History Being Made in the Super Bowl

Female coaches have been springing into the NFL since 2015, when Jen Welter was the first assistant coaching intern for the Arizona Cardinals. This has led to seven full time female coaches and 15 coaching interns who have worked in the NFL.

During the Super Bowl another history was being made.

Katie Sowers, an assistant coach to the San Francisco 49ers, made history as the first female coach at the Super Bowl and the first coach to publicly announce as part of the LGBT community.

Sowers started her love of football when she was growing up and carried it with her when she played in the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) for eight years and for USA Football’s national team in 2013.

After her time playing in the WFA she decided to coach a fifth-grade girls basketball team, which would ultimately lead her to coaching in the NFL.

Former Kansas City Chiefs manager Scott Pioli’s daughter was one of the girls playing in the team. Watching Sowers coach them Pioli, knew that Sowers had some potential.

After Pioli became the assistant general manager to the Atlanta Falcons, he asked Coach Dan Quinn to think of Sowers for the 2016 BIll Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program, which is setup to give talented coaches an opportunity for a full time coaching gig, and he agreed. Sowers then started working with the Falcons at their training camp.

Once the former Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shananhan moved to the San Francisco 49ers, he hired Sowers for a position that same year. Sowers has been coaching the 49ers for four years.

Some athletes at Lakeview have mentioned how female coaches have changed the views on female coaches.

“I think it has gained more respect for women coaches in sports,” senior athlete Lorelai Harris said.

Sowers and other female coaches inspire female athletes and coaches to go against the norms of society.
“Girls would see the girl coach and be motivated to try something they believe is out of their comfort zone,” Harris said.