Coaching Opportunities for Women

[creasemonkey]

Just wanted to get this report from the Chronicle of Higher Ed out there - this seemed to be a good forum to do so. It should raise some interesting discussions.

Opportunities Abound for Female Athletes, but Less So for Coaches and AD's, Report Says

"New data in a study that has tracked women's involvement in collegiate sports over 33 years suggest that while more women compete on college teams than in previous years, they are still in the minority among coaches and leaders of athletic departments. Nineteen percent of athletic departments have female athletic directors, down slightly from 2008, the last time this biennial report, "Women in Intercollegiate Sport," was published. Meanwhile, 43 percent of women's athletic teams have female head coaches, a figure that is unchanged from two years ago but a steep drop from 1972, when more than 90 percent of women's teams had female head coaches."

Here's a link to the study:

http://www.acostacarpenter.org/2010pdf combined final.pdf

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

You may need to fix the link; I got an "oops, the link appears to be broken" message.

Quick first thought for now: There's a previous piece of research that found that increased pay and benefits were the "culprits" here. In other words, as pay and benefits for coaching Women's teams became more equitable, the number of male candidates applying for the coaching positions greatly increased. Obviously many of those applications were successful. This is indeed an irony. And yet, we certainly don't want to turn back the clock on more equitable pay.

I will try to locate the cite and post again later. I do hope that others will comment on this important topic.

Edit: The study actually focused on positions for female referees. See Post #6.

 

[creasemonkey]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

If anyone has had trouble linking to the full report, try this link:

http://webpages.charter.net/womeninsport/

Once you enter this site, you'll have to click on "Download Full Report."

Otherwise you can just Google Women in Intercollegiate Sport, A Longitudinal National Study 1977-2010

 

[creasemonkey]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

You may need to fix the link; I got an "oops, the link appears to be broken" message.

Quick first thought for now: There's a previous piece of research that found that increased pay and benefits were the "culprits" here. In other words, as pay and benefits for coaching Women's teams became more equitable, the number of male candidates applying for the coaching positions greatly increased. Obviously many of those applications were successful. This is indeed an irony. And yet, we certainly don't want to turn back the clock on more equitable pay.

I will try to locate the cite and post again later. I do hope that others will comment on this important topic.

Thanks for letting me know about the link. It works for me, but some others may be having problems opening the link as well.

Your comments about the pay and benefits being the culprit makes this issue even more disturbing. I don't want to jump to any conclusions because there may be a number of factors influencing why a greater percentage of women aren't head coaches or ADs, but the trend is very troublesome. While I am a firm believer in hiring the most qualified person for the job, it's hard to believe there aren't more young women out there who can coach and serve as great role models.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

No trouble with the link. I found all the information interesting. I plan on sharing this info with people who do not necessarily read this forum. Thanks for sharing.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

The second link worked just fine. I'm not sure why my computer didn't like the first one...

Here is the cite I mentioned below:

Casey, Ann. 1992. "Title IX and Women Officials -- How Have They Been Affected? Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 63(3):45-47.

As you might guess from the title -- and as I initially failed to recall -- Casey focused on referees rather than coaches. But there is at least some analogy between the two groups. Both are authority figures in the world of athletics.

 

[creasemonkey]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

Thanks. I'll be sure to read it.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

Lots of great info in the study. Playing around with the numbers just a little bit:

Current Number of Women's Teams: 9087

Women's Teams With Male Head Coaches: 57.4% or 5216 coaches

Women's Teams With Female Head Coaches: 42.6% or 3871 coaches

Unless I missed something, the study didn't specify the number of coaches or teams in 1970. We do know that there were 2.5 teams per school in 1970, as opposed to 8.64 teams per school now. But since we don't know the precise number of member of schools at each point in time, we still can't calculate exact numbers.

That said, it seems fair to say that the number of Women's Teams with Female Head Coaches has roughly doubled in the last 40 years. At the same time, the number of Women's Teams with Male Head Coaches has exploded, from perhaps a few hundred to over 5,200.

Another important topic included in the study is the increase in the number of Paid Assistant Coaches in Women's sports. The numbers for 2010:

Total Paid Assistant Coaches: 11,726

Female Paid Assistant Coaches: 57.5% or 6745 coaches

Male Paid Assistant Coaches: 42.5% or 4981 coaches

It does stand to reason that many of the paid female assistants work with male head coaches. So the players on those teams do have female role models available.

Not only is this important for the players, it's important for those holding the assistant coaching positions. Quoting from the study:

The ability to gain experience and hone expertise as a paid assistant coach provides a professional entry path of considerable value. (Assistant Coaching, Page 5)

Naturally the pool of paid assistant coaches can provide a great source of talent for future head coach openings.

Food for thought.

 

[FranchisePlayer]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

Lots of great info in the study. Playing around with the numbers just a little bit:

Current Number of Women's Teams: 9087

Women's Teams With Male Head Coaches: 57.4% or 5216 coaches

Women's Teams With Female Head Coaches: 42.6% or 3871 coaches

What would be even more interesting would be the number of:
Men's Teams with Female Head Coaches: I would bet it's close to 0%. If it's even 5%, I'd be shocked.


This topic comes up from time to time... usually the discussion turns to qualified female coaches vs. not-as-qualified-but-happen-to-be-male-so-actually-MUST-be-qualified-coaches

It is staggering to me that less than 50% of the head coaches for WOMEN'S teams are actually female.

