Women Coaches

In the world of sports, women have broken many records and expectations but when it comes to leadership roles like coaching and athletic directing, progress has been slow. Despite the growth of women’s athletics since the passing of Title IX, women are still significantly underrepresented in coaching positions, especially when it comes to coaching women’s teams.

Before Title IX in 1972, over 90 percent of women’s collegiate teams were coached by women. Today, that number has dropped to less than 45 percent. As more resources and visibility have gone into women’s sports, more men have taken on leadership roles in programs that were once almost exclusively led by women. 

Female athletic directors face similar challenges. According to recent NCAA data, only about 15 percent of Division I athletic directors are women. Many of them face barriers such as lack of mentorship, implicit gender bias, and unequal networking opportunities. The stereotype that women are less competitive or assertive often works against them in environments that value aggression and authority, qualities that are traditionally masculine, but when associated with females, they are referred to as "emotional." 

At Govs, Mrs. Barcomb stands out as a powerful example of female leadership in athletics. As our school’s Athletic Director, she brings so much experience and passion to her role. A former Division I athlete and coach, she not only leads with confidence and clarity, but also mentors young athletes and inspires other female athletic directors among the ISL. Her own experiences taught us that being a female leader in the world of coaching isn't just about managing logistics and recruiting new athletes, it's about building community, supporting other female athletes and coaches, and fighting to grow the network of female authorities in the world of sports.

Women in coaching

 Title IX has been in place for over 50 years and has helped more women get involved in sports, but it has not necessarily brought more female coaching opportunities.  Many powerful women hold coaching positions, but the number of men vs women coaches is still significantly outnumbered. In recent years, numerous females have been in the coaching field, but many who have been fired or let go have stopped coaching. Many men who get fired or let go typically find themselves at a new job immediately. 89% of Division 1 Athletic directors are men, and the conversation of why women do not apply is normally overlooked and not taken seriously.

In a historically male-dominated field, the presence of women coaches helps to break down barriers and reduce gender biases. It creates a safe and more inclusive space for women to thrive, where they feel equally respected and understood. Despite women making up 44% of NCAA teams, only about 41% of the head coaches for those teams are women. Promoting women in coaching is not only about representation but also about equity, mentorship, and building confidence.

Many impactful female coaches have existed throughout history, like Patricia Susan Summitt. Patricia was an American women's college basketball head coach and college basketball player. As a coach, she acquired 1,098 career wins, the most in college basketball history at the time of her retirement. Summits' influence extended beyond her team's achievements. She mentored many players who pursued coaching careers, significantly impacting and increasing women's presence in coaching roles. Through her many years of coaching, Summit has inspired many women to become coaches and has therefore affected future coaching generations. 

Women in Coaching

     Limited women in sports has been a long-lasting issue. With the introduction of Title 9, the number of women playing sports has increased dramatically. In high school sports, participation is split nearly 50/50 between men and women. One of the biggest problems is a lack of women's coaching. Even in women's sports, it is not the standard to have a female coach. How is this fair? Especially in youth sports, it is important for players to have a role model to look up to and say they want to be like them. It's much easier for younger players to have this with a same-gender coach. 

    One reason for this divide is the limited opportunities women have. Studies show that people are more likely to hire other people who look like them. And with the vast majority of athletic directors being men, it would make sense that they hire mostly men. I also believe that a important factor contributing to more men being hired than women is their resumes. With pro women's leagues just now beginning to emerge, women aren't yet able to stack their resumes with years of pro experience and championships. Whereas, men's pro leagues have been around for so long that there are way more men with professional athletic experience to put on their resumes.

    The biggest problem with a lack of women's coaching is the double standard held against female coaches. There are many examples of this double standard. When women are fired from one position, finding a new one is nearly impossible, while men can bounce around programs. Women showing energy on the sidelines are "too emotional". This double standard is a product of traditional gender norms that we work every day to break down. I think in the coming years, as more pro women's sports thrive, women will find it easier to get into the coaching industry.

Women in Coaching

 What are the norms in coaching, especially in women's sports? Well, that has been a rocky road for quite some time now and has had a bunch of ups and downs. Is it due to a lack of opportunities, or is it more related to unrepresentative because of historical gender norms? Historically, there has been a significant issue in the percentage of women coaching college sports, regardless of whether it's a men's team or a women's team. Across sports, only 1 in 4 teams are coached by women, and 97% of men's teams are coached by men. It's ironic that the norm in men's sports is to be led by a man, but in women's sports, it's not the norm for women to lead. 

