Interview's with Male Coaches
Jeffrey Lennox Assistant Women's Volleyball Coach
Q: What is it like to be a coach at the collegiate level?
A: Being a collegiate coach is a very rewarding experience because you are not just a 3-5 coach like in high school. Being around campus all day you are available for your athletes and become a big part of their lives. You are able to help them achieve all of their goals, not just the ones concerning your specific sport.
Q: If you have coached men and women, what do you find to be the biggest difference? Are there similarities?
A: At first I would say the biggest difference is the way men and women react differently to a certain coaching style. However, I believe this is true for athletes in general. Some respond to motivation and encouragement and some respond to intensity and yelling.
Q: Do you believe one gender is easier to coach then another? Explain.
A: Men may be a little easier to coach because they do not bring as many outside issues into the practice gym. Women are more willing to open up and share what’s going on outside of the sport. Sometimes this can be counter productive.
Greg Fargo Head Women's Ice Hockey Coach
Q: What is it like to be a coach at the collegiate level?
A: First of all, it is a very rewarding job. I enjoy working with high level athletes who want to improve everyday. Watching athletes develop athletically, academically and socially makes what I do very enjoyable. I think coaching at this level, there is also a great deal of responsibility to uphold. As a coach you are a role model for your athletes as they look to you at all times. At the end of the day, coaching is a fantastic job, I love what I do and I love going to work every day. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.
Q: If you have coached men and women, what do you find to be the biggest difference? Are there similarities?
A: Women are much more detailed in their approach to sports; they want specific direction and will generally follow through exactly as stated. Men are not as detail oriented as women. In comparison to men, women are less competitive in practice situations as they do not compete all the time unless the drills are designed that way. Men are competitive between one another and they always want to “show up” the player next to them. I think this competitiveness thing varies from person to person, but generally speaking men compete more often than women. I think the other big difference in coaching men and women is that you deal with more emotions when coaching women. Men want straightforward feedback (good or bad) and although it is difficult to hear negative feedback, they can usually channel that negativity and use it in a positive way. Although women enjoy positive feedback they have a difficult time dealing with negative comments and are more apt to “shut down”. Again, this varies from person to person, but generally speaking this is what I have noticed in coaching both genders. There are many differences between the two genders; however, these are only a few of them that I see regularly.
Q: Do you believe one gender is easier to coach then another? Explain.
A: No, they both have their different challenges. I think there are positives and negatives to coaching both. However, for me both have been enjoyable.
Q: It has been said in research that women need more of a personal friendship with a coach, as men need a coach to push them. Do you believe this? Why?
A: Generally speaking, I think there is merit to this research. I think that women are more apt to look for a friendship in a coach because in order to get players to want to work for you, they need to first be able to trust you. In contrast, men do not need to be “friends” with the coach in order to work for them. Even if the player-coach relationship is not good, men seem to be able to compete at a high level for that coach regardless of the relationship. I think this comes back to the difference of natural competitiveness levels of the two genders.
Q: With more then half the coaches in the collegiate level being male, do you see a kind of discrimination towards women? Explain.
A: Personally, I don’t think there is a discrimination issue at the collegiate level in terms of gender and coaches. For many athletic directors, when they hire coaches they are looking for the best candidate to take over their program regardless of gender. In our sport, there are simply more men that have played hockey and been coached in it in comparison to women, thus, there are probably more qualified candidates when you compare genders. Also, there are more men who have played higher levels of hockey throughout their careers which has allowed them to be coached more (have more knowledge) and by highly qualified individuals. I think at this time, there are just not as many qualified female coaches as there are male coaches in our sport.
Interview's with Women Coaches
Shannon Clement Assistant Women's Ice Hockey Coach
Q: What is it like to be a coach at the collegiate level?
A: Coaching at the collegiate level is very demanding and rewarding. You have the ability to work with the strongest athletes and students. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the way you are able to run your program, the types of people you recruit, and the way you run your staff. Coaching at the collegiate level is the best of both worlds. Not only are you able to Coach and teach phenomenal athletes but you are able to get to know the athlete and the family on a personal level to establish many lasting relationships.
