,” she said. That’s right. She. Kelly Kleine is in her first season in that job for the Vikings and her responsibilities are many. She coordinates travel for scouts and visits for draft prospects. She organizes reports from those in the field. She has even started evaluating players on video and working with the special teams and defensive line. And she’s not alone as a woman in the football operations department for the Vikings.
Anne Doepner, the team’s director of football administration, has risen up the ranks over the last 11 years and is now negotiating rookie contracts for the Vikings.
The two of them have given the Vikings something that the male-dominated NFL, a league that has long been criticized for how women are viewed and treated, is trying to emphasize: an increased female presence. There are 32 women across the league that work in team football operations departments, which includes front office, coaches, scouts and football administration.
Three of Minnesota’s nine vice presidents are women, and Kleine and Doepner have both advanced after joining the team with entry-level positions.
“It starts with the fact of the importance of women in the workforce, but also the importance of women within our organization,” COO Kevin Warren told The Associated Press. “One thing that is consistent is the more diverse environment you can create from a business standpoint, it really is important.”
The Vikings also hold quarterly meetings with women inside the organization and the spouses of male employees to foster camaraderie. They have also assembled a panel of prominent women in the Twin Cities, including Lynx star Lindsay Whalen, to work on improving the female fan experience and empowering women.
“Organizations that are truly high-performing in every area, they get to that place because they’re making decisions and getting different perspectives so they can look at things in the right way and get the right result,” said Karin Nelsen, Vikings vice president of legal affairs and human resources. “If you have too much of narrow perspective, you’re not going to get to the right place.”
GM Rick Spielman and executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski say there is nothing particularly noble about their hiring practices. They have simply promoted the employees who have earned it.
“It wasn’t that we’ve got to push this because they’re women,” Spielman said. “We pushed them and developed them because of their abilities.”
Kleine had no background in football and needed a ride to team headquarters from her college roommate five years ago so she could interview a public relations representative for a school paper. She got her start as a PR intern and moved to the scouting side when another intern abruptly quick not long before the draft.
“I really didn’t even know what a personnel department was all about,” Kleine said. “I knew you had scouts and GMs and things like that. But I had no idea you had so many pieces that were behind an actual team. And I guess I never realized females weren’t really in those positions because no one sees it.”
Now Kleine is learning how to break down film with assistant coaches and sitting in on positional meetings.
“At first it was really hard for me,” she said. “It was like, ‘What am I watching?’ ... But now that stuff is starting to click, it makes it a lot more interesting to watch and fun.”
Doepner’s only football experience amounted to gathering around the television on Saturdays and Sundays to watch the games with her father and brother. She was a French major at a small liberal arts college in central Minnesota and worked at a travel company right out of school before joining the PGA as a catering coordinator. That sports experience opened the door for her with the Vikings as an administrative assistant, and Doepner figured there may be more planned for the position when she was given a football quiz during her interview.
“The only question I got wrong was, ‘Who does Eddie Kennison play for?”’ she said, still shaking her head. “He was with the Chiefs at the time and I play fantasy football so I should’ve known that.”
Slowly but surely, women are starting to crack perhaps the most macho sport in America. The Jets had a coaching intern and three scouting interns in training camp who were women. Jen Welter became the league’s first female position coach as an intern with the Cardinals two years ago. Kathryn Smith was hired as the NFL’s first full-time assistant with the Buffalo Bills last year and women have held prominent positions in the front office for the Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers.
Justin Turner was a 3-year-old then, wondering what all the fuss was about when watching Kirk Gibson’s home run on TV at his grandmother’s home in Southern California. Clayton Kershaw wasn’t even walking yet, much less tinkering with the curve ball Vin Scully called Public Enemy No. 1 the first time he saw it.
This is not 1988 baseball either, which is the biggest reason the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the World Series for the first time in 29 years.
There’s a lot to celebrate for a franchise that hasn’t had much to celebrate over the last three decades. The Dodgers used a heavy emphasis on analytics and a cutting edge approach to how players play and how pitchers pitch to finally get over the hump.
About the only bittersweet moment is that Scully — who retired last season — will not be in the booth above home plate at Dodger Stadium calling the game Tuesday night. At least he’s not scheduled to be, though wouldn’t it be great to ask the 89-year-old to sit in for, say, an inning for old time’s sake?
In case you’ve forgotten or were too young, this was how Scully described Gibson’s iconic home run to win Game 1 in 1988.
“She is gone!” Scully said before pausing for a minute or so to let the roaring crowd tell the story. “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.”
Before the Dodgers came to bat in the fateful ninth that night, Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser watched Gibson get mad in the clubhouse as he heard Scully and fellow broadcaster Joe Garagiola talk about how Gibson was not in the dugout and that his legs were so bad there seemed no chance he would make an appearance in the game.
“That was the whole impetus to get him to ice his legs,” Hershiser recalled Friday. “He was really mad.”
The Dodgers of 2017 didn’t need much in the way of the dramatic to get in this World Series, though Turner provided some in Game 2 with a walk off home run. The clinching game was such a lopsided blowout that it was pretty much decided in the third inning when Enrique Hernandez hit the second of his three home runs, a grand slam that put the Dodgers up 7-0 on their way to an 11-1 win.
Yes, Enrique Hernandez, who toiled this season as a part-time outfielder, second baseman, shortstop, first baseman and dugout cheerleader for the Dodgers. He played everywhere and did a little bit of everything before shining in his biggest moment.
It wasn’t by accident. There’s been a seismic shift in how baseball is played, and the Dodgers have made sure they are in the forefront of it.
This is a team built with the postseason in mind, filled with interchangeable parts and able to match up in almost every situation. Turner — with his flowing red beard and penchant for clutch hitting — is the face of the team, but the stars seem to change with every game.
And they are unlikely stars, to say the least. Chris Taylor wasn’t even on the roster when the Dodgers broke camp in spring training, only to emerge as a feared power hitter equally comfortable in centerfield or at shortstop and the co-MVP of the league championship series.
Credit that to a building process and some astute late pickups by Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, and general manager Farhan Zaidi that re-defined what a roster should look like.
“These guys are reinventing the game,” said Hershiser, who won two games in the 1988 World Series and now works for the Dodgers as a broadcaster. “They really understand game theory and how to construct a roster and play it on a daily basis. They figured out how to give a team its best chance to win through October.”
That best chance got even better with a fivegame league championship series win that upped the Dodgers’ postseason record to 7-1. The Dodgers are dominating in the postseason like they dominated much of the regular season and with home field advantage will be favored against either the Yankees or the Astros.
Surely, Vinny will be there for the first game, even if it isn’t in the booth. Tommy Lasorda, the skipper in 1988, will be, too, in his regular seat by the Dodger dugout.
Lasorda was so intent on seeing his Dodgers win again he traveled to Chicago at the age of 90 for the deciding game. Manager Dave Roberts hugged Lasorda and told him the win was for him.
“I bleed Dodger blue just like you,” Roberts said. “Thank you, Tommy.”
No, these aren’t the 1988 Dodgers. Thankfully, though, at least one thing hasn’t changed in 29 years.