Katie Sowers (born August 7, 1986) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. She was the first openly gay and first female coach in Super Bowl history. Sowers began her American football career playing in the

Women's Football Alliance The Women's Football Alliance (WFA) is a professional full-contact Women's American football tackle minor league that began play in 2009. It is the largest 11-on-11 football league for women in the world, and the longest running active women's ...

. She joined the NFL in 2016 as a coach for the Atlanta Falcons and then with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, before joining the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

in 2021. Sowers currently works in the athletic department of

Ottawa University Ottawa University (OU) is a private Baptist university with its main campus in Ottawa, Kansas, a second residential campus in Surprise, Arizona, and adult campuses in the Kansas City, Phoenix and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. It was founded in ...

Early life and education

Sowers was born on August 7, 1986 in

Hesston, Kansas Hesston is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,505. Large manufacturing facilities for AGCO (farm equipment) and Excel Industries (lawn mowers) are located in Hesston. It ...

where she attended a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radi ...

church with her family. She began playing

at the age of eight. Sowers attended

Hesston College Hesston College is a private college in Hesston, Kansas, United States. It is associated with the Mennonite Church USA and has an enrollment of about 400 students who typically come from about 30 states and 15 other countries. History In 1909, ...

Goshen College Goshen College is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, and is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is accredited by the High ...

and the

University of Central Missouri The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri. In 2019, enrollment was 11,229 students from 49 states and 59 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, including 10 pre-profes ...

. Sowers graduated from Central Missouri with a master's degree in

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human healt ...

in 2012.

Career

Playing career

While a student at Goshen, Sowers began her football career playing for the

West Michigan Mayhem The West Michigan Mayhem is a women's professional American football team based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. They play in the Women's Football Alliance. The Mayhem played in the National Women's Football Association from their inception in 2002 until ...

and the Kansas City Titans in the

. While with the Titans, Sowers was a member of the United States women's national American football team that won the 2013 IFAF Women's World Championship. Sowers continued to play in the WFA until her 2016 retirement due to a hip injury.

Coaching career

In 2016, Sowers joined the

as a wide receivers coaching intern with the Atlanta Falcons. In 2017, Sowers moved to the

as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. She became a seasonal intern before being converted to full-time offensive assistant. In her first season, the 49ers won the NFC Championship, sending the team to

Super Bowl LIV Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Conferenc ...

and allowing Sowers to become the first female and first openly gay coach in a Super Bowl. Her contract with the 49ers expired after the 2020 season. She joined the coaching staff of the

prior to the 2021 NFL season. In October 2021, Sowers was appointed as the director of athletic strategic initiatives at

, where she also coaches the women's flag football team.

Personal life

Before the start of the

2017 NFL season The 2017 NFL season was the 98th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL) and the 52nd of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 7, 2017, with Kansas City defeating defending Super Bowl LI champion New England i ...

, Sowers

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

publicly as a lesbian and became the first openly

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

coach in the

. Sowers was refused a volunteer coaching position at

in 2009 because of her sexual orientation. In 2020 the president of the college apologized for rejecting her. Sowers' twin sister, Liz, plays football as a wide receiver.

References

External links

San Francisco 49ers coach profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sowers, Katie American LGBT sportspeople LGBT people from Kansas People from Harvey County, Kansas San Francisco 49ers coaches University of Central Missouri alumni 1986 births Living people Lesbian sportswomen Female players of American football Goshen College alumni Hesston College alumni People from Kansas Female coaches of American football American Mennonites LGBT Mennonites