In order to find a solution, we need to find the root of the problem, which is pretty clear. In life, people traditionally hire those with whom they are comfortable, or who resemble some qualities of themselves, and this is also the case in college sports. In the NCAA, 89% of Athletic Directors are men, which means that when they are looking to fill a new coaching role at a school, you will most likely only see male candidates. This is an issue because the argument traditionally has been that a female may not know as much about a major sport like football because they have never played. But who's to say men know a lot about volleyball or softball? It's these double standards that make it challenging for women to advance in the coaching industry. So, how do you resolve this? Well, there's not exactly an easy solution, but the best way to do this is to get more women in higher-up positions to then change the landscape of coaching forever. A current world example of this is the female Seattle Kraken coach, who really only got offered a position because a man took a chance on her. It shouldn't be the norm for a man to have to feel like they have to take a "chance" on a female, credentials should speak for themselves. 

It seems like pretty much all industries have this issue of hiring who they are comfortable with, but I think it should shift to who's the most qualified. The last major issue is that women tend to be looked at under a microscope and judged a lot more than a man may be. In the videos we watched, it compared a male coaching style like Jim Harbaugh, who throws tantrums on the sideline every game, and is seen as passionate. If a woman were to do that, they would be criticized for being dramatic and emotional. Also, looks play a factor; it seems as though better-looking females tend to have an easier path to success for media and exposure purposes. All of these issues do not exist in the male side of coaching, and I believe that's why this has become such an issue. If you were able to eliminate these small things, it would help catapult women's coaching to a level we haven't ever seen before. 

Womans Coaching

 I was sitting on a club lacrosse field, sweating, and my club director, Steve, came up to me after the practice. He tells me what your intentions are with lacrosse, and I told him that since I was young, I wanted to take it as seriously as possible. He mentioned the idea of coming to The Governor's Academy. My mom and I were thrilled when he mentioned this. Push came to shove, and we discussed more and more about it, and I was beyond excited for the opportunity and chance he was gonna give me. He helped me get into the school, and I will forever remember that. My favorite coach to this day is my dad.

Anyway, I showed up at an event before high school at Governor's Academy started, and I walked to the hockey rink and got dropped off there. Mrs. Barcomb said I'm the athletic director. And I didn't judge that she was a female, but I knew she could possibly be an excellent athletic director. We watched a video about women coaching, and it reminded me of how many great male coaches there are out in the world, and it gave me the thought that I never had a female coach. And what I was getting at, and will sound bland, was that it would be pretty cool to have a woman's coach to change it up a bit.

I like to say I get along better with females than males, and that makes me think, would it be different if I were to have a coach? I mean, my mom loves sports, and I bet there are plenty of ladies out there as well. The controversial topic is that males rule sports; girls or boys' events, there are always the ones coaching the events. So, learning about a bunch of females with ambitions, I saw a revolution of women taking up the sport and spreading their knowledge. 

The wisest people I have met are #1 my dad, and I'm not just saying that because he is a male. But #2 is my mom,m and I don't think she could have any chance to be ahead just because of the way my dad thought and my reconciliation of memories around him. He wasn't intelligent when it came to solving 6th grade algebra, but he was with many, many other things that are unexplainable. My mom,m however, is my protector and mentor. She talks crap to me all the time to motivate me in the sport of lacrosse and I hear it like a religious group every sunday. She comes across as white Michael Jordan's mom, while I'm not Michael Jordan, Im Joe DiMella.

My mom's favorite sport to watch is hockey, and her favorite part is the male coach Herb Brooks' speech. She loves females,s but she knows a good moment when she sees one,e and Herb Brooks is engrained in her memory after what he said to Team USA before the young guys played the soviets. I can't relate to having a girl coach, but I can relate to the fact that my mom is an even better coach with anything I do in my life. And she rubbed off on my oldest brother Luke, to motivate the sport of lacrosse.

Battle of the Sexes

 In 1993, for the first time ever, a sporting event was really more than "just a game". A tennis match between two different genders, Billie Jean King at age 29 and Bobby Riggs at 55, that altered the trajectory of women's sports forever. The Battle of the Sexes was not something I could necessarily say I knew a whole lot about, if anything. At first, I would have assumed it had nothing to do with sports, and I think that's the best part about the name, because it was more than just a sports match. 

