Stephen A: There Should Be a Female Coach on Every NFL Team, All Levels of Professional Sports

In response to the Buffalo Bills becoming the first NFL team to hire a female assistant coach Wednesday, Stephen A. Smith proposed on ESPN2’s “First Take” Thursday that all NFL teams should be required to have a female assistant coach.

Smith also asked why females should not be coaching on “every level of professional sports.” He reason that the sports should not be “completely and unequivocally dominated by males.”

“I believe, particularly with the bevy of issues that the NFL has endured and suffered from over the last two years, I believe there should be a female on every single NFL squad as a coach, in some capacity. I don’t think it should be completely and unequivocally dominated by males,” he explained. “I wouldn’t mind seeing an assistant on every team in the National Basketball Association. In the WNBA, which by and large men just don’t watch, the fact of the matter is there’s several male coaches in the WNBA. There’s several male coaches coaching Women’s Basketball on the collegiate level. So, as far as I’m concerned, if that’s the case, why shouldn’t females be coaching on every level in professional sports?”

Smith then added there should a rule similar to the Rooney Rule,which requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs, that would also require NFL teams to interview female candidates, even though he said earlier this month the Rooney Rule was ultimately hurting black coaches.