Congrats and good luck, coach!
Bruce Arians, head coach of the Arizona Cardinals recently told reporters he'd considering hiring a woman if she could coach and improve players. Now he's
put his money where his mouth is:
“The minute they can prove they can make a player better, they’ll be hired,” Arians said, noting that’s all any player ever really wants.
It was soon after that Arians heard from the coach of the Texas Revolution in the Indoor Football League, who told Arians the Revolution already had a female on its staff that would be worth a look. Monday, Arians brought in Jen Welter – the one-time collegiate rugby player who played 14 seasons of pro football, mostly in the Women’s Football Alliance – as a training camp/preseason intern coaching inside linebackers. Welter is believed to be the first woman to hold a coaching position of any kind in the NFL.
Jen Welter was also the first woman to play in a professional football game in a non-kicker position, getting her into a game at the running back position. At the time, she said it was
about the future:
Welter, who since 2004 had played linebacker for the Dallas Diamonds of the Women’s Football Alliance, isn’t advocating that women play against men. She mostly wants the world to know that women are passionate about football, too, and that women’s leagues deserve more visibility and to play on bigger stages.
“I’ve thought of all the reasons why I might be the wrong person to do this. ‘You’re too small, you’re too this, you’re too that,’ ” she said. “The truth is if I can change the game, literally, for any of those girls, it’s worth it.
“Because it’s really not about me. It’s about them and the future of the sport."