海角大神

As a synchronized swimmer in college, Kathy Delaney-Smith did not seem destined to become Harvard鈥檚 star women鈥檚 basketball coach.

When she interviewed for a swim coach position in Boston鈥檚 southwestern suburbs back in the early 1970s, the superintendent asked if she could also coach their basketball team. 鈥淎nd I'm like, 鈥榊es, of course I can,鈥� 鈥� she recalls, despite having only played on an informal team 鈥� coached by her mom 鈥� where the girls played six-on-six and didn鈥檛 even dribble. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know where that came from.鈥� I didn鈥檛 know anything about anything, but I really wanted the job.鈥�

The first year, her basketball squad went 0-11.

So she read books, went to clinics, and built a team that went undefeated for six seasons. That brought a Harvard recruiter to her door.聽Since saying yes 35 years ago, she has become the winningest head coach in Ivy League history, with 567 career wins and 330 Ivy League victories. That鈥檚 more than any other coach 鈥� men鈥檚 or women鈥檚 鈥� in the entire Ivy League.

Now Delaney-Smith is on the forefront of a different challenge, one in some ways brought on by the success of women鈥檚 sports. The ranks of female collegiate athletes have grown sixfold since Title IX, the 1972 law promoting gender equality in education. But paradoxically, as women鈥檚 sports became more competitive, the percentage of teams coached by women has dropped from 90 percent to less than half.

鈥淵ou see this everywhere in the economy, 80 percent of leadership positions go to men,鈥� says David Berri, co-author of 鈥淭he Wages of Wins: Taking Measure of the Many Myths in Modern Sport.鈥� 鈥淸Recruiters] interview people, but in the end, they settle on what they had before and what they feel comfortable with.鈥�

Correcting that imbalance is proving difficult, in part because the dearth of women coaches discourages others from joining their ranks. But Delaney-Smith and others are working to address the factors that have caused the decline, from gender bias in hiring to lack of professional development opportunities to an increasingly demanding competition and travel schedule that interferes with work-life balance for those with young children.

If successful, their efforts could not only encourage and empower more women to join the leadership ranks of collegiate athletics, but also have a snowball effect by inspiring others to follow suit.

鈥淲e know from the data that girls and women coached by women are more likely to go into coaching,鈥� says Nicole LaVoi, co-director of Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport in Minneapolis. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 have any women coaching, it鈥檚 less likely we鈥檒l have more girls and women going into coaching themselves.鈥�

4 in 10 women report gender bias in hiring

Since the early days of Title IX, which celebrated its 45^th 聽anniversary in June,聽the number of female athletes at NCAA schools has increased from less than 30,000 to more than 193,000, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

But women hold less than 23 percent of all coaching positions in NCAA sports. And within this pool, more than 40 percent of female coaches said they were discriminated against during the hiring process because of their gender, according to a from the Women's Sports Foundation. Among all NCAA coaches 鈥� both male and female 鈥� about 65 percent felt it was easier for men than women to land the top-level coaching jobs.

Joe Sterrett, athletic director at Pennsylvania鈥檚 Lehigh University, says in his past two searches for head coaches 鈥� in field hockey and women鈥檚 golf 鈥撀爐here were strong female candidates, and both hires ended up being women.

Going back five or six years, he also had openings for head coach positions in women鈥檚 volleyball and soccer, and ended up selecting men 鈥� 鈥減rimarily because they were considerably more qualified in terms of experience than our strongest female candidates,鈥� explains Sterrett, who has been athletic director for close to three decades. 鈥淓very search I have done in those two sports during my tenure has produced an applicant list that is heavily skewed to males.鈥�

Ashley Phillips, a former goalkeeper for the professional Boston Breakers soccer team, admits it can be somewhat intimidating for many women to get into the coaching world.聽

The聽new head coach of women鈥檚 soccer at Northeastern University in Boston, she recently attended a seminar where she was one of only three women out of 28 coaches. 鈥淵ou have to 鈥� let things run off your shoulders or you could get eaten alive in a profession like this,鈥� says Phillips.

She may have had an easier path than others to her current role. As an assistant coach, she was mentored by Tracey Leone, who stepped down in 2016 after six years as head coach. Before that, Leone coached Phillips as she came up through Boston Breakers Youth Academy, one of two national feeder programs leading into the women鈥檚 professional league.

鈥淪he showed me that it鈥檚 just as easy for a woman to take this all on as it is for a man,鈥� says Phillips.

But LaVoi of the Tucker Center says that athletic departments should do more to adopt family-friendly policies, such as providing money for partners or caretakers to travel with women who have young children. She mentions the Alliance of Women Coaches, which started five years ago, as one organization working to change policies and provide support for female coaches 鈥� especially as women鈥檚 sports have become more competitive, and the commitment required of coaches has escalated.

鈥淲here do you stop being a coach and when do you start having a life?鈥� asks Nancy Feldman, head coach of Boston University鈥檚 soccer team, who was the school鈥檚 first female soccer coach when she was hired in 1995. 鈥淚t becomes hard to have balance professionally because of the demands, expectations, and competitiveness of the sport.鈥�

Why it's good for male athletes, too

Despite such challenges, however, the turnover rate of head coach positions at NCAA Division-I institutions this past year was only 7.6 percent 鈥� similar to the past several years, according to a by the Tucker Center and the Alliance of Women Coaches. The low turnover rate suggests that once women begin coaching, they tend to stay. The challenge is getting them there in the first place.

Sterrett, the athletic director at Lehigh, says one of the most effective recruiting strategies is cultivating graduating athletes. Four of the school鈥檚 current head women鈥檚 coaches previously served as assistants or graduate assistants.

鈥淲e have worked hard to provide an environment in which they feel supported, have flexibility in the way they manage their jobs, and they have been able to integrate family with career,鈥� says Sterrett. 鈥淏eyond 鈥榞rowing our own,鈥� there are very good women out there, or among most staffs, and those women need an opportunity to develop and to be supported in their development.鈥�

Experts say achieving greater gender equity in the coaching ranks would benefit not only women, but society as a whole.

鈥淚t matters a lot for girls, but it鈥檚 also important for young boys,鈥� says LaVoi. of NCAA men鈥檚 teams are led by female coaches.

鈥淲e need boys to view and perceive and value women leaders as well,鈥� she adds. 鈥淎nd when they have a [female] coach, that鈥檚 one way we can do that.鈥