TAMPA, Fla. — With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 31-9 victory within the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, Lori Locust and Maral Javadifar have been the first female assistant coaches to win a Super Bowl.
This week they became the first group of female coaches on a single group to coach in the Super Bowl, while referee Sarah Thomas became the first official to work a Super Bowl. This past Year, Katie Sowers became the first female coach to coach in the Super Bowl, Once the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Chiefs 31-20.
“It was time to knock down those doors,” said Bucs coach Bruce Arians, who made a conscious choice to look for qualified women for roles on his team.
Locust, who shot up semiprofessional soccer at age 40 and most recently coached at the AAF and has been an intern with the Baltimore Ravens under renowned defensive line coach Joe Cullen, was hired last offseason since the Bucs’ assistant defensive line coach.
Javadifar, a former college basketball player at Pace with a doctorate in physical therapy, was hired as the Bucs’ assistant strength and conditioning coach/physical therapist.
“Hopefully the groups, like Tampa Bay, have put the example to start to look at applicants irrespective of gender or color and actually begin to broaden their talent pool,” Locust said before this week.
Arians hopes this will lead to more chances for teams to higher deserving female coaches.
“It’s amazing,” Arians told ESPN. “I hope it breaks down more doors”
Arians has also been a champion of racial diversity. All three coordinators — offensive manager Byron Leftwich, defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and special-teams planner Keith Armstrong, along with run sport coordinator/assistant head trainer Harold Goodwin — are Dark.
