High school’s female football coach is up to the task

Don’t expect to hear anyone respond with “yes, sir” when the Coolidge Colts’ football coach barks out an order.

That's because Natalie Randolph is running the show at the Washington, D.C., high school. Randolph, 30, became a media star last March after her hiring was announced in front of a throng of reporters and local politicians. She has since appeared on ESPN, CNN and several network morning shows.

"While I'm proud to be a part of what this all means,” she said at the time of her hiring, “being female has nothing to do with it."

Randolph, a Washington native and track star at the University of Virginia, has a strong football background. She played six season with the D.C. Divas in the National Women’s Football Association and served as assistant football coach at H.D. Woodson High School in D.C.

The Colts’ first practice was Aug. 6 and Randolph seemed to be relieved that first day ended.

"I'm glad all that's over," Randolph told the Associated Press. "It went pretty well, so I'm pleased."

And the cameras continue to follow her team practices. After all, that’s a woman coaching a high school football team.

"I like staying in the background," Randolph told the Washington Post, "But what can you do? It comes with the territory. This has been hard. It's probably been one of the hardest things I've ever done."

Although aware of the impact of her new job, Randolph said she is hoping everything returns to normal once the season gets started. Her team’s first game is Aug. 27 at home against Archbishop Carroll.

For all the fanfare surrounding Randolph's new job, she isn't the first woman in America to coach a high school varsity football team. The concept was broached with “Wildcats,” a 1986 comedy, starring Goldie Hawn as the female coach of a downtrodden Chicago high school team who endured taunting and antagonism before earning the respect of her raucous players.

Eighteen years later, it became a reality when Jessica Poseluzny took over as coach of New York City’s George Washington football team midway through the 2004 season.

Poseluzny held the head coach title at the Washington Heights school for four years. Debra Vance followed suit in 2009, when she was named head coach at Lehman in the Bronx after coaching the school’s JV team for well over a decade.

Poseluzny, who credited Vance for getting her involved in coaching football, said Randolph won’t have much of a problem if her coaching staff is on the same page.

“My biggest fear was the coaching staff. But my assistant coaches were great,” said Poseluzny, who now coaches the Yorkville Eagles Pop Warner team. “If her school assigns her assistants and she doesn’t get a long with them, that could be a problem. But if her coaches know and respect her, she’ll be OK.”

“Other than having good assistants, her experience from playing could be the best thing,” Poseluzny said. “It will give her good insight.

Poseluzny didn't play football, but gained valuable experience during a two-year stint as JV football coach and four-year run as an assistant on the varsity staff.

“The players knew me before I was the head coach,” she said. “So they always had respect for me.”

Poseluzny wasn't intimately involved in calling the offense and defense, but she called the shots.

And that, Poseluzny said, was the most important aspect of her head coaching career. “My assistant coach Anthony did great with the players and calling plays,” Poseluzny said. “But he knew the final decision was always mine. And he respected that.”

“It’s getting a little easier for women now and I was glad to be one of the pioneers,” Poseluzny said. “And I wish all the best.”