Yesterday, the Buffalo Bills announced that they have named Kathryn Smith as a special teams quality control coach, thus making her the first full-time female assistant coach in NFL history. Many applauded the franchise on the move, but of course there are detractors. Kevin Kiley, co-host of Kiley and Carman on Cleveland’s 92.3 The Fan, lambasted the Bills for the hire.
Football is about physical advantage. (Women) are at a loss when it comes to the reference points of football. This is not discrimination against women. I don’t care if a woman is President, that’d be great. I don’t care if a woman runs a corporation, that’d be great. But don’t set people up to fail. … She couldn’t possibly be qualified to the same level that a man could be qualified to do that.
For what it’s worth, Smith has been working in the NFL since 2003. Serving as a college scouting intern, player personnel assistant as well as an administrative assistant to Rex Ryan and moved with the head coach when he joined the Bills last season. Kiley did not relent on his stance, further expounding by calling whomever was responsible for her hiring an “idiot” and claiming that no woman should be able to vote in the Pro Football Hall of Fame because they “never played the game and [don’t] understand the intensity of the game.”
