Super Bowl LIV Will Feature First Female, Openly Gay Coach
Jan 21, 2020, 2:17 PM
Assistant coach Katie Sowers of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates after winning the NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers at Levi's Stadium on January 19, 2020 in Santa Clara, California. The 49ers beat the Packers 37-20. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Katie Sowers made history as the NFL’s first female coach to make it to a Super Bowl but her stamp on the history books grew even more as the NFL’s first openly LGBTQ coach.
The 33-year-old serves as an offensive assistant for the 49ers who beat the Green Bay Packers this past weekend for the NFC Title and a trip to Super Bowl LIV in Miami.
Sowers came out in 2017 after her first year as a training camp assistant with the Atlanta Falcons. She joined the 49ers in 2017 first as a seasonal offensive assistant.
If your daughter has a dream of being a football coach in the NFL… or a ballerina… or a professional soccer player.. or a teacher.. or a nurse.. or a doctor.. or an astronaut.. or even PRESIDENT.. just let her know this… She. Can. Do. It. And she will change the world.
— Katie Sowers (@KatieSowers) January 14, 2020
“No matter what you do in life, one of the most important things is to be true to who you are,” she told Outsports in 2017. “There are so many people who identify as LGBT in the NFL, as in any business, that do not feel comfortable being public about their sexual orientation.”
Sowers has been open about the discrimination she has faced throughout her career. During the same interview, she told a story about losing a job because of her sexual orientation.
If you want to know the meaning of unconditional love, read this letter my girlfriend received from her grandma after she recently came out to her family about dating a woman..”just be a good person and BE HAPPY”. That’s all we should ask of our children. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/vK2xTbvcQG
— Katie Sowers (@KatieSowers) September 23, 2019
“As I was finishing college, I actually got turned down from a volunteer coaching job because I was a lesbian,” she told OutSports. “That moment really impacted me because it was the first time I truly felt judged because of my sexual orientation. I was so passionate about coaching and to feel like my opportunities were limited because of who I loved was hard to deal with. However, without that experience, I would not be where I am today.”
Despite the uphill battle to get where she is now, Sowers said her fellow coaches on the 49ers don’t see her as a “female coach, but a “coach”.
Before she became a coach, she played in the Women’s Football Alliance as a quarterback for the Kansas City Titans, according to ESPN.
Her team, the 49ers, are preparing to take on Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Cheifs in Super Bowl LIV on February 2 in Miami.
