![]() ![]() ![]() She and other football personnel from around the league convene at a handful of off-season events - the draft combine in March, the Senior Bowl all-star game in Mobile, Ala., in February - where coaches, scouts and league executives evaluate college players, but also look to hire new staffers.Īfter finishing the day’s evaluations, many of those football staff members migrate to local restaurants and hotel bars to network, reconnect and, in some cases, party.īurnett said she preferred being with peers in smaller settings or spontaneously meeting with other female colleagues instead of socializing in big gatherings. The nomadic lifestyle typical of most scouts leaves her detached from colleagues at the team facility, which she said she would visit about five times a year for training camp and draft meetings. She lives in Denver, and during busy times, she said she averages about 20 days each month on the road. The chat has ballooned to 129 people, including women in various non-coaching roles, as of August.īurnett was hired in 2020 after two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons to survey players in 13 states in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. They use the message chain to post jobs, celebrate promotions and ask questions about the dress code at certain events. across coaching, scouting and other roles. Three years ago, Raîche and Ameena Soliman, the Eagles’ director of personnel operations, started a group text through the messaging service WhatsApp to connect women in the N.F.L. has hosted the Women’s Careers in Football Forum, a multiday event to connect women working at college and professional teams to hiring managers and offer panel sessions.īut women have also developed their own networks to support one another. ![]() expanded the Rooney Rule - the mandate that forces teams to interview minority candidates for leadership positions - to include women. has tried to establish pipelines for women. “I had really no concerns coming in into all the work that had been done to make sure that we left no stone unturned.” A group text is a lifeline. “I had complete trust in ownership, and in Andrew’s plan and due diligence and all the work that they had done with their respective teams to make this acquisition,” Raîche said. Berry had been Raîche’s direct supervisor when they both worked for the Eagles, where Raîche started as a personnel and football operations coordinator in 2019 and was later promoted to vice president of football operations. Raîche said General Manager Andrew Berry informed her of the research the team had done, including an investigation from third-party counsel, before signing Watson. As their numbers increase, the women have formed their own support systems to navigate a culture that has historically excluded them. Raîche, now the Cleveland Browns assistant general manager and vice president of football operations, is part of an influx of women who have permeated pro football in a relatively short span, taking on the kinds of inside-the-game but outside-an-office roles that had been reserved for men. “When I was asked, ‘Where is the scout?’” Raîche, 34, said in a phone interview, “I would be like, ‘Well, it’s me.’” In a few instances, she said, when she arrived at a college or a training camp, football staff members there would ask for her business card to confirm her identity. ![]() team, she was a scout for the Canadian Football League.īack then, it was still uncommon for a woman to hold a job evaluating football players, a role that required Raîche to travel the country looking for talent. A decade before Catherine Raîche became the current highest-ranking female executive with an N.F.L. ![]()
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