Cleveland Browns’ chief of staff Callie Brownson made headlines again this season, as she has for much of her career, when she became the first woman to coach a position group in an NFL regular-season game. Stepping in for tight ends coach Drew Petzing, who didn’t travel due to his wife giving birth to the couple’s first child, Brownson’s game day promotion officially made her the highest-ranking female coach in league history. It helped shine a light on a growing demographic in the NFL – female coaches.
Callie Brownson’s path to becoming an NFL coach
Brownson’s coaching career began at her alma mater, Mount Vernon High School, where she was an assistant coach from 2015 to 2017. In 2017, she got her first taste of working in the NFL as she spent the summer as a scouting intern for the New York Jets. While it was only a temporary position, it only strengthened her belief that football was her calling.
Did Callie Brownson play football?
A diehard football fan from childhood, Brownson competed alongside the boys for the Alexandria Bucknell Tigers youth football team in her home state of Virginia. When she started high school, she assumed that she’d be able to continue playing. Unfortunately, she quickly found out that having a girl on the team wasn’t an option, so she transitioned to softball.
It wasn’t long before Callie Brownson seized the opportunity to rejoin the sport that she loved, though. She tried out and earned a spot on the D.C. Divas roster, a professional team in the Women’s Football Alliance. She’d spend eight seasons with the Divas, playing running back, wide receiver, and safety. She’d also win two gold medals as a Team USA member in the International Federation of American Football Women’s World Championships in 2013 and 2017.
The first female full-time coach in Division 1 college football
Callie Brownson took the opportunity to intern at Dartmouth College in the summer of 2018, accepting what she originally assumed would be a two-week role. Buddy Teevens had other ideas, though. On her last day, however, as things were winding down, he took the opportunity to address his team. He let them know that he had heard their pleas and that Brownson would be joining the staff as an offensive quality control coach. With that, she was officially the first female full-time coach in NCAA Division 1 college football.
Teevens was so impressed with Brownson’s work that he recommended her to Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott. When McDermott first met her at the NFL Women’s Careers in Football Forum in Indianapolis, he was immediately impressed. In 2019 she served as a coaching intern for the Bills during training camp and impressed the Bills enough to earn a position as an offensive assistant coach.
When Kevin Stefanski was named the Browns head coach in January 2020, one of his first decisions was to create the chief of staff role. He quickly decided that Brownson would be the perfect fit.
How Brownson’s path compares to other female NFL coaches
Callie Brownson isn’t the only woman who has coached in the NFL, though. Jennifer Welter became the first in 2015 when she interned for the Arizona Cardinals, and there have been a number since that point. The Buffalo Bills have been at the forefront of the revolution, hiring Kathryn Smith as a Special Teams Quality Control coach and, in the process, making her the first full-time female coach in NFL history.
Katie Sowers, who spent 2016 as a training camp assistant for the Atlanta Falcons working with wide receivers, followed Kyle Shanahan to the San Francisco 49ers. She impressed enough to earn a promotion to offensive assistant. When the 49ers defeated the Green Bay Packers in the 2019 NFC Championship game, Sowers became the first woman and the first openly gay coach in a Super Bowl.
Women in football
The number of women working in football is growing every year, with Sam Rapoport working as the Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the NFL. Rapoport’s LinkedIn profile puts the number of females hired at over 100 since she began her career with the company in 2016. While these aren’t all coaching roles – some are in operations, scouting, and other areas – it’s clear that barriers are being broken down. The NFL’s Rooney Rule, which ensures that a diverse group of candidates interview for roles, expanded in 2016. It now requires that women are interviewed for executive positions.
When the Browns played the Washington Football Team in Week 3, it became the first NFL game to feature female coaches on opposing teams and a female official. Brownson, Washington’s Jennifer King, and down judge Sarah Thomas were the women involved that day but it should become a more common occurrence.
There’s still a lot of work to be done, but Callie Brownson’s list of admirers is constantly growing. If she can continue her rise, we could see her on the sideline as a head coach one day.
Andy Gallagher is a writer for PFN. You can follow him @AndySGallagher on Twitter.