Q: Growing up playing sports did you have a preferences towards the gender of your coach? Explain.
A: It is funny to say this as an aspiring female coach but I have always had a male as my head coach, so I seem to prefer that. I think this is because I have always learned best under a very confident, stern leader. I feel most males portray this type of leadership, and most women are used to following it because that is all they had growing up too. As more women get into coaching and build their confidence I think you will see these preferences changing.
Q: With more then half the coaches in the collegiate level being male, do you see a kind of discrimination towards women? Explain.
A: I don’t think there is discrimination against women. I think it is just going to take a lot of very confident, goal oriented, successful women to break the norm. A lot of Athletic Directors I feel stay within their comfort zone while hiring new coaches, so because they were coached by males they feel the safest coaches to hire are the men. I believe as more driven women enter the collegiate coaching ranks, everyone will see that women can and will be as successful as their male counterparts.
Q: What is your opinion on Title IX?
A: I believe Title IX was one of the best things to happen to collegiate sports, colleges and universities as a whole, and women. We are now able to have the same rights and privileges as men, therefore have more opportunity than ever before. Women every day are benefiting from this law and it has made our world more balanced and bright. The fact that any woman can showcase her talent on a grand stage in front of her peers shows the enormity of the benefit of Title IX.
Q: Has Title IX affected your profession? Past or present?
A: Title IX has most definitely affected my profession. Now that we are able to provide a program as equal to the men, we are able to recruit top female athletes from around the world and bring them to our great institutions of higher education. We have finally been given the resources to run world class programs that we are proud to be a part of. I see this opportunity for women only getting brighter in the future.
Anna Rogers Head Field Hockey Coach
Q: What is it like to be a coach at the collegiate level?
A: I love it! I have always wanted to be a coach and being able to do it everyday is an extra bonus. I enjoy helping others in the sport that I am so passionate about.
Q: If you have coached men and women, what do you find to be the biggest difference? Are there similarities?
A: I have only coached women, but I have taught both men and women. The biggest difference would have to be the emotional and mental state of the athlete. I believe that the majority of female athletes take what you say more personally than male athletes. However, I feel that no matter the gender of the athlete, all need to be approached based on their character and personality. I feel that each athlete is different depending on how they were raised, the generation they grew up in, the coaches they were taught by, and their experiences.
Q: Do you believe one gender is easier to coach then another? Explain.
A: I believe it depends on the group of athlete that you have, your sport, and especially you as a coach. I do not believe in lumping one gender against another. As stated before, no matter the gender, each athlete is unique.
Q: It has been said in research that women need more of a personal friendship with a coach, as men need a coach to push them. Do you believe this? Why?
A: I believe it depends on the individual. I believe you need to get to know your athlete and see what works best for them. Determining what you as a coach, and them as an athlete needs to do in order for them to have the most success as an athlete.
Q: Growing up playing sports did you have a preferences towards the gender of your coach? Explain.
A: No, I have had both male and female coaches. With each coach there was always something that I did and did not agree with, but I learned from them all. No matter the gender, there is something you can always learn from each coach you have.
Q: With more then half the coaches in the collegiate level being male, do you see a kind of discrimination towards women? Explain.
A: No, I believe that times are changing and there are many more females who want to coach and are coaching as a profession. I believe in certain sports, there is a tendency for males to coach and in others for females to coach. But a good coach is a good coach for the reason that they have the knowledge of the sport and know how to use it, not for what gender they are.
Q: What is your opinion on Title IX?
A: I believe it was a great stepping stone for women is sports but I believe that it is terribly misunderstood.
Q: Has Title IX affected your profession? Past or present?
A: Of course it has, Title IX is one of the reasons why I am able to be coaching today. Title IX in some way or another will always have an affect on any women playing, coaching, or having an involvement in a sport.