Bobby Riggs, posing as an arrogant, sexist man, took an unorthodox approach to this match, highlighting the media and taking advantage of the financial benefits. Billie Jean King, a rising tennis phenom, knew that this match didn't have too many positives to it, even claiming that if it wasn't for her competitive drive and ego, she probably would not have played. The ironic thing about the whole match is that actually there were a lot of stereotypes to begin with, like the fact that even if Riggs lost, it would because he didn't try enough, or if King won it would be because Riggs had a fluke game. All of these factors were taken into account for King, but Riggs and his degenerate gambling side saw an opportunity. Now whether the game was fixed or not, it doesn't matter because Riggs found a way to make money through it all.

In the end, King was victorious sweeping Riggs in 3 sets, in the filled Astrodome; But the score wasn't the significance, its the symbolism. The match symbolized that women had the ability to compete just as well as men in sports. Now, many years after the teenis match, battle of the sexes is not just limited to a tennis match, it is talked about in equality, the workforce, laws, and culture. This match has carried waves through history and really has shifted the perception of women in sports. I believe this paved the path to changes in Title IX which has helped catapult womens sports in college. Examples of this are starts like Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese in collegiate basketball, especially revolving around March Madness, which put up record breaking numbers recently. It is really impressive that a tennis match can make such an impact in gender equality and I am honestly surprised I haven't learned more about this in school. However, I am happy to say that I now know the significance of battle of the sexes and how it has helped shaped elements in my life and my sisters. I am also excited to compare this to my own topic of women discrimination in golf, maybe we will see a "battle of the sexes, golf edition" one day and could be just as influential. 

Battle of the Sexes

 The 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs wasn’t just a game, it was a symbol of the ongoing fight for gender equality. At the time, the world was in the middle of second-wave feminism, a movement focused on workplace equality, reproductive rights, and breaking away from traditional domestic roles. 

Billie Jean King was one of the top female tennis players of her time, alongside Margaret Court, who actually lost to Bobby Riggs earlier in 1973. Riggs, a 55-year-old retired tennis champion and compulsive gambler, saw an opportunity to profit off these women. He was a self proclaimed “chauvinist pig” and bet he could beat any top female player, proving (in his words) that men were inherently better. When King stepped up to the challenge and beat him, she proved that women were able to be the competition and win; yet there was still criticism of her winning against an old man and he might have thrown the game to settle gambling debts.

The match came during a time of significant legal and cultural change. Books like The Feminine Mystique gave voice to suburban women who felt unfulfilled by housework and child-rearing alone. Women were beginning to demand more, both in law and in culture. President Kennedy’s establishment of the Commission on the Status of Women, the passage of Title IX, and court decisions like Griswold v. Connecticut were slowly beginning to break down legal inequalities between the sexes. However, many of these wins benefited white women more than women of color, reflecting ongoing racial disparities within the feminist movement.

As a young female today, it's eye-opening to realize just how recent many of these milestones in gender equality are. I’ve been fortunate to play sports, pursue higher education, and voice my opinions in class without fearing that my gender would limit me. During the Life After Byfield event, I spoke with a Govs alumna who was part of the first female class. Hearing her describe and joke about the challenges of being one of the first women at a previously all-male school made me reflect on how much progress has been made since the 1970s. The Battle of the Sexes wasn’t just about tennis. It was about proving that women belong in sports, in leadership, and anywhere else we choose to show up.

Battle of The Sexes

     Before this lesson, I had never heard of "The Battle of the Sexes", and I would have never guessed it was a tennis match. The match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, two of the most competitive players, was an influential moment in the women's rights movement. Bobby Riggs had established himself as one of the biggest hustlers in sports when he called on Billie Jean King, who was over 20 years younger than he was, to play against him. Billie knew this situation was a lose-lose. Either she loses and confirms people's beliefs that women shouldn't play sports, or she wins and it's deemed a fluke match. 

    I think that the way Billie approached this match with this lose-lose ultimatum in mind was where her success came from. While Briggs was wearing taunting "Sugar Daddy" sponsored gear and making sexist remarks, Billie was creating the perfect plan. She told the media that the biggest part of the match to her was exposing new people to the game, undermining Riggs's portrayal of two genders competing. I thought Billie's Cleopatra-like entrance was very powerful in front of over 30,000 people in the Astrodome. 

    Today, this match was a propellant for Women's sports. The Women's March Madness tournament had more viewers than the Men's, a new professional women's hockey league has opened, as well as a new soccer league. In highschool sports, women's and men's sports are nearly 50/50. And federal funding for women's sports has increased.