Occupational closure in intercollegiate athletics: Female head coaches of men's sport teams at NCAA colleges

Although researchers have conducted a number of studies on the decline of women coaching women's sport teams, few have examined issues related to the low representation of women as coaches of men's sport teams. Therefore, this study investigated barriers affecting female head coaches of men's sport teams. Research questions focused on characteristics of women coaching men's sport teams at NCAA institutions (e.g., demographic information on age, race, salary, educational background/experience, and sports coached), perceived structural barriers related to job access/opportunity and work environment issues, and recommended solutions/strategies to address perceived barriers.; Kanter's (1977) theoretical model for studying occupational sex segregation and Witz' (1991) theoretical model of occupational closure were relied upon in conducting a transformational mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) study using a pragmatic advocacy approach through the lens of feminism to investigate occupational closure issues.; A mailed questionnaire was used to collect data from all NCAA Division I, II, and III female head coaches of male sport teams and a 43.1% response rate (84/195) was achieved. Ninety-five percent of the respondents served as head coach for both a men's and women's team. The men's sports teams most often coached by these women during 2005-06 were cross-country, track, swimming, tennis, and golf. For the numeric data, chi-square, t-test, and ANOVA calculations were conducted across variables.; Women as head coaches of men's sport teams face unique barriers and challenges, including job access barriers, workplace discrimination, the gendering of the coaching role, and agency barriers. The findings suggest women are not applying for coaching positions of men's teams because the jobs are not open to them, lack of societal support, lower salaries, and athletics directors are not recruiting/hiring women. The findings suggest the low number is not due to lack of interest, qualifications, or experience. Women coaching men face negative treatment based on gender, including by other coaches, parents, student-athletes, and administrators. Strategies identified for increasing the number of women coaching men relate to the recruitment and hiring process, institutional support, and other individual and collective action.