Why no women in NFL GM positions?

[badboy]

TBH I have not reflected on this before. Isn't it basically a "business" position with input from the coaches and scouts and with the Texans a "cap" guru? Not all GMs have played the game so that is not a requirement. I am surprised that a woman has not applied or maybe one has and I am not aware. Your thoughts?

[2012Champs]

Why no women head coaches?

[Trap_Star]

Those positions require no use of the kitchen and/or vacuum cleaner..

[badboy]

Originally Posted by 2012Champs

Why no women head coaches?

No college coaches are women to my knowledge but in basketball there are. Not sure why. There are many women running businesses succesfully so that is not an excuse.

[TheIronDuke]

It's a man's game, you think a NFL head coach is going to be OK with answering to a woman whose only link to the actual game in her life might have been in a cheerleading outfit?

[eriadoc]

Originally Posted by TheIronDuke

It's a man's game, you think a NFL head coach is going to be OK with answering to a woman whose only link to the actual game in her life might have been in a cheerleading outfit?

Even if you leave off the "man's game" comment, plenty of men have failed at coaching because they didn't play the game or play at a high enough level.

[GP]

Ron Burgundy in 3...2...1.....

I'm a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That's what kind of man I am. You're just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a third the size of us. It's science.

For the record, I don't endorse that position. I think women have a role in any NFL front office, as long as they understand they're not really in charge of anything.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by badboy

No college coaches are women to my knowledge but in basketball there are. Not sure why. There are many women running businesses succesfully so that is not an excuse.

Maybe no women HCs. But I know there have been female college assistant coaches coaching male teams. I remember at least one that was a kicking coach. I'll need to research who that was. I do also remember a woman as a men's football HC at the HS level.

[pirbroke]

I think women could excel as a center coach.

[gwallaia]

I bet Texans Chick would make for a great GM.

[badboy]

Originally Posted by TheIronDuke

It's a man's game, you think a NFL head coach is going to be OK with answering to a woman whose only link to the actual game in her life might have been in a cheerleading outfit?

As I pointed out, the GM does a lot of things that has little to do with deciding if a pass or run play should be sent in. I am not deemphasizing a head coach but how much does a GM have to know about Xs and Os? Anyway, I am not making any kind of statement just asking questions.

[Trap_Star]

Doesn't Mike Brown have his daughter as GM? I recall her negotiating contracts on Hard Knocks.

[TheIronDuke]

Originally Posted by badboy

As I pointed out, the GM does a lot of things that has little to do with deciding if a pass or run play should be sent in. I am not deemphasizing a head coach but how much does a GM have to know about Xs and Os? Anyway, I am not making any kind of statement just asking questions.

I wasn't trying to insult you or anything, sorry if it came out that way. Just don't see a head coach really feeling the need to justify how he's using his players to a woman who never played the game. I'm sure there's a lot of GM's who didn't play pro football but I doubt that there's one who hasn't played at any level ever.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by badboy

TBH I have not reflected on this before. Isn't it basically a "business" position with input from the coaches and scouts and with the Texans a "cap" guru? Not all GMs have played the game so that is not a requirement. I am surprised that a woman has not applied or maybe one has and I am not aware. Your thoughts?

Did a little digging for you, and surprisingly came up with ONE interesting exception.

How one woman tackled the NFL
The only female GM in NFL history has some advice for women in male-dominated professions.
How one woman tackled the NFL
By: Josh Rubin Staff Reporter, Published on Fri Mar 11 2011

Boys and their toys

There aren't many places more masculine than a National Football League locker-room and the shop floor at a meat company.

Susan T. Spencer survived them both.

Spencer, the only woman to have been general manager of an NFL team, says there were a few things that helped her get by in the boys' club. A thick skin sure came in handy when she walked into the Philadelphia Eagles' locker-room and all the players dropped their towels en masse. She was also once referred to as “the wicked witch of The Vet” (a reference to the now-torn down Philadelphia Veterans Stadium).

“You can either develop a thick skin and shrug it off, or you can stay home and suck your thumb,” says Spencer, whose new book, Briefcase Essentials, deals with her experience with the Eagles and the business world.

Recently, a newspaper columnist referred to her in print as “just another worthless bimbo.” Rather than writing a nasty letter or making an angry phone call, Spencer says she found some humour in the insult, figuring it made the writer look worse than her.

“Honestly, I just laughed,” she says.

While admitting she got her job with the Eagles because her father, Leonard Tose, was the owner, Spencer says she still wanted — and needed — to be taken seriously by other GMs, players and the team's bankers. To do that, she had to understand every facet of the team's business better than any man would have had to. It's not fair, but that's the way the world is for women in a masculine environment, she says.

“You have to know your material stone-cold. Women are held to a higher standard than men,” says Spencer, who was surrounded by football for much of her youth, thanks to her father's purchase of the Eagles in the 1960s. Even if women don't have the good fortune to be the child of a team owner or top business executive, there's no reason they can't do research on their own, she says.

“You have to immerse yourself in it.”

It's frustrating, but not surprising, that 26 years after she left the Eagles (when her father was forced to sell the team to cover gambling debts), Spencer is still the only woman to have been an NFL GM, says Sue Rodin. Rodin, founder of Women in Sports and Events (WISE), says old habits die hard in male-dominated businesses.

“I think there's a lot of history, there's a male-dominated culture, there's some inertia and I'm sorry to say, there's an old boys' network,” said Rodin, pointing out that sports is far from the only offender. “It's like that in law, it's like that on Wall Street, too.”

REST OF THE STORY

[Double Barrel]

Why no women in NFL GM positions?

How come Tony Dungy or Jim Brown never mention this?

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by Trap_Star

Doesn't Mike Brown have his daughter as GM? I recall her negotiating contracts on Hard Knocks.

Mike Brown is his own GM. His daughter holds one of the higher up administrative positions.

[badboy]

Originally Posted by TheIronDuke

I wasn't trying to insult you or anything, sorry if it came out that way. Just don't see a head coach really feeling the need to justify how he's using his players to a woman who never played the game. I'm sure there's a lot of GM's who didn't play pro football but I doubt that there's one who hasn't played at any level ever.

Oh, I wasn't offended, but appreciate this comment. Have there ever been football coaches or GMs that have not played? I know in NBA our own Daryl Morey comes to mind.

[badboy]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

How come Tony Dungy or Jim Brown never mention this?

Maybe their attention was diverted by homosexuals comparing their issues to the struggles of black Americans?

[Cerberus]

Originally Posted by badboy

TBH I have not reflected on this before. Isn't it basically a "business" position with input from the coaches and scouts and with the Texans a "cap" guru? Not all GMs have played the game so that is not a requirement. I am surprised that a woman has not applied or maybe one has and I am not aware. Your thoughts?

Al Davis hired Amy Trask as the first, and only, CEO of an NFL team. That's even better! Right?

[steelbtexan]

If Rick can be a GM, I cant see why a woman couldn't be a GM.

What exactly does Rick do? I sure hope Gary doesn't have another sleep apnea surgery during the combine. We saw how that went when Rick was left to his own devices.

Doc, sleep apnea isn't a reocurring condition? LOL