To a resume that includes 14 seasons in the Women’s Football Alliance, two gold medals, becoming the first woman to play a non-kicking position in a professional men’s league, and earning a Ph.D., Jen Welter can now add another accomplishment: NFL coach.
The Arizona Cardinals announced on Monday that they were bringing Welter on board as a coaching intern for training camp and the preseason, making her what is believed to be the first woman to hold any sort of coaching position in the NFL.
“I could not have dreamed big enough to imagine this day could ever come,” Welter said during a Tuesday press conference, adding that the first paycheck she ever received for playing football amounted to $1 per game.
The fact that she has broken through a significant barrier “in the hyper-masculine world of football … is quite a step,” said Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota. “I think in many ways you could argue that the NFL is the last bastion of the all-boys clubhouse and this shows that at least some coaches and players are open to and respectful of what a woman can bring to the table.”
Indeed, those who know and have worked with Welter emphasize how qualified she is to take on a coaching role at the highest level. Devin Wyman, a former professional football player who is currently the head coach of the Indoor Football League’s Texas Revolution, first met “Coach Jen” in 2006 when she was playing with the Dallas Diamonds. When Wyman took over as head coach of the Revolution, he made Welter his linebackers coach.
“She understands the game, she loves it,” he said. “A lot of my players learned from her and it was great having her around.”
It was Wyman who recommended Welter to Cardinals’ head coach Bruce Arians. Upon meeting her, Arians said, “I thought she was the type of person that could handle this in a very positive way for women and open that door.” And when he told several of the team’s veteran players about the plan to add Welter as an intern, “they were all very cool with it.”
Once the announcement was official, a few players took to Twitter to state their support for Welter, including All-Pro defensive back Patrick Peterson.
One team, one goal! Let's go to work coach @jwelter47 ! #Birdgang #OperationBringLombardiTrophyToAZ
— Patrick Peterson /P2 (@P2) July 28, 2015
While something like a tweet may seem fleeting, the manner in which Arians and players like Peterson and linebacker Kevin Minter have discussed and reacted to Welter’s hire is noteworthy, Kane said. “These are very important and significant steps — it’s a crack in the wall, saying women do have something to bring to professional football that respects their knowledge and their experience about football.”
Regardless, Welter still faces a tremendous challenge in the attempt to prove her coaching chops during training camp. She’ll be met with, as Wyman puts it, the “warrior guy-type mentality” that has long dominated football and prevented women from taking on positions of authority. But it’s a mindset that may be expanding just enough to allow a person like Welter to squeeze through. If a woman coach had been introduced during his time as a player, “they would have laughed at first. The guys would’ve laughed,” Wyman said. “The NFL is not turning into a female’s game but they can coach.”
They can also officiate. Welter joins fellow football trailblazer Sarah Thomas, who became the NFL’s first full-time female referee this year.
Welter’s role during training camp will be one of an intern, not full-time coach. But whether or not it comes with the Cardinals, the hope for Welter is that this internship will launch her into a full-time coaching position.
“I didn’t start playing football to be here,” she said. “The beauty of this (is), while it wasn’t a dream I could have ever had, now it’s a dream other girls can grow up having.”