Although I have addressed this in some way in my last blog, Men Vs. Women in Coaching, it is alarming that there are very few male teams with female coaches. This stands out because after Title IX was enforced, more male coaches were hired to be in charge of female athletes, whereas there are still very few female coaches in charge of males. A lot of people do believe that there is a lack in female role models for both female and male athletes and this is something that we must address.1
In order for us to address this, we must start with the numbers. As mentioned in my previous blog, 42.6% of the time, we find a female at the head of a college basketball women’s teams. This number may seem staggering, but as to my surprise, the number of women who are coaches of male teams are less than 3%.2 This is important to note because within the sport of basketball both men and women play with the same goal heights, the same sized courts, and for the most part, follow the same basic rules. So the question is why are there not many female coaches a part of coaching staffs?
It is very alarming that there are a number of male coaches who had never played college basketball, or even competed at any level, but seem to have enough experience to coach their players. Comparing the numbers, 66% and 58.3% of assistant and head coaches of women’s college basketball were female, while assistant and head coaches in men’s basketball female coaches were 0.1% and 0.3% respectively.2 This is alarming because female coaches are as qualified as their male counterparts, but not surprisingly, are not receiving the same jobs. These numbers come from the fact that males are also predominantly the athletic director. 79.7% of all athletic directors are male, while the athletic directors are involved in the hiring of coaches and the athletic department finances. Because these male athletic directors show an unfair favoritism in hiring male coaches, women simply do not have the same opportunities. It is easy to understand that females do not simply project themselves into opportunities if they do not feel as though they will proceed. This is not always the case, but for most situations as in the sports world, this can be very apparent. If females believe there is a lack of opportunity and power, they will simply not enter the profession. For instance if there is a lack of females in a profession, there will be a more difficult time building networks and developing alliances.1 It is very important that we are able to build networks and able to build these alliances. In order for women to have these they must not be considered as a minority and need more of the same like minded people that they will be able to talk to and come up with solutions that could be very beneficial.
Some believe that there are legit reasons as to why there are not many female coaches in male sports. Some believe that this is related to females coaches as being perceived as caring, reassuring, and hearted. Having these personality attributes, people believe that women would be better as the “supporting roles” as assistant coach, volunteer, or as an “cheerleader”.1 This is sad to believe, as we would believe as we are more far advanced than to have these simple thoughts as a whole. There are those who believe that having a male coach reinforces the presence of masculinity, within the respective sports. When females behave aggressively as their male counterparts, those who are looking upon them as leaders often resist. This comes from the mantra “think manager-think male”. The whole idea of this, is very misconstrued. I believe that females try and match their male counterparts and are often look upon as just “overdoing” it at times, whereas for a male it is, just simply the norm. Most women that are hired for certain jobs are looked at as actually caring of the education of young people, while the male is simply hired on their coaching abilities. For women this is double the work! Although they may have the athlete's best interest at heart, are they also the best coach available. Yes, it is important to get wins, but are your athletes just coming to play, or are they working towards getting an education? I think this is important in the development of players. All of these factors must be taken into consideration in some way.
I think it is important that we must get away from these thoughts and actually give each person an equal chance in showing their beliefs and making them known. A lot of the times, I believe that women are sometimes discouraged in saying the things that they believe in, but in reality everyones beliefs and values are just as important. Although, this is not fair, it is not hard to believe these thoughts. It is often said that boys and young men must have a dominant male in their lives, or a father figure, they often dismiss the thought a female can still instill the principles of becoming a great man. Having a female coach for a male team can seem unorthodox at first, but can be beneficial and give different views to different situations. I am not in anyway saying there should be complete female coaching staffs over male athletes, but it could help having diversity in some way.
“Every day we need to be one step up from where we were the day before.” – Geno Auriemma
photo credits: NY Daily News
1LaFountaine, J., & Kamphoff, C. S. (2016). Coaching boys’ high school teams: Female coaches’ experiences and perceptions. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching , 11(1), 27-38. doi:10.1177/1747954115624815
2Walker, N., Bopp, T., & Sagas, M. (2011). Gender Bias in the Perception of Women as Collegiate Men’s Basketball Coaches. Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education, 5(2), 157-176. doi:10.1179/ssa.2011.5.2.157
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