Who's coaching girls' sports?

NEA Today, Feb 1994 by Faber, Mary

Although high schools report record numbers of girls' sports programs and skyrocketing numbers of girls who participate, the number of women who coach girls' teams has plummeted.

But here's the good news: there are exceptions to the national trend, exceptions like the Dexter, Michigan, school district.

When the Dexter schools hired NEA member Nancy Plantz, they got an athletic director with a genius for bringing gender equity to public school sports. One of a dwindling number of women athletic directors, Plantz is a former professional softball and field hockey player, and has coached at several universities. At Dexter she works on upgrading all sports, particularly the girls' programs.

"When I came to Dexter five years ago," says Plantz, "our situation was like that of most districts today. There was only one female coach at the high school level."

Today, there are five: four coaches for varsity and junior varsity basketball and softball, and an assistant coach for girls' track. And thanks to Plantz, Dexter's girl's softball teams no longer have to play on leftover land. As the boys have done for years, girls now play on a well-drained field, complete with regulation fence, dugouts, and a scoreboard.

Now the bad news: the national numbers aren't good.

Since the enactment of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the number of female athletes has jumped from about 300,000 in 1971 to 2 million in 1992-93. The number of female coaches hasn't kept pace.

Available state data show dramatic declines in the percentages of women who coach girls' teams. In Illinois, the percentage fell from 100 percent in 1971-72 to 39 percent in 1992-93.

The numbers in Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, and Virginia show similar declines. Many other states show declining percentages, albeit less dramatic ones.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHSA) reports that between 1984-85 (the first year for which national data are available) and 1992-93, the percentage of women coaching girls' teams dropped from 39 percent to 36 percent.

The reason for the drop? Title IX banned sex discrimination in school programs receiving federal funds, which led to equalized pay and release time benefits. It also stimulated the creation of more administrative and coaching positions.

"And men got them," says Dorothy McKnight, interim executive director of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport.

"Many schools didn't look for women coaches," she says. "Athletic directors called their buddies in the next district to ask if they knew any coaches or recent college graduates. They didn't think past men."

Women's credentials and the structural limitations of schools encouraged this, says Susan True, NFSHSA's assistant director and a former gymnastics coach and university athletic director.

Most schools hire coaches who can teach other subjects, just as they hire English teachers who can also edit the yearbook and school newspaper.

"However, most women coaches had degrees in physical education," explains True. "If a school needed five coaches but only two physical education teachers, it hired coaches who could teach history, math, or science (generally men), but not ones who could only teach physical education (generally women)."

According to the experts, there are two ways to tackle the problem of the declining number of women coaches: create more positions and fill them with women.

"Forget the notion that Title IX means nine sports for boys and nine for girls," says True. "The percentage of girls participating does not match the percentage of girls in the student body. If you conduct an interest survey in your school, you will probably learn that girls want more sports. Add those sports--and create coaching positions. Then fill them."

Filling positions has been easy in Dexter, which has highly qualified women coaches on its faculty. Says Plantz, who still has contacts from her college coaching days: "I've been lucky at getting referrals from other coaches. Plus I don't just put an ad in the paper and hope women come to me. I go out and find them. I also help other districts by sharing my list and making referrals to other coaches."

For more information, contact the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, 1900 Association Drive, Reston, Virginia 22091, and the National Federation of State High School Associations, 11724 N.W. Plaza Circle, Kansas City, Missouri 64195-0626.