 

[creasemonkey]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

What would be even more interesting would be the number of:
Men's Teams with Female Head Coaches: I would bet it's close to 0%. If it's even 5%, I'd be shocked.


This topic comes up from time to time... usually the discussion turns to qualified female coaches vs. not-as-qualified-but-happen-to-be-male-so-actually-MUST-be-qualified-coaches

It is staggering to me that less than 50% of the head coaches for WOMEN'S teams are actually female.

The report said 3% of men's teams are coached by women which, is more than I would have guessed. I imagine women coach men's teams like golf, swimming, cross-country or tennis, but it doesn't say. I agree with you that it is staggering that fewer than 50% of women's teams are coached by women and personally I think that needs to change.

I found it interesting that when I was in a coaching certification course with mostly men, they thought it was perfectly fine for men to coach women's teams but did not believe it was OK for women to coach men's teams - and therein lies the problem. Every one of them said they believed Pat Summit was an outstanding basketball coach, but they all agreed that they wouldn't want to be coached by her.

 

[notfromaroundhere]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

The report said 3% of men's teams are coached by women which, is more than I would have guessed. I imagine women coach men's teams like golf, swimming, cross-country or tennis, but it doesn't say. I agree with you that it is staggering that fewer than 50% of women's teams are coached by women and personally I think that needs to change.

I found it interesting that when I was in a coaching certification course with mostly men, they thought it was perfectly fine for men to coach women's teams but did not believe it was OK for women to coach men's teams - and therein lies the problem. Every one of them said they believed Pat Summit was an outstanding basketball coach, but they all agreed that they wouldn't want to be coached by her.

Probably because Pat would give them that stern look she is known for when they screw up. Before they brought in Bruce Pearl, there were a fair number of folks who would have been happy to have Pat coach the guys, except they know that the women's program would have suffered. Pat has never stated that as a goal. She doesn't need to coach men to feel validated.

Pat and Bruce get along quite well, which is a credit to to both of them, given Pat's outsized reputation. They actually complement each other well. I think some guy coaches just have a problem with dealing with a strong female presence.

 

[creasemonkey]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

Probably because Pat would give them that stern look she is known for when they screw up. Before they brought in Bruce Pearl, there were a fair number of folks who would have been happy to have Pat coach the guys, except they know that the women's program would have suffered. Pat has never stated that as a goal. She doesn't need to coach men to feel validated.

No, I realize that, the only point I am trying to make is that clearly there is a double standard.

 

[notfromaroundhere]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

No, I realize that, the only point I am trying to make is that clearly there is a double standard.

Point taken. I believe we are on the same page here. I'm making light of how some people think women coaches are not as demanding as their male counterparts.

Also pointing out how an athletic department can operate when the top dog in the coaching hierarchy is a woman. Works fine when coaches have mutual respect and don't try to compete with each other.

Lots of folks just don't get that a good coach is a good coach.

 

[Hux]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

The report said 3% of men's teams are coached by women which, is more than I would have guessed. I imagine women coach men's teams like golf, swimming, cross-country or tennis, but it doesn't say. I agree with you that it is staggering that fewer than 50% of women's teams are coached by women and personally I think that needs to change.

I think a lot of that can be attributed to a boom of sorts in varsity sports at various institutions across the country. Obviously, we have seen that in our sport over the last decade. In hockey, and it likely translates to other sports as well, there was a larger pool of experienced male candidates to draw from, resulting in the numbers that we see.

More women are moving into the coaching ranks as assistants, and going forward we should see more women take the helm of women's programs, but it will not likely ever be 100% women running the show.

 

[FranchisePlayer]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

The report said 3% of men's teams are coached by women which, is more than I would have guessed. I imagine women coach men's teams like golf, swimming, cross-country or tennis, but it doesn't say. I agree with you that it is staggering that fewer than 50% of women's teams are coached by women and personally I think that needs to change.

I found it interesting that when I was in a coaching certification course with mostly men, they thought it was perfectly fine for men to coach women's teams but did not believe it was OK for women to coach men's teams - and therein lies the problem. Every one of them said they believed Pat Summit was an outstanding basketball coach, but they all agreed that they wouldn't want to be coached by her.

I actually think that it's more of a generational thing these days. Last year, when the rumors abounded about Digit Murphy possibly tossing her hat in the ring for the mens' job at Brown, I asked some of my players (which included two graduating seniors) what they thought. Both boys said that they wouldn't have a problem at all being coached by a woman, as long as she was talented and "knew what she was talking about". One of them even went on to say that in one of his other team sports, one of the assistant coaches was a woman, and she had no problem at all getting the boys to do what she wanted.

 

[creasemonkey]

Re: Coaching Opportunities for Women

I actually think that it's more of a generational thing these days. Last year, when the rumors abounded about Digit Murphy possibly tossing her hat in the ring for the mens' job at Brown, I asked some of my players (which included two graduating seniors) what they thought. Both boys said that they wouldn't have a problem at all being coached by a woman, as long as she was talented and "knew what she was talking about". One of them even went on to say that in one of his other team sports, one of the assistant coaches was a woman, and she had no problem at all getting the boys to do what she wanted.

Interesting... because my coaching certification program was through a college and the class comsisted mostly of eighteen to twenty-something year old men. Maybe no one wanted to admit in front of their peers that they would find it acceptable to be coached by a woman. I was rather surprised because I would have expected the younger college age population to be more open to the notion; if they are, they didn't admit it.