# NFL: Cardinals hire first female coach in NFL history

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [July 28, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392 "2015-07-28T13:59:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/1 "2015-07-28T13:59:03Z")

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[Story here.](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/arizona-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-nfl-history-n399386)

[QUOTE=NBC]  
The Arizona Cardinals have hired the first female coach in National Football League history, the team and the NFL said Monday.

Jen Welter, a former rugby player at Boston College, played 14 seasons in women’s pro football and was the first woman to play a non-kicking position in a men’s pro league — as a running back for the Texas Revolution of Indoor Football League.  
[/QUOTE]

Tha article says she will be a “training camp-preseason intern coach,” which sounds like one step above water boy, but I guess you gotta start somewhere. She sounds like an extremely accomplished and credentialed person, so I hope she does well and opens the door for more women.

With the NFL also hiring the first female ref, it’s only a matter of time until women completely ruin the game and it becomes glorified touch football. (\<– sarcasm, anticipating the inevitable meathead bullshit that will be coming from this hire)

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/2 "2015-07-28T15:10:20Z")

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The NBA also had a female coach during summer league, her team ended up winning the summer league championship. Both are good first steps and signs of progress.

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**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/3 "2015-07-28T15:18:14Z")

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> [@ShadowFacts](#):
>
> With the NFL also hiring the first female ref, it’s only a matter of time until women completely ruin the game and it becomes glorified touch football. (\<– sarcasm, anticipating the inevitable meathead bullshit that will be coming from this hire)

How dare you say that in today’s day and age! You think women will cause football to be touch football?

Roger Godell already did that when he changed the qb hitting rules 😃

If anything they would make the huddles longer asking every player how they feel.

“Gosh Tiffany, It’s not that I’m mad you threw the ball to Amanda, it’s…it’s just…the WAY you thew the ball to her. She didn’t deserve that”  
On a serious note: A kickass year+ for women on the sports front. A major hire in the NBA and TWO in the NFL? The sarcasm in the OP nonwithstanding it won’t be long before women are all over the leagues, and that’s pretty awesome

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**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/4 "2015-07-28T15:21:43Z")

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The NFL is a much tougher nut to crack because there is so little girl’s/women’s football in existence.

While women are not generally able to compete directly against men in basketball, they play the game in large numbers, and there’s no reason to think they don’t have a clear understanding of technique and game strategy.

In football, so few women play at all it would appear harder to find women with the personal experience needed to coach football players on a professional level.

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**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/5 "2015-07-28T19:27:06Z")

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> [@ShadowFacts](#):
>
> With the NFL also hiring the first female ref, it’s only a matter of time until women completely ruin the game and it becomes glorified touch football. (\<– sarcasm, anticipating the inevitable meathead bullshit that will be coming from this hire)

Ask and ye shall receive: [Cardinals announce new female coach and nobody had a sexist reaction just kidding](http://www.eonline.com/news/680746/jen-welter-is-the-nfl-s-first-female-coach-and-nobody-had-a-sexist-reaction-to-that-just-kidding).

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**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/6 "2015-07-28T20:48:22Z")

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> [@Punoqllads](#):
>
> Ask and ye shall receive: [Cardinals announce new female coach and nobody had a sexist reaction just kidding](http://www.eonline.com/news/680746/jen-welter-is-the-nfl-s-first-female-coach-and-nobody-had-a-sexist-reaction-to-that-just-kidding).

I’m psychic! Who could have predicted???

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**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/7 "2015-07-28T21:56:16Z")

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She was hired by knowledgeable people to do a job they believe she can do. That’s all anybody needs to know. Congratulations to her.

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/8 "2015-07-28T22:46:00Z")

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> [@Punoqllads](#):
>
> Ask and ye shall receive: [Cardinals announce new female coach and nobody had a sexist reaction just kidding](http://www.eonline.com/news/680746/jen-welter-is-the-nfl-s-first-female-coach-and-nobody-had-a-sexist-reaction-to-that-just-kidding).

Well i sorta see it as a good sign that they had to scrape the bottom of the barrel (comment threads) to get those instead of them coming from prominent sports related figures.

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**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/9 "2015-07-28T23:25:38Z")

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Are their any women in any capacity in the MLB yet? I don’t want to miss that. And so cool on all three fronts.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/10 "2015-07-29T05:00:50Z")

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> [@faithfool](#):
>
> Are their any women in any capacity in the MLB yet? I don’t want to miss that. And so cool on all three fronts.

[Kim Ng](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Ng) is Senior Vice President for Baseball Operations with MLB; she was formerly VP and Assistant General Manager for the Dodgers. There may be a few other women working in front-office jobs for MLB teams.

A handful of women have served as umpires in minor-league baseball, and two ([Pam Postema](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Postema) and [Ria Cortesio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ria_Cortesio)) worked some MLB spring training games. However, at this time, [there aren’t even any women umpiring in the minor leagues](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/baseball-female-umpire_n_7064220.html).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/11 "2015-07-31T14:22:16Z")

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[Nancy Lieberman](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/kings/2015/07/31/nancy-lieberman-second-female-assistant-coach-sacramento-kings/30922651/?hootPostID=3b1fe603ae49f64ec45b489f789a802d) is going to be an assistant coach with Sacramento Kings.

She is not the first female assistant coach as:

> [@](#):
>
> San Antonio Spurs assistant Becky Hammon became the first woman to carry that torch last summer, when head coach Gregg Popovich made the choice to add her to his staff.

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**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/12 "2015-07-31T15:14:19Z")

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I don’t get what the big deal is about this.

I mean, more women with engineering jobs? That’s awesome

But the NFL?! It’s such a niche market, who cares?

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-cardinals-hire-first-female-coach-in-nfl-history/726392/13 "2015-08-04T14:29:10Z")

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> [@Grrr](#):
>
> But the NFL?! It’s such a niche market, who cares?

The NFL has been doing a lot in the past few years to court female fans, and I would have to believe that addressing the fact that the coaching staffs and senior management is every bit the “boys club” that the rosters are might be seen as a way to do that.