Women’s Forum Aims To Empower Female Future NFL Coaches and Scouts

Amid all of the testosterone being exuded at the NFL Combine at Indianapolis, a group of women will gather on Wednesday for a forum that seeks to enhance their chances of becoming professional football coaches.The ninth annual NFL Women’s Forum, presented by Amazon Web Services, will unite 40 women with representatives of all 32 teams to discuss opportunities in scouting, data and analytics, coaching, and football operations.The NFL had 15 full-time women coaches during the recently completed 2024-25 season, a league record and the most of any male professional league. Twelve of those coaches participated in past forums, which also produced the first female positional coach in college football history (Heather Marini), the NFL’s first Black female scout (Salli Clavelle) and coach (Jennifer King), and the first Black Super Bowl-winning coach (Autumn Lockwood).“As the NFL advances the game of football in all areas, we understand the importance of the NFL Women’s Forum in creating unique opportunities for all,” the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity & inclusion officer, Jonathan Beane, said in a statement emailed to The New York Sun. “The NFL Women’s Forum has paved the way for women to access opportunities across the league.”According to the NFL, the 15 female coaches spread throughout ten separate staffs is up 25 percent from the 2021 season. The first-ever female coach in the NFL was hired nine years ago, when Jen Welters served as a defensive coaching intern for the Arizona Cardinals during the 2015 preseason. The league’s first full-time female coach was hired in 2016, when the Buffalo Bills made Kathryn Smith a special teams quality control coach.Katie Sowers became the first woman to coach in a Super Bowl, four years ago, as an offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers, and this month Ms. Lockwood, the Philadelphia Eagles associate sports performance coach, became the first Black woman to coach in a Super Bowl and the first Black woman coach to be a Super Bowl champion.The Tampa Bay Bucs assistant defensive line coach, Lori Locust, and assistant strength and conditioning coach, Maral Javadifar, are the first female coaches on a team to win a Super Bowl, in 2021.Three of the 15 female NFL coaches this past season worked for the Baltimore Ravens. The assistant strength and conditioning coach, Kaelyn Buskey; the assistant to the head coach/defensive assistant, Megan Rosburg; and a coaching fellow, Marianna Salas, all served under the head coach, John Harbaugh.“There are a lot of women out there that are really interested in football that are really talented, that can help us be a better team,” Mr. Harbaugh said, per Sports Illustrated.Ms. Clavelle, who is part of the Minnesota Vikings staff, will be one of 12 female scouts featured in a roundtable discussion called “Blazing the Scouting Trail.” The scouts will discuss their unique journeys to the NFL and the tools and talents needed to succeed.A separate panel discussion titled “Super Bowl LIX Leaders” features representatives of the Super Bowl champion Eagles, including Ms. Lockwood, the general manager, Howie Roseman, and the head coach, Nick Sirianni.Females are being considered for other roles within the NFL as well. The Denver Broncos hired Kelly Kleine Van Calligan as executive director of football operations and special advisor to the general manager. She interviewed last month to become general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders before the franchise hired John Spytek.Catherine Raiche is the assistant general manager and vice president of football operations at the Cleveland Browns after serving in a similar role with the Eagles.Ms. Raiche was pregnant when she was hired by the Browns in May 2022, and is an advocate of women being mothers as well as coaches and sports executives. “I just don’t think as women in this industry we have to choose,” she said. “I do think we should be able to do both. When you have the right advocates around you to help you do that, which I feel blessed and fortunate that I do have that, we make it work.”Other women in prominent NFL positions include: the Las Vegas Raiders president, Sandra Douglass Morgan, the first Black woman to lead an NFL team in the league’s history; the first full-time female official in the NFL and the first to officiate a Super Bowl, in 2021, Sarah Thomas; and the coaching chief of staff for the Washington Commanders, Sarah Hogan.The NFL Combine, which runs through Sunday, features more than 300 draft-eligible players who showcase their physical and mental skills for scouts and coaches from all 32 teams.

Women’s Forum Aims To Empower Female Future NFL Coaches and Scouts

Women’s Forum Aims To Empower Female Future NFL Coaches and Scouts

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